Ross The Boss
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Station 4, St. Paul, MN
The gods surely must have been aligned to make this show happen. Legendary Manowar guitarist Ross The Boss was flown into town for an exclusive one-off appearance to promote his recent solo album, New Metal Leader. The previous night had Ross The Boss teamed up with Raven for a show in New York City – too bad Raven couldn’t join this bill! This show was promoted as a mix of Ross’s new material as well as all of the early Manowar classics. Ross has recruited a young group of Germans into his band, having previously played gigs with the lot in a Manowar tribute band.
I rushed into the club late, having missed all the local openers and the first 3 or 4 songs from Ross The Boss. The crowd was small, but easily one of the most enthusiastic audiences I’ve ever witnessed. The atmosphere was that of a mini-Manowar concert. Many songs from New Metal Leader were featured, including “We Will Kill”, “Matador”, and “May The Gods Be With You”. Although great, early Manowar classics were what the rapid crowd wanted to hear, and the band delivered these triumphantly. This will be heresy to some, but even mere mortals are capable of delivering the goods as well as good as the current Manowar and Ross certainly has the right to play his songs. Mandatory Manowar cuts such as “Hail And Kill”, “Kill With Power”, and “Hail To England” were delivered with precision and conviction. The band was having fun on stage, and recreated the Manowar songs quite convincingly. No one in the crowd seemed to notice the difference. Although I missed the first part of the set, I still witnessed an hour of true, pure metal. This was only the second time Ross The Boss has played in the United States, and hopefully more extensive touring will come in the future.
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