So, the light at the end of the tunnel has wheels of steel. Tonight, is a veritable oasis in an otherwise arid desert of cancellations and postponed shows. This show was meant to happen in October 2019 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Saxon releasing their first record, however due to Biff’s heart problems and the inevitable onset of Covid, this is now a (as he coins it early into their headline set) a 42nd year commemorative show. Leading up to this evening the omens haven’t been good. Every other event and tour around it has hit the wall and even the Glasgow Barrowland leg of this short soiree around the country has been postponed. However, with the same level of dogged resilience that has seen them regain their position as one of the marquee names in British Heavy Metal, the band have vehemently maintained that tonight would go ahead,

The Apollo is sold out, which in itself is remarkable, as ten years ago Saxon were struggling to fill the upstairs room at the student union. Tonight, however this art deco Mancunian institution is heaving at the seams. Every ageing rocker in town has dusted down their battle jackets and decided that it is time, after two years inside, to brave the outside world. The idea of “big” show feels such a rare luxury that everyone present has seemingly decided that they want to sample every morsal of this sumptuous feast. Therefore, whilst Diamond Head may be fourth on a four-band bill they emerge to not just a full house, but a highly receptive full house.

Diamond Head will forever be the band that could have been king. “Lightning to the Nations” is an extraordinary debut album that foreshadows much of Metal’s development over the subsequent twenty odd years. Inevitably four of tonight’s five tracks are taken from it (opener ‘The Messenger’ from 2019’s “The Coffin Train” is the sole tip of the hat to their modern incarnation).  Due to Metallica covering ‘Helpless’ and ‘Am I Evil’, we all know the words to both tracks and the expectant crowd sing along with glee.  For many in the vast room Diamond Head are the first live act they have seen in a good twenty-four months, and you can feel the emotion crackle.

Girlschool were girl power long before the Spice Girls were a twinkle in a marketing executives’ eyes. They hold the astounding honour of being the only all-female act to have ever headlined one of the UK’s major festivals (Reading in 1981), which says more about the institutional inequalities of the music industry than it does about their prowess in the early eighties. Whilst there was a late eighties flirtation with slick American rock, the 2021 incarnation of Girlschool trade in the same primal punk/metal hybrid as they did back in the day. We get half an hour of frantic, guttural rock n’ roll. There are no frills or sophistication on offer, just adrenaline-charged short bursts of riff driven goodness. 

Like everyone else on the bill they take time to reminisce about past glories in this very building. Before launching into the requisite Motorhead cover of ‘Bomber’, Kim tells of Lemmy and co flashing them in the Apollo’s dressing room back in the eighties. An act that she concurs that at the time they saw as perfectly acceptable, but probably would be viewed differently in this more enlightened age. Closer ‘Emergency’ shows that for all the Motorhead comparisons their closest musical similia is probably actually the Ramones, as both are purveyors of concise sing-alongs that don’t out stay their welcome.

So, who have been the winners from Covid? Well Netflix, Amazon, the numerous craft beer suppliers that I now have subscriptions with and, bizarrely enough, Uriah Heep. Last summer they found themselves last minute headliners at not one but two festivals. At both Steelhouse and Stone Dead they made hay whilst the sun (or more aptly moon) shone and showed that they still are a fabulous and formidable live act. Their appearance here this evening is once again as a super-sub (original special guest Krokus have subsequently retired from touring since the show was originally announced) and once again they pull out all the stops to prove that they are indeed still worth our attention. Their Hammond organ driven swirling prog rock maybe a million miles away from Girlschool’s minimalistic punk, but a crowd gorging on the Apollo’s revolutionary two-pint pots don’t care. 

