Live Photos and Gig Review Credit: Adrian Hextall (Photographer/Live Gig reporter Myglobalmind Webzine
Doro Pesch is a living legend according to the band’s Facebook page. The renowned Queen of Heavy Metal has now received the “Legends-Award” at the “Golden Gods Awards” on July 17th 2013. Then, on September 13th in Berlin 2013 Doro received the “Legend” Award from Metal Hammer Germany. So tonight at the O2 Academy in Islington, London we are indeed in regal company.
Before DORO (the band) take to the stage fellow German metallers NullDB help liven up an already enthusiastic crowd.
nullDB
Mixing NuMetal elements with solid precise German riffing nullDB provide the perfect opening set of the night.
nulldB gained national attention in Germany to in 2008 for the first time by winning the ” German Rock and pop rice ” (category ” Hard n Heavy” ) in Friedrichshafen. Their debut album arrived late in 2009 and they now find themselves touring with DORO in support of latest release “Endzeit”.
Although the band have stated that the phrase “sounds like …. ” cannot be stated in relation to nulldB, the solid riffing and distinctly German approach to the music does make them sound like a younger, fresher Rammstein, something I’m sure is not, in fact, a bad thing. There is a great blend of smooth and growling vocal delivery from Franky Kühnlein allowing the band to comfortably move between Nu Metal stylings of Linkin Park and as noted the anthemic hardness of their fellow Germans.
For those of us that speak no German, the music is still tremendously catchy and pulls the listener into the performance. The overall performance is aided in no small part by the body painted look of Mischa Matveev with half of his torso painted black and the other side white. Matze Hottinger helps complete the look at the front of the stage with his typically metal ‘beard and leather’ outfit topped off with a kilt.
To keep things in line for the main act tonight, they also launch into a quick rendition of ‘All We Are’ to further motivate the crowd and it’s also great to hear Hendrix cover ‘Purple Haze’ as well mid set.
For fans of Rammstein and German metal generally, nullDB are worth checking out.
MEMBERS:
Franky Kühnlein – Lead Vocals, Guitars
Mischa Matveev – Voc., Guitars
Matze Hottinger – Voc., Bass
Fabi Angermüller – Drums & Percussion
LINKS:
DORO
Doro Pesch has received multiple gold and platinum awards for about 10 million sold records, played over 2.800 live shows and delivered to fans some 16 studio records. With those numbers it is no surprise therefore that we find her celebrating 30 years in the industry.
Since ‘Triumph and Agony’ gave her and Warlock international success in 1987 with both ‘All We Are’ and ‘Für Immer’ proving so popular they get aired at almost every show nowadays, there has been no stopping Doro’s rise to her rightful position as Metal Queen.
The current tour is dedicated the Metal Queen’s big 30-years “Throne-Jubilee” and as such we are treated tonight with a wonderful run through of her past and present ably assisted by mainstays Johnny Dee and Nick Douglas who have played with her since the 1990’s.
The sound and lighting tonight shows off a team that have many years and gigs under their belt and everything runs like clockwork with the first track ‘I Rule The Ruins’ reminding us instantly why we fell in love with the DORO/WARLOCK sound from an early age. By the second song, Doro has already jumped down into the photopit and is high fiving the audience members straining over the security barrier to reach her. Several opportunities to allow the crowd members to shout the chorus down the mic later and she returns to the stage to continue the celebrations.
Although celebrating 30 years of music, the setlist is not played chronologically which allows for tracks such as ‘Burning the Witches’ to sit comfortably next to modern classics like ‘Night of The Warlock’. A lot of bands that have been playing this long often find they are forced to play “the songs the crowd want to hear” at the expense of new material. Not tonight though. Such is the consistent quality of output from DORO over the years, the new material seamlessly blends with the old and it all sounds tremendously fresh.
‘Raise Your Fist in the Air’ gets everyone in the room to do just that and ‘Metal Tango’ has everyone bouncing up and down as they dance along to it. There are some nice touches with a tribute to Ronnie James Dio in the shape of ‘Egypt’
‘East meets West’ is then followed by Für Immer and sees the whole crowd singing as one with the band during this timeless classic. A drum solo from Johnny gives the rest of the band time to catch their breath before they return to perform a great rendition of ‘We are the Metalheads’ written for the Wacken festival’s 20th Anniversary in 2009.
The main set finishes as expected with a great 2 song blend of Priest’s ‘Breaking the Law’ that DORO have essentially made “their own” which then segues into ‘All We Are’ and the crowd goes wild. The song is so popular with the fans that the band have been known to play it more than once on several occasions if the demand is there. Tonight however and the need to fit some 22 songs into the set and be finished by closing time does not afford this luxury.
Typically UK audiences only ever see DORO play festivals to it was a real honour to see the band in a smaller more intimate venue, filled with like minded fans all wanting to celebrate 30 years of the Metal Queen. Excellent stuff.
SETLIST:
I Rule the Ruins
Earthshaker Rock
Burning the Witches
Fight for Rock
The Night of the Warlock
Raise Your Fist in the Air
Metal Racer
Without You
Metal Tango
Burn It Up
Egypt (The Chains Are On) (Dio cover)
East Meets West
Für Immer
Out of Control
Drum Solo
Wacken Hymne (We are the Metalheads) (Skyline cover)
Revenge
Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
All We Are
Love Me in Black
Unholy Love
Evil
DORO MEMBERS:
Doro Pesch – Vocals
Johnny Dee – Drums
Luca Princiotta – Guitar, Keyboards
Nick Douglas – Bass
Bas Maas – Guitars
Harrison Young – Keyboard
LINKS:
About Author
