Dutch Air Guitar Championships

Sunday, 11th of March: English hardrock band Saxon plays a live show at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. A well known venue, but not renowned for its metal or hard rock concerts (nor is Amsterdam a hard rock city). It must have been 10 years since a metal outfit played here on the main stage, not hip enough for big city audiences. Well, Saxon never could be described as very original (except maybe for a short while in the seventies) with the band playing rather straightforward hardrock in the tradition of Iron Maiden, Uriah Heep, AC/DC and Black Sabbath. Their greatest call of fame came when they became, without intention that is, a source of inspiration for the motion picture ‘This is Spinal Tap’, a ‘mockumentary’ which changed life dramatically for most hardrock bands. In short, after the release of ’Spinal Tap’ it became impossible for hardrockers to be taken very seriously. And when Saxon singer Bill Byford makes fun of the enormous backdrop behind him, saying: ‘we don’t need this f**king Spinal Tap backdrop’, everything is clear. These guys ARE ‘Spinal Tap’! (more…)