KINGS
OF METAL LIVE IN MOSCOW
on
5th of December 1999 a.t.b.b.
(DK
Gorbunova)
Yeah, here they are,
true kings of metal, the MANOWAR!
In fact, I was really
stunned when someone told me that this legendary band comes to Moscow in
December… Since MARDUK and ANGEL CORPSE failed to come over here (b.t.w.,
I was telling everyone that I will buy the ticket on the “Panzer Division”
guys’ gig only when I see them moving to the club they were going to play
at… and the same went for MANOWAR, since I just couldn’t believe that I
will ever see them live in my hometown), I didn’t buy the ticket (it was
impossible to get an accreditation, by the way) until the last day before
the show. They were going to play for two days, while I decided it might
be better to come on the second one. And I believe, I was right somehow,
since the rumors tell that there was a hell of a crowd on the first day
and few guys were just fucking smashed by the crowd, so MANOWAR even had
to stop playing (b.t.w., Joey DeMaio smashed one of the securities with
his bass, heh heh) and ask the fans and security to calm down. Anyway,
I came at DK Gorbunova (one of the best metal clubs in Moscow… although,
this is not actually a club, but something a way more…) 
somewhere
at 19:00 (an hour before the gig began) going to have a couple of beers
because it was really cold outside… BUT. THERE WAS NO BEER. Can you believe
this? The ones who arranged the show decided that it’s better to have no
beer at all, otherwise they would have the same insane crowd… Fuck them.
I was really disappointed, but there wasn’t much time to condemn ViewSonic
and others responsible for the concert’s arrangement – the show began sooner
than I expected. In the beginning there was some classical music playing
(Wagner, I believe?), while the hall was almost in total darkness. Some
ten minutes passed and the show began! MANOWAR appeared on the stage… Should
I say that almost all of those who were in the hall went utterly mad?!
Me too, by the way… I stood, looked at the stage, listened to these oh
so familiar tunes and even then couldn’t believe my eyes and ears… MANOWAR
played for nearly two hours but, despite the fact that usually it seems
to be rather long time, I looked at my watch and said “what the hell?!
Did they really play for 120 minutes and I didn’t even notice that so much
time passed?!”. Do I have name all the songs they performed? I guess not.
I’ll just say that MANOWAR played almost all of their classics, both from
oldest and newest albums of theirs (from “Battle Hymns” to “Louder Than
Hell”), although I feel I should admit that old songs, like “Blood Of My
Enemies” or “Gates Of Valhalla”, prevailed over such tracks as “The Gods
Made Heavy Metal”… Somewhere at “Hail And Kill” I also went insane (finally!)
and started headbanging… All the show, all the tracks turned into something
one and common, and those impressions of mine were really fantastic… Without
doubts, it was the best show I ever attended!!!
Well, what to add…?
In the end Joey cut all of the strings by his own hands… And yeah, somewhere
in the mid of the show Eric called up one of the guys from the crowd… then
came the talk like this: “Do you play guitar?” – “Yeah”. “Ok, come here…”.
Then this guy and Joey had some kind of competition in beer-drinking and
(what a shame!) it seems like the Russian guy failed miserably… “Is it
your first time to drink beer? Well, nevermind, just keep in mind that
you should drink more in future” – these are the words of Joey (well, I
can’t say that I cite him exactly, but the principal idea was like that).
Then he called up the girl with big tits and telling this Russian dude
something like “I guess, you need some inspiration” made her naked… He
gave the guy a guitar and this shithead began to play something truly incomprehensible…
But soon his guitar fortunately was shut down and he disappeared – while
MANOWAR followed on with performing their classics. What else… 
During
all the show they took most pretty girls from the crowd and led them somewhere
behind their stage… and I could understand this. But whatta ‘bout a 10
or 12-year kid who was also taken there??? Ha ha. By the way, one of my
girlfriends told me that these guys are really good in drinking vodka (she
stayed with ‘em after the Saturday’s gig all the night)… Well, I respect
that, ha ha! The only thing I’ll add goes for the following: I never saw
any major (or “legendary” – you choose) band who treat their fans in such
a favorable way… And it’s one more thing which made me to respect the guys
at MANOWAR even more than ever before.
In the end they presented
all their live crew and played a couple of songs in addition… I came out
of the hall being absolutely knocked down – in such a way that I didn’t
even recall my disappointment regarding the lack of beer at the club… And
besides; I got drunk later anyway.
All in all, this
was absolutely, totally, utterly killer, stunning, exciting, splendid,
tremendous, magnificent show… Definitely the best one I ever saw. And perhaps
the best one I will ever see...........................
Article
written by Herr Stalhammar