Firewind - London Review

The last few weeks have been very busy gig-wise, with plenty of travelling between the South West, London, and the Midlands - and with more trips planned over the next couple of weeks this busy trend is set to continue. Next weekend is going to include a mammoth trip, with three gigs in three places in three days, but my Easter weekend away in London was rather more sedate. Or at least that would have been the case had the public transport systems not been in turmoil, which sadly seems to be becoming much more of a regular occurrence, with delays to my trains both ways as well as significant issues with the Circle line meaning that quite a bit of time was lost on Saturday before I managed to get to King's Cross - where I was staying. Despite these delays, I still ended having a decent afternoon with surprisingly good weather, meaning that my walk up to Islington to look for records and CDs was rather pleasant. A couple of hours were then spent relaxing in the hotel with the football coverage before it was time to head up to Camden to my fairly regular haunt of The Underworld to catch the Greek power metal band Firewind play what, in recent years anyway, was a pretty rare UK headline appearance. It was my fifth time seeing the band, so they have been pretty regular visitors to the UK over the years, but recently that has dropped off - with this show being, I think, their first proper headline appearance here since their 2017 tour. Their visits since have tended to be with other bands and the last time I saw Firewind was in 2019 - when they opened for Queensrÿche in Manchester. Firewind used to undertake proper UK tours, but sadly that no longer seems to be the case. Perhaps it is just not viable for them to do so anymore, so when the show was announced I knew that I had to get a ticket. I missed out on their last UK run with Beast in Black as the dates fell around the same time as other plans, so I was really keen to see the band again - as I had not seen them since frontman Herbie Langhans came on board. I missed the entire touring cycle for Firewind (which I reviewed here), then, so with Stand United (which I also reviewed here) fresh out of the gate it seemed like a good time to catch them. The UK date was a somewhat random addition to the end of the band's co-headline tour with Masterplan - but Masterplan did not make it over to the UK with Firewind. Given that I do not know too much about Masterplan, their absence from the show was not a concern - and I was just glad that Firewind added a UK headline show at all. The Underworld seems to be their London venue of choice these days and I had seen them twice at the venue previously - once on their own and once co-headlining with Rage. They are a band that has been around long enough to deserve headlining bigger venues - but in fairness The Underworld tends to produce good nights all round, so perhaps the band just enjoy playing there. Given that it was the Easter bank holiday weekend, too, it was unsurprising that the show attracted a healthy crowd. I do not know if the show was sold out or not, but plenty of people turned up to see Firewind.

It was an early show, too, with the doors opening at 6pm and a 10pm curfew. The doors ended up opening around 15 minutes late, so by the time everyone was inside it was not long before the evening's sole support act Fury kicked things off - and the five-piece impressed the crowd during their 45 minute set. I had seen the band before, at either the 2015 or 2016 iteration of Bloodstock Open Air, but I had not really kept up with them since, despite enjoying them at the time. They are a band I have heard a lot about since, though, so I had been meaning to properly check them out again - so seeing them open for Firewind was the perfect opportunity to do so. I think that only main man Julian Jenkins (vocals/guitar) remains in the band from when I last saw them but I think that it is fair to say that the band has improved over the years - with new guitarist Tom Atkinson impressing with plenty of excellent guitar solos and and a boost in the vocal department courtesy of Nyah Ifill. Perhaps my only real criticism of the set would be that I did not think the band made enough of Ifill's talents. That is to take nothing away from Jenkins, who is a fine singer, but Ifill added something different with her powerful, somewhat soulful, voice and it was a shame that she was largely utilised for harmonies and backing vocals. I think that she is only a recent permanent addition to the band, having previously essentially been a session backing singer, so I am hoping that going forward she will have more of a role - as I feel that her presence allows for some interesting vocal arrangements which would help to set Fury apart from the crowd. That nit-pick aside, though, I really enjoyed Fury's set. Sound-wise the band are a mix of traditional heavy metal and power metal - with the occasional thrashy turn. They are fast and heavy, but all of their songs are packed full of hooks - and there were plenty of strong choruses throughout their set. Ifill took the lead on the storming Prince of Darkness which went down well, but it was perhaps the more anthemic tracks like the lengthy Lost in Space and the closing Road Warrior which were the best received. The former saw plenty of singing from the crowd when prompted - as well as lengthy soloing from everyone involved. It was the sort of set that could have been a bit longer and there would not have been many complaints - as the crowd really got into Fury. I think there were quite a few fans of theirs in anyway, but even those like me who only had a passing familiarity with the band got sucked in - and I think that it is fair to say that Fury did their job of warming the crowd up for the headline act to follow.

