This was the release party for the new album, To The Grave, by Denmark's if not only then at least most active power metal-band, Iron Fire.

Already as we entered The Rock was brimming with activity; the crowd was huge compared to so many other shows I have seen here as of late. The merchandise stand was selling shirts, both old and new, and I saw a lot of their albums on display, including the new one both in its normal and digipack form.
Also, before the real show started the new album was played in its entirety over the speakers, an untraditional but good way to warm up before the concert.

And then in came the band. And it was good.
The band was obviously thrilled to be out playing and promoting their new album, which singer Martin Steene at several points made an effort in getting people to buy in order to, by his own words "...sponsor my new Ferrari. Or at least a bicycle..."
So, the humour was present as well tonight, and the power of the impact the music was making was not to be mistaken. The large crowd was on its feet right from the start and rocking along to new songs as well as the old classics. The atmosphere was as good as it gets.
A large moshpit was ravaging the floor and at least a couple of people made their way up to the band in order to stage-dive back into the fray.

It wasn't just the release of the new album which made this a special day by the way, which was soon obvious to anyone (myself included) who might have missed it. It was also Martins birthday. And what better way could it be spent than on stage in front of friends and admirers?
At several points the crowd broke out singing unprovoked Danish birthday songs, and towards the end of the show his closest friends and family was invited to the stage to join in as his mother started the big sing-along happy birthday with following Hoorah's.

Apart from what was sung for Martin there were at several points great shouts of Fritz (this being their drummer Fritz Wagner) heard, but the reason for this, unless it was by his close friends, was a bit more unclear.
However, he and the rest of the band were also a big part of making this an entertaining show; I was probably most impressed by the bassist Martin Lund, who has great stage-precense. A personal note here could be that I have, during several shows from several bands of late, noticed that the bassist of the band is usually the liveliest player on stage; I wonder what the reason for this could be? Anyway, back to the concert.
It is good to see that Martin has finally assembled a somewhat stable group around himself, Fritz Wagner being the only new addition, and long time brothers-in-arms Martin Lund and guitarist Kirk Backarach on guitars.

As the first stop of the concert Blade Of Triumph was played, and this song also saw Martin draw the Claymore they had hanging from the drums and swing it around a couple of times while singing. But of course no Iron Fire gig would be complete without Thunderstorm, so as no big surprise the band soon re-entered the stage for a couple of encore songs. Missing from the set however was the old time live-classic cover Under Jolly Roger by German metal pirates Running Wild. It wouldn't hurt hearing that one again, and I had thought they would play it for sure, as I had seen that they had even brought an old time cannon up as part of the stage decoration. But there you are.
The night was ended with a long metal disco in good German style, with a lot of headbanging and more drinking than your body allows...

Setlist:

When The Heroes Fall
Metal Messiah
Cover The Sun
Mindmachine
Kill For Metal
Bridges Will Burn
Legend Of The Magic Sword
To The Grave
The Beast From The Blackness
Steel Invaders
The Demon Master
Blade Of Triumph
Prince Of Agony
Thunderstorm