Hearing It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) by AC/DC roll out of the speakers onto a dark Metaldays valley, and echo between the Slovenian Alps, marked the end of the first day at this years’ festival, as Saxon was getting ready to close the main stage down for the night.

“It’s good to be here in Slovenia! How are you doing?”
- Peter Rodney ‘Biff’ Byford (vocals)

Motorcycles roaring through the speakers was then heard as a second intro, and it announced the opening song Motorcycle Man.
The band entered much like they always do, and took their positions, in which they stayed more or less throughout. With the one exception being bassist Timothy ‘Nibbs’ Carter of course, that man cannot be tied down!
As usual, he was pretty much the life of the performance, but the rest of the gang did their part as well, they just weren’t as mobile as Carter.
Besides Fear Factory, who played the stage just before Saxon, being the headliner of the day, Saxon had an equally long time to play in, and they used it well. Byford spoke some of course, but mostly we saw and heard one good old NWOBHM song after the other being pumped out, with surprisingly good sound. It seemed that the mandatory first day mistakes that had popped up during the day, had finally been ironed out, securing a smooth ride for Saxon.

“Thanks for staying ‘round and watching, we’re on the late shift today!”
- Byford (vocals)

Another difference that was noticeable from the earlier bands of the day, headliner included, was that Saxon had pulled a massive amount of people straight from the start – this was quite possibly the largest collected audience of the entire day.
It wasn’t the liveliest crowd however, but this can easily be attributed to the late hour in which Saxon was playing. Still, Metaldays appreciated the classic metal, and showed through raised fists, horns, and shouts.
For my own part, I had a hard time getting into it, but this is definitely due to me being dog tired at this point, because Saxon did a good job with the show, and deserved all the applause they got. Hell, Princess Of The Night even had an impressive sing along section in the beginning of the song!

Setlist (incomplete):

It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) (AC/DC song)
Motorcycle Man
Sacrifice
Power And The Glory
Heavy Metal Thunder
20,000 Feet
Crusader
Princess Of The Night
Wheels Of Steel