CD review U.D.O. ‘Live in Bulgaria 2020’

The concert Udo Dirkschneider played at Roman Amphitheater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in Sept. 2020 was remarkable from two perspectives. First and most important, I guess it was the concert with the biggest audience in the pandemic year of 2020. U.D.O. performed in front of 2,500 fans and although the show took place in full compliance with the hygiene concept, it is almost surreal to watch and at the same time reminds of a time that we all want to get back as soon as possible.

The other fact that needs a note is that despite the announcement of not playing Accept songs as U.D.O. anymore, the Plovidv concert featured five Accept songs with three of them being encore two. I don’t think anybody suffered from this and the fact that ‘Metal Heart’ was rolled out over 12 minutes shows that band and fans liked the song being performed live. It’s without a doubt an all-time classic in metal history.

The rest of the story is told rather quickly. U.D.O. put together a setlist that focusses on the latest album ‘Steelfactory’ and for the rest offers a solid compilation of classics, penned by Udo Dirkscheider and band. My personal favorites are the three songs from the ‘Animal House’ album, older tunes being equally good as the new material. Solo parts can’t be missed during an U.D.O. show either and therefor two guitar solos and a bass/drum solo can be enjoyed too. So, musically fans can relish U.D.O. classics and as usual, in an excellent sound quality.

To sum up, ‘Live in Bulgaria 2020’ will go down in history as one of the biggest concerts in 2020 with an enormous amount of visitors, considering the very weird times of COVID. It was also a show that wasn’t easy to organize, considering the fact of band members being spread out over various countries. U.D.O. took the challenge, made this show happen and created a kind of contemporary document for the almanac of heavy metal. An evening to remember, for sure.