Saxon, Girlschool & Grand Slam - 013 Tilburg, 2 March 2025

Saxon touring 45 years Wheels of Steel was reason enough to attend. I missed the previous Saxon shows in Holland with Brian Tatler and wanted to see that too. After all Hell, Fire and Damnation is a very strong album. If you than add the fact that Grand Slam would open, a band I also always missed when in Holland and joining Ton to Tilburg was decided. If doubting it must have been by the tour of Unleash the Archers, Striker and Seven Kingdoms in closer to home Haarlem. Still Grand Slam and  Brian Tatler tipped the balance to Tilburg so 013 it was. What we as proper westerners did not realize when getting a ticket was that it is carnaval this weekend. So Tilburg is called Kruikenstad and orange/green is all around. For us it meant that we needed to park further away, but still not all that far from the venue.Walking around in Kruikenstad it was clear that you must have been born and raised in the south to appreciate the joy of carnaval. Well carnaval or not 013 was packed this Sunday evening and we were ready to rock

Opener of the evening were Grand Slam. The band formed by Phil .Lynott and Laurence Archer in the eighties. Now I am Holland's biggest Stampede fan, so I always followed Laurence Archer's ways as well. I only saw him live in Bristol with Lautrec and a guest appearance at Stampede. He is on the long list of overlooked guitar heroes with a style where melody beats shredding for shreddings sake.  If you than add the good voice of Mike Dyer plus a solid rhythm section with Benjy Reid on drums and Rocky Newton (remember him?) on bass and expectations were high. I had their debut album Hit The Ground, but not yet got their last year's album Wheel of Fortune. Well that got corrected fast after their set. Why? because Grand Slam surpassed my high expectations by a mile. What a fantastic show they gave us, even if they only got 30 minutes.Six songs of which half were covers everyone knows. Well covers, Laurence actually wrote Nineteen and Military Man. Closing with Whiskey in the Jar took me back a month when Renegade did the same. The good thing was that their own songs inbetween were just as good and Grand Slam catapulted straight to one of my favorite hardrock bands playing in good old fashioned style. If Ton and I regretted anything it must have been we only learned about their headline shows in The Netherlands 7 and 8 February after they took place already. Next time I won't miss that as I would love me some 90 minutes of Grand Slam live. I aslo shall pick up their T-shirt when they headline, as I doubt they shall charge 40 euros like tonight. Finally Laurence Archer proved once again he is topclass also when his flying V is white and not yellow.

So starting with a high, means extra pressure on second opener Girlschool. Now I saw Girlschool in Musicon with Alcatrazz not all that long ago and I never have been their biggest fan. So an uphill battle they could not win it was. It's Ok to hear songs like Demolition Boys or Emergency, but it was not sensational. I felt their music did not age that well. A result of touring with Alcatrazz was that Joe Stump played on a song and he appeared live for this song too Now where I said that Laurence Archer puts melody first, Mr Stump just went for fast shredding not hindered by the rest of the song it seemed.  Best song of the set was Bombers reminding us how Motorhead helped them in their early years.

And than it was Saxon time. The banner was a huge Hell, Fire and Damnation cover and that is how they opened. Hereafter we got possily the best Saxon setlist I ever witnessed. Also the band was in topform and Biff's vocals were amazing. Does this mean we got a winner? you bet we did. The new songs blended fine with classics all over. When after some 20 minutes we get And The Bands Played On followed by Dallas 1 P, it can't get much better really. Well we also did get the whole Wheels of Steel album. I did not play it on purpose, to have some deep cuts surprise me. And side B with See the Light Shining and Suzie Hold On  was very nice indeed. By the end of the album I guess everyone was overwhelmed by Saxon in peak form. The guitar duo Brian Tatler / Doug Scarratt divided the solos fairly and Nigel Glockner and Nibbs Carter built l the foundations for Saxon to metal out. Both Ton and I did not remember if we ever saw Saxon before in better shape, which is amazing giving their 47 years running this year. After a short getting their air ack break we got an encore. Also here it could not get any better really with: Crusader / Heavy Metal Thunder / Denim and Leather / Princess of the Night. This was sheer joy from start to finish. If this would have been in a smaller venue it would have been a strong candidate for gig of the year. Biff now stated it was in a sold out 013, which is great for the band, but I prefer smaller venues really. Thanks to the mighty Saxon (and Grand Slam really) for giving us such a great evening. Next year a new album and a new tour. I shall be there and up to a magnificent 50 years of Saxon party in 2028.