John Bush has a point: “This would be the place,” reckons Armored Saint’s frontman, “where most bands would go off for their encore. But let’s face it, encores are for pussies.”
That alone is why you have to love Armored Saint, but there are many more reasons.
I mean, this is the second time in four days that MV seen the band, and it’s interesting to watch them a second time. By and large, it’s the same set—a couple of additions, “Head On” and “Nervous Man” appear when they hadn’t in Nottingham, at the expense of “Left Hook From Right Field” and “Chemical Euphoria”—but to watch them is to watch a band that has total command of what they do.
At the other end of the “experience scale,” if you like, are Tailgunner. Seeing them 18 months ago was to see a band that had potential and drive. Looking at them now, you’re seeing a band that understands its craft.
Of course, it sounds like Maiden and Priest and everyone else when the new wave was new, but it’s supposed to. Thomas Hewson has watched Steve Harris, and why wouldn’t you? He’s the best. Learn from the best.
There’s an exuberance about the likes of “White Death” or “Warhead” that says: yeah, we just want to play the music we love, and that feeling almost sweeps you along, until the point where they wave their “Join the revolution” placard and you’re ready to join them on the barricades.
And, just like Tuesday, they are brilliant at what they do. Yes, you’ve heard it before—literally in the case of their cover of “Painkiller”—but does anyone care? They don’t, and you shouldn’t either. The metal torch has got to go somewhere when the greats leave us, so it might as well be here.
Talk of “greats” brings us right back to Armored Saint.
Forty-odd years. Together as one. You can argue, if you like, about whether they deserve more recognition, but let’s just leave that to others.
It is MV’s opinion that they’re the greatest US metal band, but what’s even more important is that this very stage is their spiritual home. Bush notes himself: “Junior High would have been a lot different without KK and Rob, Glenn and Ian….and let’s hear it for Les Binks!”
You can hear it in their tunes. Like “March Of The Saint,” of course, or the brilliant “Aftermath,” which truly stands out. But it’s two of the newer ones, “Win Hands Down” (“like Maiden had a baby with Skynyrd,” reasons Bush) or the wonderful “Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants” from 2020, that convince us that this is a band that still has so much to offer.
And, as they end with the moshpit-ready “Mad House,” maybe they are standing on those shoulders, maybe they do owe a debt to those that came before, but Armored Saint is still punching the sky every day, to borrow a line of theirs.
Plus, they play Thin Lizzy’s “Dancing In The Moonlight” as they finish, and that’s good enough for anyone, right?
Still caught in the spotlight, playing on those long, hot summer nights, Armored Saint is the best their shores have.
