Live: Magic Circle Festival - Bad Arolsen, Germany - 10th - 12th July 2008

The Magic Circle Festival is unique, as it is a festival that is organised and put together by a band and it's very own record label. The band in question are the legendary warriors of metal, MANOWAR. Worldwide, opinions are divided over MANOWAR. This is a band who have never conformed to popular ways, and have always had their own ways of doing things.

The festival is a 3 day event, and takes place in an festival park come industrial estate, near the small German town of Bad Arolsen. The camping is nicely close to the small festival arena, and with plenty of good food and beer on offer, the general organisation of the festival logistics could hardly be faulted. Unlike many of the larger European festivals, the atmosphere was nice and relaxed here with only 1 stage and a little time between bands to take a break.

The first major band to take the stage on night one was the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, now once again featuring vocalist Gary Barden. Although it was great to see Michael Schenker sober and playing well again, the set wasn't the most resounding. Some of the songs from new album 'In The Midst of Beauty' were lost on the German audience, and in all honesty, didn't sound too good. Also, only one UFO classic made the set, as 'Doctor, Doctor' brought a close to the disapointingly short performance. As for Barden's vocals, they sounded tired and worn. On the other hand, Schenker was brilliant with a masterful performance on guitar and a smile on his face, showing that he really is enjoying himself once again.

Next up it was time for another guitar legend, with the patriotic American TED NUGENT ready to tear it up. The Nuge played an excellent set, and was in a typically jovial mood. Yes you could easily call him a cocky bastard, but he doesn't half love being on that stage. 'Cat Scratch Fever' is of course the song that everyone recognises, and this was an undoubted highlight of the set. However, although many of the other songs weren't familiar to most, they all sounded good and it was very easy to nod your head along to the rhythm. This was a really enjoyable performance and TED NUGENT is certainly a great guy to have around at a festival.

Headlining the opening night of the Magic Circle festival was ALICE COOPER who put on a magnificent show. Anyone who's seen ALICE COOPER live will know that his live performances are known as much for the theatrical antics as for the music, and despite this being a festival show, all of the theatrics were still in place, making for a fantastic evening of entertainment. The bulk of the set was made up of Alice classics such as 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'I'm Eighteen'. There were also a few newer and heavier tracks thrown in, but the most well known numbers were left right to the end. 'Schools Out', 'Poison' and 'Elected' wrapped up the night in fine style, with Alice rising from the dead after his hanging at the end of the main set. It's just impossible to ever get bored of seeing ALICE COOPER live.

The 2nd day of the Magic Circle did not get off to the best of starts. Rumours started flying round that DEF LEPPARD and WHITESNAKE had cancelled their performances at the festival, which were scheduled for the Saturday evening. Such news was finally confirmed later in the day, with contractual disagreements given as the official reason. However, given that 20,000 plus were expected at the festival, and only a little more than half that turned up, it appeared to me as if the festival organisers were looking to cut their losses. After all, the vast majority of the crowd were here to see MANOWAR with any other bands being a bonus. Will we ever know the truth? Probably not.

Of Friday's early bands, MOB RULES were the most impressive with their very own brand of grandiose power metal. Their melodies were excellent, and the song 'Hollowed Be Thy Name' was a real stand out. The first big name to take to the stage was the mighty DORO - yes, the original metal chick! The former WARLOCK vocalist was on top form today and the set really lifted the mood of the crowd. The WARLOCK classics like 'Metal Racer' and 'Burning the Witches' went down a storm, as did DORO's now famous innovative cover of the JUDAS PRIEST classic 'Breaking the Law'.

Next up were shock rockers W.A.S.P. led by their ever over-the-top frontman Blackie Lawless, dressed today in his classic baseball shirt, with his jet black long hair blowing all over the place in the wind. Unfortunately, the start of the W.A.S.P. set was marred with sound problems as the guitars were completely excluded from the sound mix. Fortunately, by the time classics like 'L.O.V.E. Machine' and 'Wildchild' were played, the sound was sorted out and the songs were greeted by a strong reception from the German audience. For unkown reasons, the set was disappointingly reduced to a short 40 minutes, with 'I Wanna Be Somebody' spelling the end. As so often is the case with W.A.S.P. - they were bloody great while they were on stage, but they just weren't on stage long enough.

Given the unenviable task of warming the crowd up for the first of two appearances from MANOWAR were Swiss cock rockers GOTTHARD. This is a band who have quitely been getting on with business for a good few years now, building up an impressive discography, and attracting more and more fans along the way. The GOTTHARD music isn't nearly as heavy as most of the other bands on the festival bill, but their melodies are excellent, and the voice of Steve Lee is one of the best around in melodic rock. The band put in a good performance tonight and surprisingly went down well with the die-hard metal fans in the crowd.

