Metal Hangar18 « Aero Rock Starz 2011. The Legends Have Landed
WEAPON were the first Western group to fly to the scene. This is a NWOBHM band that for years was known only to a few singles issued in England
very difficult. 1980. they make amazing songs "Set The Stage Alight", "Mad Mad World" and "Liar". And with just ten songs up so influenced bands
like Metallica, that due to lack of information overseas and album WEAPON, young Americans borrow riffs on "Set The Stage Alight" and another song
and make it "Hit The Lights" and " Seek & Destroy ". Gathered again with a new bassist and drummer, WEAPON make a request for a glorious future.
After a short intro the band turned to the fans and his hour-long performance began with three-minute masterpiece "Set The Stage Alight".
Fans were aroused by the fact that from the first minute of the song - so the end of the festival organizers had secured pyrotechnics that doukrasiha
cult event. No big joke with the audience Danny Hynes, Jeff Summers and company shot "Liar". Behind the performers had a huge screen, which added
to the atmosphere and the sound was perfect. The chorus - "You're a liaaaaar" spewing fires and Jeff Summers as a nerdy joke cult solo in the song.
One of the advantages of WEAPON always been and will be that their songs are pretty tight and short. Followed by "Killer Instinct" - one of the
more - the band's melodic songs. If we talk about movement NWOBHM, WEAPON are groups that have a hard rock sound, as opposed to occult or extremists
ELIXIR VENOM. Group perform throughout the album "Set The Stage Alight" - and the implementation of "Mad Mad World" and the brand new "Ready 4 You"
the audience understood why almost unknown in Bulgaria is destined WEAPON cult status in Western Europe.
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A rock festival in Stara Zagora? That’s impossible! That was a typical reaction by local metal fans in Bulgaria when they would get to know the reason
for my trip. The thing is that in Bulgaria all the festivals are taking place in Sofia, Kavarna or Plovdiv, while Stara Zagora which is 250 km from
the country capital has never seen such big shows (the only effort to arrange a Scorpions gig there ended up being cancelled). Anyway, English promoter
Shaun Fetzer and his agency Genesis Events decided to break the monopoly of the above-mentioned cities and arranged a pure feast of classic British
rock and metal inviting Praying Mantis, Dennis Stratton (ex-Iron Maiden guitarist), ODS (the band which features ex-Saxon members Graham Oliver and
Steve Dawson), cult British band Weapon and another band of ex X-UFO, founded, just like the monicker says, by former members of UFO. That was a very
impressive line-up which could attract a lot of fans. Ironically the night before there was a very similar event in Sofia featuring Slade, Saxon with
Biff Byford, Whitesnake and Judas Priest. I guess many Bulgarian metalheads would love to see both of these shows, but not being spoilt by high salaries
they were forced to choose between Sofia Rocks and Aero Rock Starz. After Sofia, where it wasn’t too cold either, Stara Zagora welcomed us under the
scorching sun, so we decided to put off sightseeing for a better day and headed directly to the old airdfield, where the show was scheduled to take
place. It was enough just to take a look at the festival grounds to understand that the promoters did a good job, and that Aero Rock Starz was organized
on a better level than the event in Sofia where there was no food on the festival grounds and hundreds of people were standing in line towards just a
few toilets where you could easily spend up to 40 minutes. The Aero Rock Starz team took much greater care about their visitors, and there were no problems
with satisfying any human’s natural needs. Add to this a camping site, a large stage with a big screen, a mix-zone where you could easily find all the
musicians signing stuff and doing interviews for the national TV, and you get perfect event organization. Let’s hope that the promoters will make Aero Rock Starz
an annual event. The show started right on time, and just as intolerable heat started to cool down, progressive metal band Perfect Stranger took the
stage. Their set showed that Bulgaria has its own good followers of Dream Theater, and the only point of criticism that I can make is their poor stage
performance the guys looked as if they were shy. Weapon were the second band on the bill, and they took the stage after a bombastic intro. I don't want to
offend the previous band but it was Weapon who truly started to rock. They kicked off their set with their most driving song Set The Stage Alight, which
was further intensified by pyrotechnics and tongues of flame. Despite a small audience and an early time of the evening, Weapon really gave it their
all guitarist Jeff Summers and singer Danny Hynes were on the edge of the stage all the time as if they were 20 years old again. After the blasting start
the band rocked on with more high-energy gems such as catchy Midnight Satisfaction and Take This Bottle Away, thundering One Night Stand and Mad, Mad World,
a luxurious ballad Olivia and a brand new single called Ready 4 U. To put to short, Weapon demonstrated everything the band is known for melodic and
memorable songs with catchy choruses, immaculate tightness and a very strong stage presentation. Even a very experienced listener would never guess
that it was the first ever show for this line-up. Bass player Gavin Cooper was forced to miss the show due to charity commitments and was replaced by Gary
Summers, Jeff's brother, who had only one rehearsal with Weapon before the show.
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