U.D.O. - Live in Bulgaria 2020: Pandemic Survival Show
Album review by; Nick
Release Date – March 19th 2021
Live shows post March 2020 were exceedingly rare as you know and while we were treated to several online streams with no crowd etc, it did not feel the same and seeing the awkwardness of the bands performing being painful to watch also. But there was one show that got away. Recorded at the Roman Amphitheatre Plovdiv on September 18th, 2020 recorded In front of 2,500 fans the ex-Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider and his band U.D.O. were about to take to the stage and give the Bulgarian fans a night they would never forget.
I have been an Accept fan for many years but often overlooked the U.D.O. catalogue, so when the opportunity came to review this album, I was straight on it. From the opening track Tongue Reaper, I knew it was going to be two hours of no-nonsense metal assault, turning the headphones up and ready for my ears to take a battering in a very pleasant way.
A lot of hard work was put into the production of this show. Given the time it was recorded also we were in the height of a pandemic which meant that all the restrictions etc needed to be put into place to pull off the show of the year.
The band are in full flight here and you can tell they are so happy to be up there after being locked down for months on end. Performing to the fans, they truly sound like a young band freshly formed, full of energy, loud and in your face. Tearing through songs off their most recent album at the time Steelfactory while also dipping into some older material going all the way back to 1987’s debut album Animal House.
Udo gives the rest of the band their shining moment with a great drum solo from his son Sven Dirkschnieder. Sven really knows how to get the crowd going and is a beast on the drum kit showing his hard-hitting style and skills to perfection, the solo Segways into a Bass Solo from Tilen Hudrap with more crowd participation. You can really tell the crowd are having an amazing time and the whole feel of the show is almost liberating and an optimistic sign of better times ahead.
The true highlight on this album is of course the Accept covers and they are not stingy with them either. They cover two songs from Metal Heart including the title track. Two from fan favourite album Restless And Wild and the title track from Balls To The Wall to which they close the show with.
I have really enjoyed this album and even though there were few shows in 2020, in a perfect world, I still think this would be my show of the year. Two and a half hours goes faster than you can imagine and all 25 songs on the album are absolute killer. I turned on the headphones to this album as an Accept fan. I finished the album as a U.D.O. fan, the man has still got it and I would love to catch this band live. Just as soon as we can.
I was sitting in my living room listening to this, but when I shut my eyes, I am in Plovdiv with 2,500 screaming Bulgarian’s arms in arm, smiles on our faces having the time of my life. I can honestly say this live album is highly likely to be one of my live albums of 2021.
Album Rating 5/5
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