"Hey mr DJ play this one for me, you now the one with the crashing and the screams" Manowar sung to us on their majestic debut album Battle Hymns. Well anyone who was into just that kind of metal in the eightes and still is now, should have been at Little Devil this Wednesday night..Riot City and Aquilla transferred us way back to the eighties for some top class speed and heavy metal. Since our national rail would work against culture again, I drove down to Tilburg with Hans and Ton. Holidays did not make highways emptier, but to compensate the feared Tilburg Kermis also did not result in busy traffic or parking garages. On time we were in and let the madness begin.
Aquilla are from Poland formed in 2014, but looked more like 1984. Tight leather pants in white sneakers and the hair of the era. I once checked their music out, when they played a festival I was planning to go, but did not in the end. I remember quite liking them at the time and now got this confirmed live on stage. Heavy metal in it's purest form, with lots of fiery guitars and a strong vocalist to match it all. As far as openers go, this was one of the better matches with the headliner I saw in recent times. They went down well with the audience and won over some new fans I guess. One detail the antfucker (dutch expression) in me found funny was the shouting along bit. We were asked to shout along with something and steel. Now I read that the song is called Steel & plunder. I guess they mean either Steel & plumber or Steal & plunder. But they are forgiven as the song was pretty good. They closed their set remembering one year since Ozzy's passing away and Barking at the Moon we did.
And then came Riot City for their first proper headline show in The Netherlands, I saw them in 2023 in Germany and was completely blown away by their power and energy on stage. Last year they played the Roadburn Pre-party and that was awesome too, even if not the whole Roadburn crowd was getting their metal brilliance. Now in Little Devil they got a venue filled with people loving their music and reactions were accordingly. As from the first notes and more important screams of Warrior of Time the place was set on fire and would not cool down for the next 75 minutes or so. Or as vocalist Jordan told us, this made it all worth the ten hour flight followed by a five hour ride. With more time on their hands we got some songs that I never saw played live before and that included 10 minute epic Severed Ties. I loved every second of thsi set and it flew by while Burning the Night with an Eye of the Jaguar and a Tyrant from Beyond the Stars. Riot City proved once again to me, that they are the future of speedmetal. Pitty that most people in were from my generation or about. Can it really be that young people prefer metalcore over this masterclass? Does not matter as long as I can attend shows this good. So when In the Dark closed the evening we could go home with a huge grin on our faces. Realizing we just witnessed one of the highlights of gig year 2026. Their European tour is short, but if you have the chance to catch them, don't miss out. Rest me to thank Mario and the crew at Little Devil for giving us this evening. For those continuing the metal today at HOA: enjoy and I should definitely look more seriously into HOA 2027.
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