The guys were wearing jeans and the big ‘flags’ showed metal plates, refering to the heavy metal music that was mainly present during the beginning of Iced Earth. Some of the songs they played were ‘Angels Holocaust’, ‘Stormrider’ and ‘Iced Earth’. I was completely stunned at this time. The band was in top shape and played tight as hell. One of tightest bands I’ve ever seen.

During the second set they came out wearing leather clothes and they played songs from their more recent work; ‘The Dark Saga’ and ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’. This time the flags displayed Egyptian artwork, adjusting to the music that was being played. This set contained the most perfect songs they could chose from. The entire ‘Something Wicked’ Trilogy for example, the instrumental ‘1776’ and ‘Watching Over Me’.

If you’re an Iced Earth fan you will probably know the story behind that last one. Dedicated to a friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident, this song created a nice warm vibe. Which was a nice moment after all the killer tracks that were being performed. All this resulted in quite a big moshpit throughout the whole show and lots of singing along.

The crowd was into it from the start and it was just one of those rare nights that everything was simply great. ‘Something Wicked’ wasn’t the only trilogy that was played. ‘The Suffering’ from ‘The Dark Saga’ record was alse performed entirely! So were ‘The Hunter’ and ‘I Died For You’.

After another 10-15 minutes break, it was time for the last set of the show. This was of course ‘Horror Show’, the latest effort by Iced Earth. The decoration was even more beautiful than the previous two. Four paintings were shown this time and they displayed four characters from the ‘Horror Show’ album. They were Dracula, Wolf, Imo-Ho-Tep and Damien. The guys were dressed in black robes, like monks wear them.

Behind the painting of Damien, some lights were burning which could be seen through its eyes. A nice atmosphere was created this way. ‘Damien’ was one of the songs that was played. ‘Jack’ was another one, all hell broke lose during this one. ‘Wolf’, ‘Jekyll & Hyde’, ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Dracula’ completed this set.

I didn’t expect any surprises during this set, but there was! One of the biggest influences on Iced Earth (if not THE biggest) is of course Iron Maiden. During the ‘Horror Show’ set, they played a perfect cover of them, namely ‘Transylvania’. The reactions from the crowd were loud and positive and it was one of the many highlights of the evening.

It didn’t look like there was going to be an encore (concerts at 013 always end at 11pm max.) since it was almost 11pm. But thankfully they did return for one last song which was the popular ‘My Own Savior’.

I do have to point out some (minor) negative things though. As much as Jon Schaffer rules on the electric guitar, he didn’t sound perfect on the accoustic guitars. It wasn’t bad or anything, but just not as good as on the cd’s. Vocalist Matt Barlow was great. Sometimes his mic held his long and high ‘screams’ longer which might make it seem more impressive. In his defense, they played for three (!!!) hours and I can understand you can’t keep it up night after night, so there’s nothing wrong with a little help.

My biggest complaint is Iced Earth’s stage presence. I was truly surprised to see the five guys act so held back. The crowd was enjoying every minute of the show and were into it right away. They could have made big use of that. Again, the stage presence wasn’t bad, but they could accomplish even more if they would try a little harder.

So, in what way did the concert change my view on Iced Earth once and for all? Well, I couldn’t detect any signs of being commercial. There are very few bands who give their fans the best of themselves for three hours. The couple of explosions and the impressive stage decoration only added to that. Iced Earth is totally about music and they sure know how to make that!

(Review: Frank Alders
Pics: Josje Klouwens)