Heavy metal legends Accept and K.K.’s Priest brought their Full Metal Assault Tour to the quaint town of Ridgefield Connecticut in front of a sold-out crowd. The Ridgefield Playhouse is housed in a former high school auditorium, which has been refurbished and updated with a better stage, acoustics, backstage area, and beautifully renovated lobby and lounge area which features hand-painted murals from historic places around town as well as photos of shows captured by their house photographer, Bing Liem. The lobby doors opened at six o’clock and fans filled in and got in line either for drinks and snacks or to purchase band merchandise. There’s a nice area with couches for those who want to get off of their feet for a few minutes while waiting for the doors into the playhouse to open.
German Heavy Metal Band, Accept, was the first to hit the stage with their triple axe attack of original member Wolf Hoffman, Philip Shouse, and Uwe Lulis. Wielding only flying-V guitars and many choreographed moves these guys are heavy metal through and through. Formed in 1976 by Wolf Hoffman, the only original member still in the band and he has performed on all of their albums. Having released seventeen studio albums and multiple live and compilations, they are currently supporting their album Humanoid. They began their 13-song-set of metal madness with 2 songs off of Humanoid, “The Reckoning” and the title track “Humanoid”. The crowd was on their feet with their fists in the air and ready to sing along to the anthem “Restless and Wild”.
Mark Tornillo has been bringing his powerful raspy screams to the stage with Accept since 2009 and still belts them out with aggression. Next up was another song off of Humanoid called “Straight Up Jack”. Martin Motnik holds down the rhythm section and performs like a rock star. They played through many anthems with Wolf getting the crowd singing along and humming the melodies. With smiles commonplace among the band, but even more often a look of evil concentration, they are always making eye contact to connect with their fans. These guys are having the time of their lives on stage. During “Pandemic”, drummer, Chris Williams, was bouncing his sticks off of one of his drums into the air to see how high he could get them to go and still catch them. I counted a final tally of four out of six. They ended the night with maybe their most popular song, and sing-along anthem, “Balls to The Wall”.
Accept is:
Philip Shouse – Guitar
Wolf Hoffmann – Lead guitar, backing vocals
Mark Tornillo – Lead vocals
Christopher Williams – Drums
Martin Motnik – Bass, backing vocals
Uwe Lulis – Rhythm guitar
Setlist:
1. The Reckoning
2. Humanoid
3. Restless and Wild
4. Straight Up Jack
5. Midnight Mover
6. Dying Breed
7. Son of a Bitch
8. Princess of the Dawn
9. Metal Heart
10. Teutonic Terror
11. Fast as a Shark
12. Pandemic
13. Balls to the Wall
K.K.’s Priest is an English heavy metal band formed in 2020 by K.K. Downing, former Judas Priest guitarist. His band also consists of former Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, bassist. record producer, and recording engineer Tony Newton, A.J. Mills on guitar, and Sean Elg on drums who also performs with the band Cage. With a stage full of stellar performers these guys define heavy metal. I got to see K.K.’s Priest for the first time earlier this year on The Monsters of Rock Cruise and was excited to have another chance to see them. They hit the stage around 8:45 pm with a trio of original songs, one off of their first album and two off of their second, and current release, The Sinner Rides Again. Next, Tim asked the crowd if they knew who he was and waited for their reply. The crowd responded with a thunderous “THE RIPPER!”. They then proceeded to play Judas Priest’s “The Ripper”. He handled the vocals with ease slaying the high screams.
Throughout the night, they played seven Judas Priest covers, six originals, and the obligatory cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s “The Green Manalishi (with the two-prong crown)”. During the middle of the set, they dedicated “Hell Patrol” to their tour mates, Accept. Downing and his band put on an iconic heavy metal show for their fans, utilizing a huge drum riser as well as the whole stage to perform for their fans. Whether or not you know K.K’s original material or just the iconic Priest tunes, you certainly don’t want to miss this show. They ended their set with “Breaking the Law” and “Sinner”, before coming back out to play “Raise Your Fists” for their encore.
K.K.’s Priest and Accept blew the roof off of the beautiful Ridgefield Playhouse with their Full Metal Assault Tour. When you talk about an iconic night of classic heavy metal, this is it. The tour will run through October seventh ending in San Francisco California.
K.K.’s Priest is:
K.K Downing – Guitars
Tim “Ripper” Owens – Lead Vocals
A.J. Mills – Guitars, backing vocals
Tony Newton – Bass, backing vocals
Sean Elg – Drums
Setlist:
1. Hellfire Thunderbolt
2. Strike of the Viper
3. One More Shot at Glory
4. The Ripper (Judas Priest cover)
5. Reap the Whirlwind
6. Night Crawler (Judas Priest cover)
7. Sermons of the Sinner
8. Burn in Hell (Judas Priest cover)
9. Hell Patrol (Judas Priest cover)
10. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown) (Fleetwood Mac cover)
11. Before the Dawn (Judas Priest cover)
12. Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
13. Sinner (Judas Priest cover)
Encore
14. Raise Your Fists
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