So the time had come, it was time for battle to commence. MANOWAR's night one performance was to include every song from each of their first three albums, 'Battle Hymns', 'Into Glory Ride' and 'Hail to England'. As ever, MANOWAR kept their promise and duly performed each song with an amazing degree of accuracy, and no shortage of class. Some of these tracks hadn't been performed for well over 20 years, yet the band's undoubted rigorous rehearsals paid off as every song was note perfect. A special mention must go to drummer Rhino who filled in for Scott Columbus who was missing due to family bereavements. Coming in cold, Rhino has somehow learned 6 hours worth of material, although I'm no drum expert, to me, it seemed like he didn't put a foot (or a stick) wrong!

MANOWAR are known as the loudest band on the planet, and they lived up to that reputation tonight - this was extremely loud, yet perfectly clear and well balanced. This was the best sound I've ever heard at an outdoor show, and it's a shame the sound wasn't the same for the other bands - but then MANOWAR just have to be bigger and better don't they? After ripping through the 3 albums, MANOWAR returned with a couple more parting shots with the new single 'Die With Honor' played, followed by the anthemic 'Warriors of the World United'. This brought a close to the outstanding 3 hour performance and as I trundled back to the tent, I was licking my lips at the prospect of another 3 hours of MANOWAR the following night.

After the cancellation of DEF LEPPARD and WHITESNAKE, the Saturday line-up looked extremely light. The first band to urge me to venture out into the rain was BRAZEN ABBOT - and this only because of the attraction of former DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW frontman Joe Lynn Turner on vocals. Turner still has a great voice, and his band played a really good set. Although no DEEP PURPLE songs were played, we did get plenty of RAINBOW songs from the Turner period, with 'I Surrender' proving a popular choice - but it was also great to hear some lesser played songs from the underrated 1983 album, 'Bent Out of Shape'. As for the BRAZEN ABBOT material, it was much in the same mould as the RAINBOW stuff, and not too bad at all.

Other than the headliners and BRAZEN ABBOT, the only other band I caught on the Saturday was MAJESTY - who in fact, are nothing more than a clone of their heroes, yes you guessed it, MANOWAR. Lyrically, MAJESTY worship nothing but true heavy metal, and although such lyrics are not going to win you a grammy, the MANOWAR fans duly lapped up every minute. This was officially the final ever live show from MAJESTY, with the band due to undergo a shake up of members, and an impending name change to METALFORCE.

It's hard to give any real praise to MAJESTY as they are one of the most obvious clones of another band that I've ever heard. However, I couldn't help but sing along to tracks like 'Hail to Majesty', 'Keep it True', 'To The Stadiums' and the ridiculously simple 'Metal to the Metalheads'. Ultimately, I enjoyed the MAJESTY set and a thumbs up was in order.

So as the sun went down on the final night of Magic Circle, it was time for MANOWAR to return to the stage for night two of their lesson in heavy metal. Sticking with their career-long tradition, the set was once again opened with the song 'Manowar'. After that, MANOWAR proceeding to play through albums 4,5, and 6 - for the record, that's 'Sign of the Hammer', 'Fighting the World' and 'Kings of Metal'. As withy the previous night, the performance was impeccable, and very LOUD!!!

Some of the on stage antics and Joey DeMaio's wittering on, did make the MANOWAR set drag on for much longer than it needed to. However, the finale was certainly worth the wait as for the first time ever, 'The Crown and the Ring' was performed live, with a 20-strong choir joining in with vocalist Eric Adams. This was a real touching moment, and musical climax that will never be matched.

Say what you will about MANOWAR. Ultimately, they are a fucking great band, with great songs, and when it comes to live, they really do give it their all. 2 shows in 2 nights, lasting over 6 hours in total, with only 3 songs duplicated in the setlist. Absolutely amazing! All hail, MANOWAR! The Kings of Metal are crowned!

Band Ratings:

MANOWAR: 5.1/5.0

ALICE COOPER: 4.7/5.0

TED NUGENT: 4.4/5.0

MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP: 3.0/5.0

MOB RULES: 3.8/4.0

DORO: 4.3/5.0

W.A.S.P.: 4.0.5.0

GOTTHARD: 4.2/5.0

BRAZEN ABBOT: 4.1/5.0

MAJESTY: 4.0/5.0

Review by James Allman