Accept

Accept
Blender Theatre
New York City, New York
May 8, 2010
Tony Pijar

Ever since Accept announced their reformation with ex-TT Quick vocalist Mark Tornillo on board replacing Udo, the reactions were mixed. Some cannot see Accept continue without Udo at the helm, while others are overjoyed that the band are an entity again”; I’m of the latter mindset. It’s been about a year since the Accept machine was dusted off, and their first test on the live front would be at the Blender Theatre where the band debuted in front of a sold out audience.
If there were any trepidations or nervousness (both from fans and the band), it was allayed when the guys hit the stage running with set opener “Metal Heart.” And let me tell you, Mark is the real deal; a Brian Johnson, meat and potatoes kind of guy with a voice that perfectly suits the Accept sound. Guitarists Wolf Hoffman and Herman Frank, still a menacing team, displayed those magical, bombastic riffs wrapped around barbed wire, while the perpetually energetic Peter Baltes on bass and powerhouse drummer Stefan Schwazmann provided a juggernaut of a rhythm section. Hoffman, in particular, was awesome. His stage presence and dexterousness on the guitar were simply amazing. The likes of “Midnight Mover” and “Living for Tonite” all blitzed by with the band firing on all fronts! Of course, many songs from the band’s two seminal releases, “Breaker” and “Restless and Wild” were aired with both title tracks going down in a storm. “Son of a Bitch”, “Run if you can”, and “Burning” simply killed! “Neon Nights”, “Demon’s Night”, and “Flash Rockin’ Man” pulverized our senses too! From “Balls to the Wall”, we got “London Leather Boys”, “Turn me on”, “Losers and Winners.”
If you’ve not checked out the new songs posted on the band’s website, you should do so pronto; they’re that good! “The Abyss” and “Teutonic Terror” are immense pieces of Euro power metal, and on the live front they sounded even heftier. For the first of two encores, Wolf stood center stage and plucked out those familiar riffs to “Princess of the Dawn”, to which the crowd went absolutely bonkers. And then that old chestnut, “I’m a Rebel” induced a louder-than-hell sing-a-long. The anticipation of wanting to hear the metal thrasher of them all was granted. With the massive back logo of the familiar two Gibson Flying V’s wrapped in barbed wire while set ablaze was bathed in a solitary red light, through the house PA we heard the familiar German folk strains of ‘Hi-de-hi-do-hi-da…”penetrate the darkness, and then in a blink of an eye that raw, unbridled riff that is “Fast as a Shark” blared from Wolf’s amp as he punished his Flying V. The second and final encore concluded with perhaps the band’s most well-known tune “Balls to the Wall.”
Well, after 26 songs, a sweltering, heaving audience left the Blender spellbound and wide-eyed, while a cluster of journalists just shook their heads in disbelief on how astoundingly and frighteningly superior the new-look Accept is. Metal acts take notice and then step aside; the kings of unashamedly genuine heavy metal are back and it won’t be long before their ascension to the top of the metal heap takes place once again.