There was meant to be a half an hour break between the two bands, but the lights went down after only around 20 minutes - and for the next 90 minutes the large crowd were treated to a 17-song set from one of the best power metal bands in the business. Taking material from most of their albums, as well as including half of the new album, the set was generally a heavy and hard-driving affair - but it was well-paced, with thrashy pieces sitting nicely side-by-side more melodic pieces. Given that this was my first time seeing the band with Langhans and as four-piece I was not sure what to expect, but from the off the band impressed. Gus G. (guitar/vocals) was perhaps more impressive than ever in this setting, with most of the focus on him, and, whilst I would have preferred live keyboards, the live experience did not suffer as a result of the slimmed-down line-up. Two new songs kicked things off, with the excellent Salvation Day getting the set off to an excellent start. It is easily my favourite of the new cuts and it perfectly set the tone for the rest of the show. Langhans owned the big chorus, and I also thought that he was a great frontman. He might have been the most animated of the Firewind frontmen that I have seen in the flesh; and he seems to be the perfect foil for G.'s guitar heroics. His tough voice has made the band heavier, too, with cuts like the thrashy World on Fire and the more anthemic I Am the Anger sounding meatier than ever thanks to his pipes. The slimmed-down line-up also placed more emphasis on Petros Christo (bass guitar) in my opinion. His bass playing was high in the mix throughout, and seemed to take up some of the slack of the previous, more expanded, line-up. He really propelled the band alongside acrobatic drummer Johan Nunez - with each song sounding more powerful than the last. It was also clear early on the crowd were really up for the show. In between nearly every song there were loud chants of the band's name - so much so that the band seemed genuinely shocked. I rarely believe bands when they say that crowds are the loudest they have heard on the tour so far - but I did actually believe both Langhans and G. when they said as much. The crowd did not let up throughout and the atmosphere was excellent as a result - with the chorus of the aforementioned I Am the Anger feeling huge as a result. Over the half of the set consisted of songs which I had not heard the band do live before - but some of the classics hit as hard as ever. I have never been the biggest fan of instrumentals, but G.'s showcase The Fire and the Fury went over as well as it always does - before the only slower moment, the ballad Longing to Know You from the previous album, acted as a change of pace. Hearing so many of the new songs live was a treat, too, with the AOR-esque Chains injecting some pop hooks into the night whilst the driving riffing of Fallen Angel was another which whipped up plenty of energy. The night flew by, and by the time the thrashy Rising Fire and the disco strands of Maniac were done the band were waving goodbye and leaving the stage. There was time for a couple more, though, and the epic Ode to Leonidas may just have been the song of the night. It has always been a favourite Firewind cut of mine, but Langhans really did it justice - and customary rendition of Falling to Pieces, with plenty of jumping, saw the night come to a close. The setlist was:

Salvation Day

Stand United

World on Fire

Destination Forever

Destiny Is Calling

I Am the Anger

Wars of Ages

The Fire and the Fury

Longing to Know You

Mercenary Man

Chains

Allegiance

Fallen Angel

Rising Fire

Maniac [Michael Sembello cover]

-

Ode to Leonidas

Falling to Pieces

I have always enjoyed seeing Firewind live, but I remember their set with Rage being cut short due to technical difficulties and their set with Queensrÿche was also short. As such, it felt like a while since I had really seen Firewind do what they do best - and they really knocked it out of the park last night. It could well be the best showing I have seen from the band to date - and it was certainly one of the best atmospheres at a metal show in a long time. The band seemed to really feed off the crowd's energy and it is always special when that happens. I really hope that the experience prompts the band to schedule a proper UK tour again soon, but given that their next European trek will be with Sonata Arctica, who have left the UK off their upcoming tour despite being another band who regularly visited the UK previously, it may sadly be a while before Firewind return.