BB Kings New York, October 13th, 2011

[Geezer666]

Went to see Saxon at BB Kings on October 13th.

Left work early and met up with two friends at a local establishment near a NJ transit train station. Good pre-game food/drink/discussion. We solved many of the world's problems.

Got into the city without any issues. We were at the merch booth buying shirts and a guy who looked liked Doug walked briskly by carrying a shopping bag. It turns out is was him, so quickly said hello and made some lame comment about "hope you have a good show". I'm usually an idiot when I actually get a chance to meet anybody.

Anyway, went downstairs, had a few more beers and watched Borealis. I'm not familiar with their music, but they seemed to have a healthy amount of audience interest.

I saw Saxon at BB Kings in 2009, and the place was pretty crowded, it seemed more crowded this time, at least on the floor. I have no real gauge, but maybe there was 700-800 people? The crowd got pretty rowdy at certain points too.

They were great, setlist was pretty much the same as other dates, I think To Hell and Back Again was one that they have only played at a few other North American dates though.

During Crusader, It sounded like Biff changed the lyrics to "Warriors of America. . . " I love when bands do stuff like that, it makes it seem much more inspired.

All and all, a great night, hope they come back again.

[MartyWalker]

I'm so glad you had a great time. I almost came to the jAXX PLACE, but too much resposibilty at home. Never the less to see Saxon is so awesome.

[Lionheart747]

Geezer, thanks for the post, as i said, well done America/Canada for giving Saxon a great reception, hopefully they will be back again soon....

[metaleloi666]

Originally Posted by Lionheart747

Geezer, thanks for the post, as i said, well done America/Canada for giving Saxon a great reception, hopefully they will be back again soon....

I surely hope they'll come back. But, is the band really satisfied with the low crowds they got at lots of places? I mean, it seems they got an average of 150-200 people at most places, save for NY at 700-800, Montreal and Toronto at 350-400 and San Antonio, TX, where it looked to be a much bigger venue, with probably close to 1000 people. I'm sure that most of the crowds were really into the band, even if they were not many, but is it enough from a financial point for the band the come back over here?

I really hope so, cause if they come back in the province of Quebec, I'll be there for sure.

[MartyWalker]

I'm still anxiously waiting for Janets review and pictures. She's a real trooper that Janet. I think she went to NY and the Jaxx club or Baltimore. Hurry Janet, Hurry please.



Just had to add Lastv8 and Torben and MartyWalker.

[never surrender]

Metaleloi666 ,You have a good point there, i agree it not financially viable for saxon to play to small crowds like that , it was pretty much the same in uk about 10- 12 years ago but luckily lots of fans came out to see them on killing ground tour unlike metalhead tour the previous year, so id say its upto the fans to try to coax some friends to the next shows ,or hope saxon get on an opening slot with a big band for a bigger tour

[caflyergirl]

Originally Posted by metaleloi666

I surely hope they'll come back. But, is the band really satisfied with the low crowds they got at lots of places? I mean, it seems they got an average of 150-200 people at most places, save for NY at 700-800, Montreal and Toronto at 350-400 and San Antonio, TX, where it looked to be a much bigger venue, with probably close to 1000 people. I'm sure that most of the crowds were really into the band, even if they were not many, but is it enough from a financial point for the band the come back over here?

I really hope so, cause if they come back in the province of Quebec, I'll be there for sure.

San Antonio was between 3,000-4,000...the last show there in 2009 they had 5,000.

[metaleloi666]

Originally Posted by caflyergirl

San Antonio was between 3,000-4,000...the last show there in 2009 they had 5,000.

Really? Than it's surely their biggest market in North America. These Texans surely know their music well.
I see this was a music festival, but as Saxon headlined, they must have brought in most of the crowd.

We would need more cities like this...

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Geezer666

Went to see Saxon at BB Kings on October 13th.

Left work early and met up with two friends at a local establishment near a NJ transit train station. Good pre-game food/drink/discussion. We solved many of the world's problems.

Got into the city without any issues. We were at the merch booth buying shirts and a guy who looked liked Doug walked briskly by carrying a shopping bag. It turns out is was him, so quickly said hello and made some lame comment about "hope you have a good show". I'm usually an idiot when I actually get a chance to meet anybody.

