| A Night of Thunderous Proportions - By Christos "The Avenger" Dimitriadis
A review of THOR's live show at The Springwater in Nashville, TN - July 27th, 2005
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Many times during my life as a metalhead, I have come up with the same question over and over again - "Should I drive a lengthy distance to see a concert or not?" The answer depends usually on who is the artist touring that particular night. When I saw that Thor and his pounding crew was ready to tour and annihilate the masses, there was no question in my mind that I was going to do whatever it took to be part of such an annihilation even for one night...and believe me I did!!!
On July the 27th, Thor was going to appear at the SpringWater Supper Club in Nashville, TN which was the closest distance to yours truly. Armed with enthusiasm and a heart beating faster than a drum I stormed the highways and arrived with all systems ready to go for the ThunderGod. After hours of meeting fans, band members and anticipation time was approaching and my heart was pounding harder and harder. The two warm up bands were pretty good and got the crowd ready but they did not get them ready for what was about to become a battlefield of metal. Everybody was getting impatient and excited, especially because of the absence of Thor that up to that point was nowhere to be seen. The adrenaline was rising and suddenly one of Thor's roadies, Michael "the ThunderGeek" Pilmer came to the microphone. It was
about to begin. Yours truly was kindly asked to introduce the band and the ThunderGod and with a pounding heart I grabbed the microphone.... "Are there any metalheads here tonight?" I screamed. The crowd was ready and went nuts. I could not believe it!!!!! I did not expect such a response. Even the young kids that were there knew about the Mighty One. I felt great since I felt hope realizing that the new generation was not completely lost in all the useless music promoted today.
After a brief introduction of Thor and the band I took my place among the crowd on the first line of fire. I could feel the double bass drum of Mike Favata, pounding my chest and I grabbed the person next to me as if I was going to pass out with impatience. I was ready!!!!!!! The razor sharp riffs of Steve Stack and the pounding bass guitar of John Ramirez were filling the air. I was in Heaven!!!!!!! Suddenly I felt a shift in the crowd and wondered what was going on......when I saw this gigantic dark figure darting through swinging a hammer....THE HAMMER OF THORRRRRRR.......It was finally the RockWarrior to take the stage!!!!!
Now for those of you that have not met Thor you have to understand HE IS GIGANTIC. A tall, muscular, metal machine. After all do not forget all his bodybuilding and strength feats. From the moment that Thor stormed the stage, everything else was history. I became one with the headbanging, sweaty, crazy pile called the audience. The band started with "THE COMING OF THOR" from the new "THOR AGAINST THE WORLD" album. What a punch in the stomach. A song of amazing metal might. The crowd was responding with crazy hails of the name THOR over and over again. Fists were in the air every time Thor asked for and the weapons of metal swords, hammers, axes, ball and chain were interchanged frequently by the ThunderGod. Thor was going nuts changing masks and shields, tearing up the club with his voice and leading the crowd to a frenzy.
From that point on it was metal hymn after metal hymn. Thunder on the Tundra, We live to Rock, Thunderhawk, Ride of the chariots, Warhammer, Easy Woman (from the Thor Against the World album), Let
the blood run red, and many more. Every song was a bone chilling spinal tap!! I kept looking around me in disbelief. I was next to Thor singing, headbanging, losing myself in the crowd. I even had a camera with me to take pictures while the ThunderGod performed but I just could not stop myself and hold still to take any. I was in a frenzy with the rest of the crowd.
Soon it was time for the feats of strength, which Thor performs regularly on Tour one more of his many virtues. For Thor it is not only about the music it is about the show, it is offering to the fans the best
entertainment they could get and making their time and money worth. Not many artists care that much anymore and that is also why I believe Thor is so special in every way. In the amazement of all the fans Thor bent a steel bar with his teeth. I was there, I saw it and trust me when he handed the bar down to a lucky fan we all felt it and tried to bend it. It was impossible, pure hard steel!!
The show went on and Thor proceeded to come down in the crowd and sing with the fans as well as invite many of them on stage for a crazy metal pit. Thor was loving it and so were the fans that were particularly careful not to damage his arsenal of weapons and helmets. The entire time I had a big smile on my face, I was feeling like a million dollars I was on the top of the world.
After more and more annihilation, Thor paid a special tribute by thanking all the fans especially the ones that have driven from so far away to watch the show. One of the fans and his wife drove 11 hours to see the ThunderHawk!!! Once again, like a true metal warrior Thor invited him on stage to jam with the band since the fan was also a guitarist. In front of amazed eyes he exploded on stage with the rest of the band following and Thor pounding with his metal might. It was getting close to 2 in the morning but the fans did not want Thor to stop.
After the necessary encores and the visible fatigue of all the people in attendance the show was over. Thor proceeded to sign autographs, t-shirts, videos and vinyl albums. The fans were all over him and kept taking photographs and memorabilia of that night such as t-shirts, buttons, cds and his latest dvd (which I have to add everyone has to have since it is a documentary of heavy metal history). We were all so pumped up that we kept chanting the name Thor, singing the songs, and exchanging metal stories about his name. I was feeling so much energy, and also such respect for Thor and his band because not only they
respect their craft but also the fans since they are some of the nicest and most humble guys you will ever meet on this earth.
For this little boy from Greece growing up listening to the music of Thor and hearing about his metal journeys through the word, a dream had just come true and will remain imprinted FOREVER on every inch of my existence. I was truly humbled!!!
ALL HAIL THE THUNDEROUS ROCK WARRIOR, THORRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! -- Christos "The Avenger" Dimitriadis |
