Saxon rocks the old farts at BB Kings last night, 5/19/09

Trust me, I say 'old farts' with much affection.  Biff Byfford and gang were even better than I had anticipated them to be last night at BB Kings.  They hit the stage a bit late - around 9:15, but played for a solid hour & 45 minutes.  Eddie Trunk came out on stage and tossed out some free shirts to keep the crowd patient before the Brits hit the stage.  The crowd was packed with mostly older "I saw them back in '84" kind of people, but a few youngins' enjoying their first Saxon show sprinkled the mix.  I caught glimpse of Matt Barlow sitting and enjoying the show from the elevated section above the floor.  His wife and I had met at the most recent Iced Earth show in NYC and when she introduced me to him, I tried to think quick and asked him how working with Yngwie Malmsteen was.  "I've never worked with him".  Hmm, after thinking for a second I realized to myself that "Fuck, that was the other Iced Earth singer, Ripper Owens".  I awkwardly pretended I read it on Blabbermouth and how you cant trust anything on the internet these days before quickly excusing myself.   

Next encounter was with Chris Caffery and that was somewhat less awkward, since I actually knew who he was and called him by the right name.  He informed me that our mutual buddy, Mark "Gus" Scott from Trixter was in the crowd, but I never saw him.  Yes, Trixter... feel free to laugh.

Back to the good stuff - seriously, the Saxon boys still have got it goin' on. They opened the show with the very theatrical 'Battalions Of Steel' which is the opening track off of their latest album, Into The Labyrinth.  They played 13 songs before taking a break for the encore (yes, I counted).  Some highlights included 'Dallas 1pm', 'The Eagle Has Landed' and 'Wheels of Steel.The crowd chanted "Saxon" over and over with such zest that the guys came out for not just one encore, but two.  Each one included a solid 3 songs.  'Denim & Leather' was the finale (or so I thought until they played and ended with 'Princess Of The Night' directly after it) and got a such a great anthemic response from the crowd that I thought I should buy stock in Levi. It's amazing how some shit just can not get old.