Udo Dirkschneider @ Waterfront

I always knew this gig was going to be special. Seeing living metal legend Udo, former vocalist with Teutonic terrors Accept almost 30 years to the day since I last saw him was always going to be about revisiting my formative music years and bellowing along to songs I’ve known for decades. This wasn’t the gig for chin scratching and pondering life’s big questions. The added bonus of this show was we also got to see Anvil as main support. Anvil who we all fell in love with when the documentary came out and who for a while in the early 80’s seemed destined for greatness.

As the lights dimmed and the music began it took me a moment to realise that Anvil main man Lips was standing on the floor mere feet away from me, soloing and gurning for the duration of the opening number. What an entrance! Immediately the atmosphere was set and I spent the next 50 mins with a massive shit eating grin plastered across my face. Rarely have I seen someone enjoying what they do more than Lips – 3 songs in and I’m SHOUTING along to Badass Rock ‘n’ Roll. An extended version of Mothra allowed Lips to break out his trademark (honestly) vibrator for an amusing spin on ‘bottle-neck’ guitar playing. Swing Thing gave powerhouse drummer Robb Reiner the opportunity to showcase his incredible skills. A pioneer of heavy metal double bass drumming he showed real dexterity and exactly why he inspired so many drummers that followed him. Bassist Chris Robertson pulled some of the strangest faces I’ve ever seen on stage, but man could he play – like a metal Jaco Pastorious on his 5 string. By the time Metal On Metal ended their set Anvil had completely blown us all away. They may not have the strongest material, but they entertain hugely and it had the feel of a headlining set. I could have gone home at that point and not felt shortchanged.

As far as I’m concerned Balls To The Wall and Metal Heart are right up there with the very best metal albums the 80’s produced, as good as anything that Maiden, Priest or Motorhead were putting out. Udo may no longer be in Accept but for many of us his voice IS Accept and the chance to hear him singing these classic songs for the final time was not one to be missed. From the moment Starlight began until the final song two hours later Udo and his crack band of metal mercenaries delivered a set of precision metal. You could knock down buildings with this stuff. Udo’s voice is a thing of wonder – a sandpaper yowl that makes Brian Johnson sound like Rick Astley, but delivered with such astonishing ease I could almost not believe the short bald man on stage was producing it. The guitarists were technically brilliant and played all of the Accept songs note perfectly and with an obvious sense of enjoyment. One of them rocked a zebra print guitar, something I don’t see enough of in 2016. Picking highlights is like being asked to choose a favourite child, but Breaker was blistering, Princess Of The Dawn was monumental, Son Of A Bitch was crushing and T.V. War transported me back to that gig back in ’86 – who says time travel hasn’t been invented?