(photos were not allowed this evening, so we've put together a collection of archive photos to go with the review)

Manowar had set about their Final battle World Tour, which was to be the band’s, as indicated by the title, final real tour. But wait, I hear you say, didn’t they already do this a couple of years ago? Why, yes they did, but this is something we apparently don’t speak about anymore, so there’s that. Anyway, snarky comments regarding farewell tours aside, let’s get to the show, shall we?

“Ladies and gentlemen. From the United States of America. All hail Manowar.”

Despite all the craziness surrounding this band, and there is a lot of it to be sure, I still hold that if you just stick to their music, they’ve put out a seriously large body of earworms over the years. A soundtrack to drinking beers and banging heads. And a good one at that. Hell, Manowar has even managed to keep up delivering these kinds of tunes all the way through their career - you don’t go, “oh, I just listen to the old Manowar”. No. There’s something to enjoy across the board with this band. Fair enough, in certain aspects one might say they haven’t changed all that much. At their core, no, probably not. But they have made some leaps of faith over the years, things i hardly think they could plan on the fans enjoying.
But to get back to my original point - keep it simple, stick to the music!

“It is hot up here! Is it hot out there?”
- Eric Adams (vocals)

And incredibly, that’s pretty much what Manowar did at this show. They stuck to the music. With the one exception of a prolonged and rambling Joey talk before the encore, while the rest of the band took a break, it was pretty much songs played back to back, relentlessly pushing forward. And I loved it. Surprising, yes, but ultimately the perfect way to go.
Now, this doesn’t mean they were slacking off in the performance department. When the curtain dropped, we saw an amazing stage decor - it was pretty Viking inspired. A huge stone wall, resembling the wall you might find protecting a village, went from side to side of the stage. Strengthening this image was the gateway like entrance surrounding the drumkit, and if you thought you might be welcome, well, the agonized skeleton adorning said drumkit told a different story. Atop the wall were two large anvils, and at times, a group of guardian vikings, brandishing the sign of the hammer on their shields. How’s that for eye-candy?
As if that wasn’t enough, the show also gave us special effects at opportune moments, such as sparklers and fires rising from the wall.

“I wasn’t born to kiss ass, I was born to kick ass!”
- Joey DeMaio (bass)

The band itself looked a bit differently than I had expected. Joey DeMaio and Eric Adams still made up the true core of the band, and we knew Karl Logan had been replaced (for obvious reasons we won’t get into here) by a fan of the band, Evandro ‘E. V. Martel’ Moraes (also in the Brazilian Manowar cover band Kings Of Metal), who looked mysteriously much like Logan, except for the lacking bangs. What took me by surprise though, was that I expected to see my favourite Manowar drummer in place, Donnie Hamzik, but apparently he’s been out of the band again for some time now, and handling drum duties was none other than Anders Johansson from Sweden. We best know Johansson from his five good years with Hammerfall, and given that history, he obviously had no problem getting into the Manowarverse, if you know what I mean.
They all seemed pumped for the show, but it was mainly Adams who got close to the audience - both DeMaio and Martel (or Moraes, if you will) kept more to the back of the stage, with Martel only making a few brief appearances up by the monitors, as he laid down a solo. DeMaio on the other hand, of course came to the front for his talk, his bass solo (which honestly sounded a bit sloppy - so shoot me) and at the end of the show, when it was time to pull the strings off the bass.
All in all though, this setup worked. I wouldn’t have thought it amiss if the string wielders had been a bit more active at the edge of the stage, but Adams had a confident and secure grip of the audience all the way through. And did I mention that I liked that they just kept on playing, without any breaks between songs? I guess i did, but it certainly deserves an extra mention!

“Copenhagen, you know we’re gonna play more, and you’re gonna shout more!”
- DeMaio (bass)

Valby Hallen, a pretty damn large place, was nearly sold out, with people coming in from all over. That, combined with most of the rock bars in town throwing some kind of pre- and/or afterparty, testifies in plenty to the pull this band still sees. And if this wasn’t enough, you could just take a look at the crowd that had shown up - beers were drunk, heads were banged, and good old fun was being had by all. Surprisingly few official hand signs were raised, but there were many hands raised nonetheless, and singing was a’ plenty, not surprisingly. Especially the neo-classic Warriors Of The World United was noted here, as Adams let the audience take over the first couple of verses.
The band presented what they called “a fan-favourites setlist” for the show, and well, yeah. I’m sure a lot of the songs are fan favourites, but at the same time, I’m left thinking - where was that song? Or that one? I mean, honestly, no Battle Hymn? Carry On? For the Gods of Heavy Metal’s sake, no Sign Of The Hammer?! What were they thinking?
Still, there were many classics included, and it was a pretty special moment when they played Swords In The Wind, and the lights were turned lower, while at the same time, the procession of Vikings once more lined up at the top of the wall, bearing torches in hand.

Do I believe this was the last we’ll see of Manowar? Only time will tell, but honestly? Hell no!
Was this a worthy farewell show? With the exception of several songs painfully missing from the setlist, I’d say it was a good swing.
More importantly though, was this the perfect Manowar concert? No, it wasn’t. But it was pretty darned near, and I expect, as near as they’re ever going to get. And that’s fine enough for me.

Setlist:

March Of The Heroes To Valhalla
Manowar
Call To Arms
Brothers Of Metal Pt. 1
Thor (The Powerhead)
Blood Of My Enemies
The Gods Made heavy Metal
Hand Of Doom
Swords In The Wind
House Of Death
Sons Of Odin
Solo / Sting Of The Bumblebee (DeMaio)
Fighting The World
The Power Of Thy Sword
Kings Of Metal
Warriors Of The World United
Speech (DeMaio)
Hail And Kill
Black Wind, Fire And Steel
Army Of The Dead, Pt. 2