It was a hot, humid Monday and London’s legendary speed-metallers DragonForce were in town. Having drunk the finest ale from our largest tankards, put on our best Viking helmets and locked up our proverbial daughters (well, promised the girlfriends not to be home too late). The friend’s chariot (read: his ’96 Ford Falcon) being out of action for the night, the tram became the logical steed of choice.
Arriving at Billboard just as DragonForce were about to take the stage, the band strode out into their positions, like castle defenders on the battlements, and new singer Marc Hudson raised his fist into the air as they kicked off with “Holding On”, from last year’s album The Power Within.
Being a Monday, it was clearly going to take a few songs for the crowd to warm up, DragonForce, on the other hand, were raging from the start.
Playing “Heroes of our Time” and then another newie, “Seasons”, lead guitarist Herman Li jumped around the stage with his infectious energy, throwing and catching his instrument, spinning it around his body and generally showing off.
Bassist Frédéric Leclercq and guitarist Vadim Pruzhanov were in hijinks mode, making faces at each other and engaging in mock axe battles. It all made for a great spectacle.
The band worked their way through songs from the new album, as well as playing material from Inhuman Rampage and Ultra Beatdown. The older songs had more of a warm reception, but the audience was still hanging back — apart from a few leatherjacketed thrashers near the barrier.
Hudson tried a few of the old tricks, such as clap-alongs and venue to all jump up, but the energy just wasn’t there. Most people were content to drink their beers and throw the occasional metal sign out there, and the old geezers in Slayer and Judas Priest t-shirts weren’t at all amused by the band’s irreverent high-energy play-style.
Finishing on “Valley of the Damned”, the band left the stage. For a few seconds, an encore seemed unlikely.
Then as one, the crowd began to bay and shout and clap with vigour. Even the guys who’d been standing back with their arms folded joined in the shouting. Coming back for one last song, DragonForce leapt into the opening bars of “Through the Fire and the Flames” – the standout from Inhuman Rampage.
Almost instantly, a ragged moshpit opened up. (Finally!) Diving headfirst towards the action – it’s just not metal if you’re standing there watching, nodding your head and sipping your pint – you need to get amongst it!
When DragonForce left the stage eight minutes later, after some shouty sing-alongs and shredding solos, it was to a much louder round of applause.