Anyway, went downstairs, had a few more beers and watched Borealis. I'm not familiar with their music, but they seemed to have a healthy amount of audience interest.

I saw Saxon at BB Kings in 2009, and the place was pretty crowded, it seemed more crowded this time, at least on the floor. I have no real gauge, but maybe there was 700-800 people? The crowd got pretty rowdy at certain points too.

They were great, setlist was pretty much the same as other dates, I think To Hell and Back Again was one that they have only played at a few other North American dates though.

During Crusader, It sounded like Biff changed the lyrics to "Warriors of America. . . " I love when bands do stuff like that, it makes it seem much more inspired.

All and all, a great night, hope they come back again.

Thanks to Saxon for another great NY show! This was the third time I saw them, in 2009 at BB Kings & in '98 in Old Bridge, NJ on the Unleash the Beast tour. Took a bus from the Pennsylvania to Port Authority & got to BB King's around 2:30pm. Hung around outside with another fan for awhile; the bus driver told him the band & crew were inside & that we just missed them going in. The tour bus was right out front & 30mins later out walks Nigel from BB's! Great guy!! Got pics/autographs & talked for a few mins. The other fan had to go so I just hung around alone by the one of the double doors - hoping to meet the other guys. 15mins later out walks Paul Quinn! I couldn't believe my eyes - shook his hand & we talked for awhile. I told him he was my fav. guitarist - ever, & that his riffs were amazing & he said thank you. Talked about the new album & I asked him if it was difficult getting US visas, he said it can be, stating the Japanese were much easier to deal with as they had recently played there. I asked what they would do now before the show & said he was going sight seeing before sound check, so I quickly grabbed some pedestrian to a take a photo with him before he took off. Awesome! I was giddy. Later Biff Byford came out & after a few quick pleasantries the tour manager emerged & Biff introduced me to him & got some pics with them - very cool guys. Later on I saw part of there soundcheck, met Doug & took more pics. Didn't get a chance to meet Nibbs though, all in all I had a great day I'll long remember meeting the band & a number of die hard Saxon fans! The show was phenomenal. Great set list they played 7 new songs from Call to Arms & a few surprises (Rock 'N' Roll Gypsy, This Town Rocks) I took some video of the opener, Hammer of the Gods at BB Kings, before the battery ran out & put it up on youtube along with the set list.

[Janet]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Thanks to Saxon for another great NY show! This was the third time I saw them, in 2009 at BB Kings & in '98 in Old Bridge, NJ on the Unleash the Beast tour. Took a bus from the Pennsylvania to Port Authority & got to BB King's around 2:30pm. Hung around outside with another fan for awhile; the bus driver told him the band & crew were inside & that we just missed them going in. The tour bus was right out front & 30mins later out walks Nigel from BB's! Great guy!! Got pics/autographs & talked for a few mins. The other fan had to go so I just hung around alone by the one of the double doors - hoping to meet the other guys. 15mins later out walks Paul Quinn! I couldn't believe my eyes - shook his hand & we talked for awhile. I told him he was my fav. guitarist - ever, & that his riffs were amazing & he said thank you. Talked about the new album & I asked him if it was difficult getting US visas, he said it can be, stating the Japanese were much easier to deal with as they had recently played there. I asked what they would do now before the show & said he was going sight seeing before sound check, so I quickly grabbed some pedestrian to a take a photo with him before he took off. Awesome! I was giddy. Later Biff Byford came out & after a few quick pleasantries the tour manager emerged & Biff introduced me to him & got some pics with them - very cool guys. Later on I saw part of there soundcheck, met Doug & took more pics. Didn't get a chance to meet Nibbs though, all in all I had a great day I'll long remember meeting the band & a number of die hard Saxon fans! The show was phenomenal. Great set list they played 7 new songs from Call to Arms & a few surprises (Rock 'N' Roll Gypsy, This Town Rocks) I took some video of the opener, Hammer of the Gods at BB Kings, before the battery ran out & put it up on youtube along with the set list.

Were you one of the guys that I met there? I also took the bus in from PA. I remember talking to someone about that. I went on that crazy shopping excursion with Doug and Nigel. Nigel bailed and went back to the club when Doug decided to check out the Levi's store in Times Square. I walked back to the club with Doug. I hung out in Lucille's then until it was time to go in. Can you post some of your photos?