Iron Fire was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of their debut album, Thunderstorm, and they had clearly decided to do so in style!
Playing the full album from one end to the other, and with the entire original ensemble gathered, this was clearly a night to remember.

Iron Fire had been supported by Forcentury, who had done a good job and thus our moods were already in a good place when Denmark’s possibly hardest working power metal act Iron Fire were ready to take the stage.
Iron Fire was as always led through the turns by singer and only remaining original member Martin Steene, but it was also easy to recognize guitarist Kristian ‘Iver’ Iversen, as he had been seen on stage already once this night (Iversen is at present the bassist of Forcentury).
The crowd had grown considerably as the night moved on, and although The Rock was some way from being sold out, a fair amount of people had still decided to show up and show their support for the band. This was rewarded by Steene who at several points let the audience do the singing in the well-known choruses of When The Heroes Fall, Metal Victory and the like. Well, I say well-known, but at one point when Steene put the mic to the lips of one fairly lively man in the front something was shouted which not even he himself could guess what it was!
Since the entire album was to be played, not only the live-classics were put to the test however, some songs like the opener The Final Crusade and Behind The Mirror had actually never been played live before at all.
There was also time for some anecdotes from ancient history between songs; Glory To The King was introduced as the oldest ever Iron Fire, and Steene (in a not too sincere way) told us he had written it when he was about 7 years old.
After Riding Free, final song on the album had been played, the band left the stage, and we were left wondering; what happened to the title track, the unmistakable Thunderstorm?

Not long after their departure, the band made its return however. Only, this time it was with the current line-up of the band. Marc Masters was of course missing from guitar-duty, as the band and he had parted ways by the end of last year; therefore a live stand-in had been found for the show (was it Martin Dupont he was called?)…
This version of the band went on to perform three songs picked from the latest two releases of Iron Fire, Blade Of Triumph and To The Grave, and it was clear that it was this line-up which felt more comfortable playing together. As mentioned in earlier reviews bassist Martin Lund just seems to have a blast on stage, and the stand-in did a great job as well, albeit his personal style would fit better in a glam/sleaze band…

Finally, the time had come for the mighty Thunderstorm to rage through the halls of The Rock, and it did so in true Manowar inspired manner with both line-ups of the band playing together at the same time, or at least as many as the stage could hold. Drummer and bassist had to be changed half-way through as there simply wasn’t any more room for them!
The change was done during a mid-song drumsolo performed by both drummers at the same time and on the same drumkit, something I’m sure I’ve never seen before and probably never will again…
This also made room for an introduction of all the band-members, and as always during this sort of thing each member would do a quick solo on their instrument; this sadly failed miserably for the present guitarist Kirk Backarach as the tech screwed up and no sound was heard from his instrument…
After the show you could stick around for a formidable metal-disco and some foosball with some of the musicians, if you felt like it.

I am impressed with all the effort and professionalism Steene dedicates to his band (as I think it is safe to call it by now), and even though not everyone of the old guys seemed to have the greatest stage-experience anymore, the fact that so much had been done to create a one-of-the-kind evening for us can only be applauded.
The only thing left to ask is, why wasn’t Under Jolly Roger played..?

Setlist:

The Final Crusade
When The Heroes Fall
Rise Of The Rainbow
Metal Victory
Behind The Mirror
Warriors Of Steel
The Battle Of Freedom
Glory To The King
Angel Of Light
Until The End
Riding Free
The Beast From The Blackness
To The Grave
Blade Of Triumph
Thunderstorm