Sunday 27^th March 2011 was census day here in the U.K. and I'm willing to bet if you asked any one of the baying hoard assembled outside Birmingham's O2 Academy tonight what they had entered as their religion on their application forms, by and large most of them would have replied "HEAVY METAL" probably in some screamed guttural roar.  You see, this first gig in the U.K. in something like 17 years by the self proclaimed 'Kings Of Metal' Manowar, is not so much a night out for this audience; it's a bloody way of life. I swear if you cut one of these guys or gals, they will bleed molten metal.

Having personally lost touch with what you might call the contemporary Heavy Metal scene some time ago, the prospect of finally being able to see Manowar live meant that I was willing to make that extra effort and set sail for the open seas (for that read roads) towards England's second city, THE true spiritual home of Heavy Metal. With the show having sold out months in advance, I perhaps foolishly didn't realise that the resulting queue to get in would stretch half way back to the city's Jewellery Quarter and it wasn't even 7 O'clock. So I soon found myself propping up the bar in a rather splendid watering hole called the Craven Arms talking to a gang of lads from Stoke about all things Manowar, and rather spookily, an Uber Rock badge one of the guys was wearing. A few pints and loads of gig anecdotes later, having finally decided to join the queue, which was by now was still over a hundred deep, I discovered the reason for tonight's delays, security were operating a zero tolerance on cameras within the venue, "Fuck what about my camera?  I'm not walking back to the car now". 

With a quick repositioning of the H-Bomb undercarriage, said camera and yours truly finally made it into the venue (which by now was resembling an area that sardines would consider 'roomy'), and with barely enough time to pick my jaw up off the floor at the prices being charged for T Shirts, Manowar were unleashing the unmistakable crescendo of their signature tune 'Manowar'.  Finally taking up a position just in front of Karl Logan, what followed was nothing short of a Heavy Metal master class as Adams, DeMaio and Hamzik took us back to 1982, unveiling the rest of their classic debut pretty much in track order.  I cannot remember a time when I have glanced around a venue and seen quite so many smiling faces, or in fact windmilling haircuts as I did during the final bars of 'Battle Hymns'. Boy that really was a sight to behold I can tell you. One such face/haircut belonged to Scutty Neighbours' Rusty Chaos who reliably informed me that having seen the set list he wasn't peaking too early tonight.

Having been away with the Heavy Metal Fairies for a large part of the first forty minutes of the show it was during the first solo of the night (a rather short but sweet piece from Karl) that I realised that some people around me were disappearing, never to return to their spots, something very odd considering that just a few minutes earlier they were pulling some of the most extreme metal faces I've ever seen and loving every minute of the show. Then I realised that what I thought was the band's subtle use of lasers during their light show was in fact roadies singling out people for ejection from the hall for simply for taking a few pictures. Perhaps what the band should do, out of courtesy to these unfortunate people, is give them fair warning by changing the lyrics of 'Metal Warriors' to, "Wimps posers and fans with cameras leave the hall."  I mean c'mon guys, having paid £40 for their tickets and £35 (yup that's right, £35) for a T Shirt, surely a couple of pictures of their heroes isn't going to break the Royal Bank of Manowar is it?

Back to the music and for the rest of the band's two and a quarter hours spent on stage tonight, the time is spent pretty much delving into their extensive back catalogue that almost exclusively revolves around the subject matter of Manowar and how great that subject matter is.  Perhaps I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for tracks like 'Heart of Steel' and 'The Power' but I'm not going to knock the almost faultless delivery from the guys and the slightly decreased in number Army of Immortals simply lap this stuff up... so what the fuck?  Particular praise I think should be given to Eric Adams, who at 56 and maybe not exactly the most engaging frontman, still possesses one of the best set of metal pipes around delivering the screams within 'Kill With Power' like a man half his age, something a lot of his peers simply cannot match these days.

Finishing their main set with a trump card like 'Hail To England' was always going to bring the house down, and looking to the balcony where tonight the press and guests were sat (surely a trick was missed here for V.I.P Road Warrior packages guys... c'mon you're slipping!) even they were stood as one to celebrate the set's fitting climax.

Returning for a four song encore it was only during the closing 'Black Wind, Fire and Steel' (which oddly 23 years on still reminds me of early Queen) where I had to make my way to the back of the hall that I realised just how loud tonight had been, I mean the walls behind me were literally shaking.  Proof indeed of the live force that Manowar truly are.  Leaving the stage with a promise to "Not leave it as long next time around", I for one would certainly hope not, as seeing four blokes in their seventies playing this stuff might just be a step too far even for those who would declare Heavy Metal as their religion. On the strength of tonight I am happy to tick Manowar off my list of bands to see before I die safe in the knowledge that I'd witnessed a truly epic musical performance.

Hail and Kill.