I had the pleasure of seeing the triple bill of Black Star Riders, Saxon, and Judas Priest on April 11th at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland, CO. Fellow writer Bakko just reviewed this concert last week and I agree with his opinion of the show, especially about Priest. You can read that review HERE.
In an attempt to not be repetitive, I am going to offer 13 observations and “facts” about the show. I am also going to focus only on Black Star Riders and Saxon as their respective managers are the awesome humans who hooked me up with press passes.
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Biff Byford of Saxon. Pointing.
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1-Arm and Index Finger Fact: Saxon’s Biff Byford is unable to sing unless he is pointing to the sky. He did it 683 times.
2-Little known untrue fact: Robert Zemeckis is a huge Saxon fan and the character Biff in Back to the Future is based on him.
3-Geographic Fact: Saxon is a band from a country that isn’t this one. It’s called England and it’s an island.
4-Fake Names Fact: All members of Saxon use stage names. As reported first by Bakko, there are 3 men named Nigel in the band. Their real full names are Felix Honeybun, Nigel Pickles, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nigel Birtwhistle, and Nigel Ramsbottom.
5-Fashion Fact: Biff Byford and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick shop at the same coat store.
6-Venue Fact: The Budweiser Event Center sells Budweiser. Other options are Coors Light and the putrid Bud Light LIME. And that’s it. No alternatives from the microbrew industry they bought like Goose Island so I couldn’t get a proper buzz. The capacity of the venue is 7,000 and it looked to be about 80% filled. So good on them.
7-Geographic Fact #2: Loveland is not located in Denver. It is 55 miles away. Therefore you should not say “Hello Denver!” when on stage. You earn that right when your show is IN DENVER. So come there next time.
8-Painful Fact: Black Star Riders needs a new guy on the mixing board. The sound was piercing in the high end and buried the vocals and quality of their performance.
9-Setlist Fact: Black Star Riders only played “Heavy Fire” and “When the Night Comes In” from their latest album which I love. But, hey, they have other material and it was only a 7 songs set.
10-Old People Love Sitting Fact: Ricky Warwick was energetic as was the entire band and they tried to get everyone off their ass but were not able until the last song. And that’s even with playing “Jailbreak” as the second song.
11-Who Cares The Audience is Old and Tired: Security had the day off. Seriously. And the guys scanning your ticket to get inside were all born during World War II. I’m not even sure why they sold seats on the floor as nobody was in them. The aisles were filled, nobody was even checking tickets when you walked onto the floor (no wristbands, etc.) and everyone was pressed against the barricade without any security dudes with crossed arms. All three Nigels could’ve been tackled at once.
12-Old People Can Still Get Drunk as Fuck: A fight broke out in front of me between two intoxicated and mental midgets for about 5 minutes. Many punches thrown. And tackling. Security never showed up. Because there wasn’t any.
13-Saxon and Black Star Riders both have new albums. You should buy them. Saxon – Thunderbolt | Black Star Riders – Heavy Fire
