By: Rob Cavuoto
Heavy metal was alive and well at BB King’s night club in the heart of New York’s Times Square on Friday night, where veteran rockers Saxon, put on an explosive show.
Back in the ‘80s, when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a musical force to be reckoned with; you would be taking your life in your hands walking down 42nd Street, as it was lined with head shops, porn theaters, and drug dealers.
Now, it is filled with restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, and even a Hello Kitty store, but times have not changed for metal gods Saxon.
Saxon has been going strong for almost 35 years, and tonight they are bringing their brand of Heavy Metal Thunder to the Big Apple.
The band is currently touring North American with Chris Jericho’s Fozzy for 22 shows from September 12th to October 10th to support their latest CD release – Sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a hard-hitting anthemic metal CD that captures the true essence of the band, sounding more like a Saxon CD from the ‘80s then from 2013.
At European festivals, Saxon plays for tens of thousands of people, so to see them in this inmate club setting was a thrill.
Though the stage was smaller than they are used to, there was no shortage of energy from the band during the show.
Saxon opened with the song “Sacrifice,” and then proceeded to put on one of the best 90 plus minute metal shows that I have seen in a long time.
No gimmicks, no videos, no fire or smoke – just pure, unbridled metal. Some of the classics that were performed were; “Denim and Leather,” “Power and the Glory,” “Dallas 1:00pm,” “Heavy Metal Thunder,” and then “Princess of the Night” as the encore.
Biff told the crowd that if they didn’t like the set list, they could blame the winner of their Facebook contest who picked it for the show.
I thought it was spot on with the perfect balance of classic hits and newer songs like, “Made in Belfast,” “Warriors of the Road,” and “Guardian of the Tomb.”
As you would expect, Biff Byford was the charismatic and entertaining ring leader of the evening dazzling the crowd with his powerful vocal ability making all the classics sound flawless. He is the strength of the band, while Paul Quinn on guitar is the mastermind riff maker that has helped propelled Saxon’s career.
Though lower key on stage, he is the lynchpin in ensuring that Saxon’s signature sound is perfectly captured night after night.
Guitarist Doug Scarratt, who has been with the band for over 18 years, was quite the showman. He worked the crowd with his black Les Paul Axcess, and dueled it out with Paul on many of the leads.
Nigel Glockler on drums and Nibbs Carter on bass laid down the backbeat to the pounding rhythms.
Though Nibbs was located in the tight corner of the stage, he still commanded a lot of attention with his animated style of play and “wind-milling” his hair without missing a beat.
I’ve been to BB Kings dozens of times to see shows but never remember it being as hot as it was this autumn night.
Saxon raised the heat level to sauna and Biff asked the sweaty sold out crowd, “Are you hot? So are we. We like it that way! Heavy metal is not supposed to be comfortable!” and then launched into “747/Stranger in the Night” from the album Wheels of Steel.
Tonight had to be one of my favorite and most memorable concerts in a long time.
Saxon played like they still cared about the music and being onstage.
They gave an invigorating performance that had everybody on their feet all night long to the furthest reaches of BB King’s!
