Saxon – Roundhouse, London – 19th October 2018

After waiting for almost 2 years for them to be back, finally the heavy metal idols Saxon have made it back to their mother country. Celebrating their 40-year anniversary made their show a “not allowed to be missed”, promising two hours of hot flaming action in a marvelous venue, joined by the mighty FM and Wayward Sons.

Friday night fever down in London, with a huge queue waiting outside the venue early on and the Roundhouse being full even when Wayward Sons hit the stage. Top quality, happy atmosphere and energetic stage appearance – these people have it all. Even though they had only a short time to showcase their work, they managed to cheer up the crowd and I saw lots of heads and bodies shaking to their upbeat music. Would definitely say that they were an excellent opening band, even with their limited stage space. I can admit I got scared when Toby Jepson (the frontman) threw his guitar away to one of the crew-members, but the crowd seemed to have enjoyed the performance and the “stunts”.

Second on were FM, bringing up the heat. Even though I only saw them recently in London, their performance was once again perfectly polished and uplifting. They kicked off their performance with lots of energy, enthusiasm and of course, plenty of keyboards. Once again, I could not help but notice how clear and amazing the vocals are, hitting every note on spot and making the crowd dance and sing along to almost the entire set, including the all time favourite classics “That Girl”, “Tough It Out” and “I Belong to the Night”.

Last but not least, the stage expanded finally to show its full potential, when Saxon came on stage thunderous and ready to deliver one of the best performances of the year. Promising a restless two hour set, with their hits throughout their whole career, Saxon kicked off their performance with “Thunderbolt”, delivering pure power. All of the members jump up and down on the stage, run from one corner to the other, headbang restlessly and engage with the crown in every single riff and drum-beat. Their long but brilliant setlist included songs as “Motorcycle Man”, “Battering Ram”, “Power and the Glory”, “Never Surrender”, “747”, “Crusader”, “Princess of the Night” (how could that be left out?) and encore “The Eagle has Landed”, “Wheels of Steel” and “Denim and Leather”, along with some other songs. Even though they went beyond the curfew, they left the crowd still wanting more. Overall, I think we all agree that we can’t wait to see them again.

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About Charis Bagioki