Many friends wished me the best for this Saxon concert in Hammersmith, among them Didac Metallian López "El Presi" from Bathory Zine and told me:"chronicle exclusively !!!!!"And this is it, but I don't know if it will be of great musical interest or not...although I can assure you that it is very personal, sincere and emotional for me.
Finally, the so-called "Cursed Concert" was held by many of our friends, who throughout these more than 2 years of postponement of the show ended up not attending, due to the loss of money, anger and disappointment in the time that the Covid pandemic has caused, I myself have to admit that several times I have been on the verge of not going, the most serious when I saw that Ana got off the hook Maria Fuentes Garcia of the trip , although she was the one who encouraged me the most not to leave it and continue , something that I now thank her enormously after what I lived through , but even so , I am also one of those who believe that the concert was cursed and this did not end there , because you have to add the Covid bureaucracies 48 hours before boarding from the Spanish and British governments with mandatory tracking forms with contracted antigen tests and of course paid in advance, apps that do not respond, QR codes that are not read, questions in Ambiguous English at all unclear and until the last minute and landed in Bcn, they were still harassing us by notifying us by Mail and SMS so that anyone who wanted it for their safety could return to the authorized point to take another test ..... a whole circus takes out mounted paste.
restaurant and many other problems that Silvia solved for us again, that if it weren't for her I could already see myself looking for all of us working in London!!! and this delayed us until shortly before the first group started to play, we didn't even have time for the Metro anymore, so we flew to Hammersmith by taxi!!!
If this had been organized in Spain as stupid as we are, we would have entered for Saxon's farewell.
We destroyed the merchan filling a Condis bag that we left swollen as if it were a garbage bag and we left it next to the jackets in the cloakroom, then we heard the first chords of Am I Evil... by Diamond Head just so that Alfredo Alarcon opened the doors of that wonderful hell that was Sold Out, in a mythical and indescribable vision of emotion.
Diamond Head stretched it out for a long time and defended their half-hour performance to the death. They will be the guests on the new Saxon del Carpe Diem tour of 2022 that has overlapped with these 40th Anniversary concerts.
In the interval before Girlschool, Silvia met her Facebook friend Liz Johnson in the front row, who had flown in from Oregon (USA) to see this concert, and I met my friend Joaquim Valls, a concert photographer who had already come to see the previous concert and he already told me that I was a lively, Nigel Durham drummer for Saxon in the record and world tour of Destiny (88) had already told me in a Messenger, that he and his wife Lauretta Alison Stevenson Durham attended the one in Manchester and it was brutal.
Later the Girlschool came out throwing their entire performance from classics to slaughter with memories of Lemmy, already making the public horny and it was a 100% N.W.B.O.H.M concert. excellent direct from the girls to highlight that of our friend Tracey Lamb who was the liveliest of all.
Uriah Heep, those great rock dinosaurs whom I had not yet seen, surprised me very much for the better because of the way I saw them both musically and physically.
All without exception delighted us with an hour of good Hard Rock, we were on the side of Dave Rimmer who was the bassist of the great Zodiac Mindwarp & Love Reaction and although the classics are Box and Shaw who were giving everything on the front line I freaked out a lot with the second, by the "creams" that Russell Gilbrook hit on drums and the legendary keyboardist Phil Lanzon who offered a good show behind the keyboard in which he seemed like the Dj Resident ha ha ha.
I was already in 2008 to see Motorhead with Saxon and Danko Jones as "special guests" and I remember talking in the streets with the friends we went and turning the corner and seeing the theater in the square... My legs tremble.
This time it was back in Hammersmith, but with Saxon in style headlining a N.W.B.O.H.M. organized for its 40th Anniversary after more than two years without concerts. This concert for me had to be memorable... and it was. Juan sent me WhatsApps "where are you?" And I told him "front" and he asked "front where? And I said "front in the center" and it's because on this very special occasion Biff Byford had to wear my Battle Jacket on stage, it was something I had very clear.
Nigel Glockler , had already published a photo of his battery mounted on stage and two red spotlights in which the frown was marked were reflected behind the curtain , so the spotlight eagle was back there , until the lights went out and They projected images of the group's history and..., the curtain fell and revealed the magnificence of the stage of the great concerts at festivals such as RockFest, but closed in the theater, giving a VERY special light as can be seen in the photos.
The 5 incombustible Saxon already went out to death with the powerful "Motorcycle Man", "Batering Ram" and "Wheels Of Steel", in the middle of the most advanced and altered group of drunks making pogos and avalanches, I saw that I could not show Biff me vest and that he ask me as it happened in Barcelona and seeing that he was already on the fourth song and that they could throw him a first vest and put it on, I decided to throw mine on stage while they played their tribute song to Lemmy & Motorhead "They Played Rock And Roll " , and flew from the first rows in the dense , hot and humid atmosphere , to the stage where Biff picked him up and left him hanging on the foot of the microphone , while he went to the side to change microphones for the third time and when he came back he finished "They Played" and put on my Battle Jacket to play "Strong Arm Of The Law", "Denim and Leather" and Thunderbolt" where he threw it back to me in the sea of arms raised and all the drunks in the front rows kissed him and they shouted at me phrase s and english as euphoric as me !!! Hahaha
I continued there during "Thunderbolt" between avalanches, sweat, chewing the leather of the crossed arm of a drunkard with two hairy heads in front of me, when I had a strange sensation of stoppage and tranquility, Matrix roll and I thought "today I have already lived like a donkey the first rows of Hammersmith, Biff Byford has sung with my vest two of the best songs in its history, so... what the hell can I stand here if I've already done everything?... now it's time to enjoy this color from a different perspective larger and quieter.
And I pushed out of the front rows towards the bar in the room for a well-deserved pint, while "Backs To The Wall" sounded thunderous, which I could still enjoy from behind, beer in hand, which I quickly polished and still got another pint to enjoy. with Saxon's quintessential mid-tempo greatness "The Eagle Has Landed", then followed by what some thought was the best song of the concert and with which some nicknamed me "Never Surrender". I ordered another pint and I got closer to the stage until my final position, which was a central position without losing the inclination of the room, leaving a perfect vision of the show in two of my favorite songs from his time of resurrection that were united in a single theme. "Dogs Of War" and "Solid Ball Of Rock", followed by "Dallas 1 PM" with the images of Kennedy's assassination seeing his head explode over and over again while Jackie ran away hysterical on the trunk of the Cadillac, the truth is that the set of screens deserves a 10 and they are very clear, besides that they have a background of the stage, they could have a movie , photos, covers or hellish scenarios that were brutal, I remember that "Dallas" that day had a great impact on me.
Then came "And The Bands Played On", To Hell Back Again" and "Power And The Glory" which
I felt it as the experience of that moment and they closed thundering with "Heavy Metal Thunder".
Soon they came out for the encores, they didn't give in and then... "Crusader" and they already accelerated the public with "747 "Strangers In The Night" and drove them crazy with "Princess Of The Night" to close the magnificent show.
During the concert, they thanked the fans for keeping the tickets and putting up with postponements for more than two years and talked about the release of their next album Carpe Diem and the British Tour for November this year.
On the way out we still stopped to take photos with everyone from Barcelona that we found there and we lived that fantastic night, which we ended up in the pub across the street drinking pints until the bell rang and they no longer served us !!!!.
A dream come true thanks to all those mentioned in this chronicle.
NEVER SURRENDER!!!!
JAVIER BARBA VALLEJO
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