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C O L U M N S
Road Reports
Accept By: TJ Fowler Show Date: 7/31/2015 Published: 8/2/2015  I have lived here in Finland for about three and a half years, being transplanted from Tennessee into a heavy metal wonderland. In this span of time, I have had great opportunities to cover bands I could only dream of back in my home state. One of these great opportunities has been getting the chance of covering the legendary ACCEPT. The first time was in September of 2014 in Tampere in a moderately sized club and the band commanded the night like no other. This time however they were headlining day one of the Kuopio Rock Cock Festival and this would be my first time seeing them in a larger setting. Living in Kuopio I have attended this festival every year since arriving here in 2012 and the festival never ceases to amaze in the acts they bring as headliners--Nightwish, Scorpions and now ACCEPT. To say I was eager is an understatement. The band took the stage as the day had mostly faded away but with glimmers of light peeking through the clouds; a norm for long Summer nights in Finland. This night, though, the people of Kuopio needed to beware of what was lurking in the shadows because they were in danger of getting stampeded by a heavy metal titan. ACCEPT stormed the stage and proceeded to stampede the audience with…well the song Stampede. The fans went ballistic and cheered the band every step of the way and the band kept rolling its metal wheels and launched into Stalingrad followed by London Leather Boys. One after the other, the band kept delivering hit after hit and the fans screamed in unison with the band. Whether it was Princess of the Dawn, Metal Heart or newer songs like Pandemic and Teutonic Terror, the Finnish fans made their country proud this night and gave the band 110% support. Even the fans off to the side in the drinking areas and not in the main crowd area were standing and headbanging to the band. The city of Kuopio itself showed its pride. There were several police officers who actually came to the festival when ACCEPT went on stage to specifically see the band play because they were fans of the band. The band was in true form, sounded perfect and they could have honestly used this show to record some live material. They sounded that good. It should also be noted the band has a couple new members, guitarist Uwe Lulis and drummer Christopher Williams. I have to say these two guys have made excellent additions to the band and both had more of an active stage presence than some previous members and showed of some good showmanship. It is always great when all the members have some stage presence they can show the crowd. If you get the chance to see the band live on their current tour, don’t miss the opportunity, they will blow away any other act they go up against and were the highlight of Kuopio Rock. My hats off to the band and to the festival itself for bringing them here. To sum things up with an analogy--I live in an area here in Kuopio called Petonen, roughly translated, it means "beast". Well, tonight I ran into that beast in the form of the German Teutonic Metal Machine--ACCEPT! TJ Fowler Link: [www.skullbanger.net] ACCEPT: GALLERY PICS!!! [Other Maximum Metal Columns]
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RANDOM ACTS OF METAL
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