Live Review: Iced Earth / White Wizzard

O2 Acedemy, Birmingham

Saturday November 5th 2011

An epic seven hour bus ride to Birmingham may seem like overkill, but for a night of heavy metal of this quality, it doesn't seem so much at all. Quite simply put, Iced Earth put on one of the best shows that you're likely to see all year. Absolutely brilliant.

Manchester thrashers Fury UK were opening the bill, but due to needing food and managing to find the venue where the Acedemy used to be before the current venue, we missed them. Their merch table was doing really well though, so I'll need to remember to check them out when the chance presents itself.

So the first band we saw were the quite excellent Los Angeles natives White Wizzard. Not knowing what to expect from the band having heard nothing from them beforehand, I was absolutely blown away. Their traditional heavy metal, with heavy riffs, howling vocals and simply excellent songs went down a treat with the ever expanding crowd. The brilliant "Starchild" was a particular highlight, but the whole set was highly enjoyable. A band worth looking out for.

The last time I saw Iced Earth was supporting Heaven and Hell at the SECC in November 2007. At that time, Tim Owens was the singer and they played for just around half an hour. Since then Owens has left to be replaced by Matt Barlow, who was then retired to be replaced by Stu Block. So, with Block on vocals, this incarnation of Iced Earth appeared onstage (Jon Schaffer moustache and all) to a rapturous response and didn't disappoint.

Opening with the title track of their new album "Dystopia", the band never let up for the duration of their 100 minute set. Block is possibly the best vocalist the band have had in their 27 year career, being able to hit all the notes of his predecessors and add something of his own to the mix as well. Playing through a set of new and old songs, with the majority of the crowd belting out every word of every one.

The set highlight was "Dante's Inferno" the 16 minute epic that has been absent from the band's live sets since the late 90s. Hearing it live was something special, and one of those live moments I'll never forget.

This was a quite frankly fantastic live show from a band who consistently bring quality to the table. The excellent support act just added to the experience. This was well worth the travelling.

*****