19. March 2025
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Dirkschneider (Frankfurt, 17th March 2025)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Right after I traveled to the handball matches between the Netherlands and the Faroe Islands (match in Torshavn / match in Almere), I went South from my hometown Cologne for another photographic highlight. On 17th March 2025, the Batschkapp in Frankfurt hosted the show of Dirkschneider, also known as U.D.O. or simply Udo Dirkschneider. With his Balls to the Wall tour, Dirkschneider celebrated his 40th stage anniversary. Apart from this special show, I was looking forward to see his guitarist Fabian Dee Dammers on stage again. Dammers used to be part of the band at previous German Rock of Ages musical shows. With Antonio Calanna, singer of one of the support acts, All for Metal, there was even another artist with a background in that show. The other support act of the evening was Crownshift.

This posting comes with 541 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.

 

Batschkapp – About The Venue

The Batschkapp is a music venue in the Northeast of Frankfurt. It has a capacity of some 1,500. There has been another, smaller venue with the same name beforehand, before it moved to its nowadays location in the borough of Seckbach. The underground lines U4 and U7 connect the venue from the station Gwinnerstraße to the city center. If you arrive by car, you can access the venue by the motorways A66 and A661. However, the parking situation is slightly challenging if you arrive late. Ideally, you find a street parking spot in the rather commercial area. The venue also has a small parking lot (for a fee)

Dirkschneider – About The Artists

Udo Dirkschneider was born on 6th April 1952 in Wuppertal, Germany. He especially became famous as founding member and singer of Accept, which he was part of from 1971 to 1986 and from 1992 to 2005. After leaving the band the first time, he founded the band U.D.O. The band was also the one on stage in Frankfurt. Namely, they are Andrey Smirnov, Dee Dammers (guitar), Peter Baltes (bass) and Udo’s son Sven (drums).  Dirkschneider’s album My Way released in 2022 peaked fourth in the German album charts. With U.D.O., Dirkschneider regularly made it at least into the Top 20 of his home country. Thereby especially the extremely raspy voice of Udo Dirkschneider lead to a branding in the metal scene.

Dirkschneider was supported on that evening by Crownshift. The Finnish power metal band has been founded in Helsinki in 2022. In 2024, they released their self-titled debut album. The band members are singer Tommy Tuovinen (vocals), Daniel Freyberg (guitar), Jukka Koskinen (bass) and Heikki Saari (drums).

The other support act of the evening was the German-Italian heavy metal band All for Metal. Even though the band was just founded in 2022, they already have quite a fan base. Apart from Calanna, Tim Tetzel Schmidt (vocals), Ursula Zanichelli, Jasmin Pabst (guitar), Florian Toma (bass) and Leif Jensen (drums) are part of the band. They have already released two albums, Legends (2023) and Gods of Metal (Year of the Dragon) (2024).

 

Dirkschneider – The Show

All For Metal were announced to be on stage at 19:30 – and despite doors opened just around 19:05 at the Batschkapp, they kicked off their set slightly early. With songs like All for Metal, Born in Valhalla or Raise Your Hammer, the band initially focused on their 2023 album Legends. The Frankfurt crowd appreciated their energetic and very playful performance, partying with the German-Italian band. After a solo by bassist Florian Toma, though, they also presented Gods of Metal of their latest record. For Goddess of War, Toma went into the audience. The set was some 35 minutes and very catching and entertaining.

On their socials, the Batschkapp had announced  Crownshift being on stage at 20:25, the security even thought of five minutes later. The more, it felt surprising when drummer Heikki Saari was the first on stage on 20:18 already. The focus of their roughly 40 minute shift was of course focused on their 2024 Crownshift record, including the opening tracks If You Dare, The Devil’s Drug and Rule the Show. Their set had a Nordic touch: great work on the instrumental side, but with less (Italian) temper than their predecessors on stage.

Thus, it took a bit longer for them to push the audience. However, with the later songs like Stellar Halo or A World Beyond Reach, the audience had found more and more love to the guys from Finland. Finally, it was one of two covers which made the Frankfurt people enjoy the set and sing along. Their closing song was their version of Alannah Myles’ Black Velvet – which indeed gave a boost to the public reaction.

 

Dirkschneider at his best in a packed Batschkapp

While the support acts were rather on the early side, Dirkschneider started their set slightly later than announced, at 21:25. The venue felt absolutely packed and the crowd partied with the metal legend from the very first moment. The show started with a 1982 song, Fast as a Shark. Udo Dirkschneider and his band played a very energetic set from the very beginning – and Frankfurt thanked them for their enthusiastic performance. Many songs were used for headbanging and singing along with the artists. One of the highlights was the sixth song, Metal Heart, during which the fans were especially enthusiastic during the For Elise quote. Beethoven is still alive when U.D.O. is on stage – and the artist himself, wearing his white gloves, felt younger than ever. The first part of the concert closed after some 45 minutes emotionally with Breaking Up Again.

Finally, the fans wanted to party the legendary Balls To The Wall – and that was exactly what they got in the second part of the concert. It featured the album in exactly the order of songs in which it was published, so there were no surprises for the audience. Already the live version of the opening title track told Frankfurt, though, that Udo Dirkschneider’s homage to Accept would last a bit longer. Balls To The Wall took some ten minutes, with black balloons moving on top of the audience. Even though the band did not take that long for all of the songs, the set already lasted already quite a while when this part of the show closed – you guess it – with Winterdreams. Together with the encore, Princess of the Dawn, Up to the limit and Burning, Frankfurt had a fine two hour experience with a lot of power, exhausted listeners and a nostalgic feeling.

 

Dirkschneider – The Gallery

Here are 541 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:

 

Dirkschneider – My View

Wow, this evening has been amazing. I already loved the opening set of All For Metal. They did what you expect of a support act. With them, the people were cheering and felt prepared for the big party being ahead. I am sure fans loved the Crownshift set as well. It was maybe not made to gain new fans within second, but the Finnish act impressed with excellent instruments and an overall very nice and clean performance. And then, there was Dirkschneider (or U.D.O. or something like Accept…). These two hours at the Batschkapp were an absolute blast, driven by an excellent band and a great performance by the main actor on stage. There were, indeed, some sound issues at the beginning – but who cares if the guitars are loud and the crowd knows the lyrics anyway? I really loved that one.

 

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