Stratovarius may have been the official headliner of the day, but come on - Ross the Boss doing a full Manowar set, how could that be topped? Honestly?
It couldn’t, not for us anyway, and we were ready in the frontline as the quartet entered as the last band of the day on the Realm Of Might & Magic main stage.

If anyone in the room was unsure as to what they were in for, which I highly doubt anyone was, the band laid down the law with Blood Of The Kings. The scream of the guitar, the scream of Marc Lopes, and definitely the scream of the fans, it all set the bar for what would turn out to be an excellent show that easily topped everything else seen this day. It was everything we’d want from a Manowar show, but something even Manowar themselves have trouble delivering in full nowadays - all of the unadulterated fun, none of the silliness and eye-rolling moments.
Since the last time we saw them, I’ve noticed that Dirk Schlächter is now a full-time member (hell yeah), and while Sean Elg was still with them on stage here, the band now has another Manowar alum in Kenny ‘Rhino’ Edwards behind the drums. While it would have been cool to see Rhino here, I can’t say that I was disappointed to to see Elg again, as both times I’ve seen him now, he’s proven to be one of the coolest and best performing drummers out there - not only delivering on the instrument, but really getting in on delivering the entertainment as well, and that’s not something we often see. Ross ‘The Boss’ Friedman of course the man it all revolves around, and he too was on fire this night.

This show had, for one reason or the other, not pulled as big a crowd as the previous two main stage concerts, but there were still quite a few around to raise the roof, and that was exactly what was going on, especially up front. Fists were raised, heads were banged, and songs were sung - or shouted, depending on the quality of the voices used. The latter of these was of course simplified by the rocking super hit list of a setlist the band had created, and at one time especially, this was a help for the band even. Guyana (Cult Of The Damned) made a live debut here, and apparently Lopes didn’t have the lyrics completely down yet, but together with the fans, they pulled it off and in the end it was a spectacular addition to the tracklist.

Both Friedman and Schlächter got time to jam and have a bit of fun, but both kept it relatively short and to the point, leaving room for more songs and without stopping the overall flow of the concert. Honestly, it was such a blast drinking beer and bellowing along to all the well known songs with my brothers and sisters of metal beside me, this concert was one of the shining highlights of the entire festival, and the best one of the day. Epic indeed!

Setlist:

Blood Of The Kings (Manowar cover)
The Oath (Manowar cover)
Sign Of The Hammer (Manowar cover)
Thor (The Powerhead) (Manowar cover)
Blood Of My Enemies (Manowar cover)
Kings Of Metal (Manowar cover)
Mountains (Manowar cover)
Guyana (Cult Of The Damned) (Manowar cover)
Black Wind, Fire And Steel (Manowar cover)
All Men Play On 10 (Manowar cover)
Battle Hymn (Manowar cover)
Fighting The World (Manowar cover)
Hail And Kill (Manowar cover)