Accept - Live at the Islington O2 Academy 26/05/10
We say :-
Of all the recent reformations and come back tours, one of the least expected was German Heavy
Metal legends Accept. Here were a band that could always be relied upon to deliver predictable,
technical heavy metal belted out by an amazingly talented band fronted by one of Metals better
vocalists Udo Dirkschneider.
But that was then, and this clearly isn't. Is the world really ready for another 80s Heavy Metal
comeback, and do these guys have anything new to offer....
Well, Yes and No.
OK, so the decent sized crowd that turned up may have been initially motivated by nostalgia and
curiosity but once the band hit their stride it became clear there was definitely an appetite for
this brand of no-fucking-about Metal. Accept don't push boundaries or move away from their roots,
but by god they put on a good show.
Here we have a band who haven't felt the need to change their sound for this particular reunion in
order to fit in with any fashion. And if the truth be told, we wouldn't want them to. That's not to
say that they have become a parody of their former selves. This isn't a Steel Panther type 'joke'.
Accept were always a symbol of all the things that were least fashionable about metal, and thank god
that hasn't changed.
This was a show straight out of the late 80s, even down to the classically inspired guitar solo by
Wolf Hoffman. I mean can you see anyone else slipping a bit of Maurice Ravel into THEIR solo ? This wasn't
a demonstration in fretboard wankery, it was a proper old fashioned intermission.
You know, the sort that enhances the gig, rather than stopping it. Brilliant.
I know that we were all looking forward to the gig, but I don't think anyone was expecting Accept
to slay the way they did. It was just amazing and it certainly took a few of us back to our younger
days, transported on the wings of a Flying-V :)
But, without Udo could it actually still be Accept, or had they become their own tribute band ?
Well the new songs like 'Teutonic Terror' fitted into the set perfectly, and to be honest Mark Tornillo
looked the part, acted the part and absolutely sounded the part.
Most importantly by the time they had blasted through 'Fast as a shark' and 'Balls to the wall'
any lingering doubts about the band's legitimacy were completely blown away....
Udo who ?
We all forget, in these days of Hardcore, Metalcore, Mathcore and Oafcore, where the music came from.
At this time, in this place, Accept reminded us.