The magnificent ‘Gypsy’ is dispensed with deceptively early and I spy numerous men of a certain age singing along about their lost gypsy queen with gusto in their lungs and tears in their eyes. In my head Bernie Shaw may still be the new boy in town but having actually been a member of Uriah Heep since 1986, he is by far their longest serving vocalist. His comradery with Mick Box is obvious to see and one of key elements of the Heep’s latter day renaissance is that is that it is utterly entrancing to see a band 55 years into their career still having this much fun on stage. They are given a generous fifty minutes running time and use it wisely with a mixture of instrumental virtuoso and driving hard rock. ‘Easy Livin’’ closes the set and once again Uriah Heep triumphantly prove that whilst they may not have been first choice, they still end up utterly owning the stage.

Whilst the majority of those present are looking down the barrel of the pensionable age (including myself), there is a sizable proportion of young bucks here tonight intent at worshiping at the feet of a band that was considered past their prime long before any of them were even born. At some point in the last ten years Saxon have transcended from being perceived as washed up over the hill has-beens to being regarded as venerable elder statesmen of our world, in the same league as Ozzy, Sabbath and Maiden. As Biff regularly references over the course of their mammoth two-hour set, this is their majestic return to headliner status in a venue that they regularly haunted during the eighties (he wrongly states that Saxon last topped the bill here at the Apollo in 1986 on the “Rock the Nation” tour, it was actually 1988 on the jaunt promoting “Destiny”, I know as I was there).

To commemorate the ascension back into the big league, they have pulled out all the stops and brought with them the epic stage production usually reserved for the countries on the continent that never lost faith in the boys from Barnsley. There is one noticeable fly in the ointment, the eagle trailed in the shows by-line of “Eagles and Castles” refuses to work for the entire first hour, hanging there limply and lifelessly. Biff later blames its sluggish behaviour on the fact that it has been in drydock in Germany for the last two years (“it’s taken on the German persona” he deadpans “Highly efficient but passionless”). But their steel showpiece’s refusal to come out and play does not put them off their stride at all, they are utterly magnificent from the off, commanding the vast stage with renewed vim and vigour.

What becomes blatantly obvious is the strength of their back catalogue, within the space of the first six numbers we get stone cold classics ‘Motorcycle Man’, ‘Wheels of Steel’ and ‘Demin and Leather’. In another bands arsenal these would have been reserved for the encore, but Saxon confidently chuck them out early doors, safe in the knowledge they have got plenty more where that came from. The latter track sets out their stall as a band of the people and Biff and the boys try on the battle vests that are chucked up at them (“we are not a clothes shop” he playfully goads). It is that down to earth communication and interaction that really puts the cherry on tonight’s performance. There are no rock star egos on display here, instead Biff seems genuinely chuffed that we had held on to our tickets for tonight for so long and makes great play of that on numerous occasions (he is obviously oblivious to the concept of e-ticketing).

The eagle finally splutters into life during the joined at the hip ‘Dogs of War’ / ‘Solid Ball of Rock’ and its suddenly blindingly obvious what we have been missing. It is a majestic spectacle, blinking lights and soaring spotlights that ratchet up an already highly impressive show. That impressiveness is put into further perspective when you realise that they all in the early to mid-seventies (“Not bad for a 71-year-old, actually 72” proclaims Biff at the start of ‘To Hell and Back Again’ as he unleashes yet another set of vocal pyrotechnics). What Saxon prove tonight is that whilst their career has ebbed and flowed, they have at all times remained consummate showman. They know that this is all about giving your audience a night to remember and wringing every bit of entertainment out of their performance. 

They may have dispensed the hits all over the shop, but they have still saved the best for last. ‘747 (strangers in the night)’ may have the corniest of corny choruses, but it still sparks a mass sing along and even a mosh pit and ‘Princess of the Night’ brings it all it all to close with the now highly hyperactive eagle swooping over the stage. It is hard to put into words actually how good Saxon are tonight. It is one of those spell-binding performances that sends shivers down the spine and produces goose bumps. Their latter-day resurgence is not nothing short of biblical and tonight is only the tip of the iceberg as there is more to come. “Carpe Diem” will see the light of the day on February 4th and Biff reveals that a UK tour is slated for November. After tonight’s performance it is a no brainer that they will continue to lay claim on this size of venue. The resurrection is complete.