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Metal/Prog Metal Concert Reviews

Doro

Live in Mokena, IL, June 2007

Review by Greg Olma

The “Metal Queen” has arrived to the US to do a short headlining tour. Yes, that’s right, Doro Pesch and her band Doro have finally made it out to the states to headline some shows in promotion of her new anniversary DVD. I know she did a short little leg with Britny Fox but that tour didn’t make it to the Midwest. It’s been at least 10 years since she had her own show in the Chicagoland area and it has been way past due.
Since this new DVD is an anniversary release, Doro made sure to pretty much touch on most of her releases. Starting things off with a pair of old Warlock tracks gave us an indication that this was going to be a walk through her whole past. The band kicked things off with “Earthshaker Rock” and “I Rule The Ruins.” I couldn’t have picked a better set of tunes to get the crowd going. And speaking of the crowd, I was happy to see a lot of die hard fans show up to the show. It gave me hope for metal in these recent times. After those older tunes, they went into a new song off Warrior Soul called “You’re My Family.” This is one of my favorites off the disc and I’m glad that she chose to play it. No sooner did the new material come; she switched gears and gave us a couple of older tracks again. They went into the title songs of 2 of her Warlock records; “Burning The Witches” and “True As Steel.”
   
By this time, Doro, the woman and the band, could do no wrong. The fans were with her throughout the show; never letting up. And neither did she. Another new one, “Above The Ashes,” was pulled off Warrior Soul but continuing the trend, she launched into “Hellbound” right after. The sequencing of the show was a fan’s dream come true. We got something old and something new without having too much of one thing at once. Force Majeure is an album that doesn’t get much air time so it was great that she played “Hellraiser” from that release. Before Johnny Dee (Britney Fox drummer) went into his solo, they had time to slip another oldie but goodie “Metal Racer” from Burning The Witches. All of this and we weren’t even at the half way point of the show.
   
Returning to the stage after the drum solo, Doro gave us another taste of her latest material with “Strangers Yesterday.” Although her Warlock material will always have a special place in my heart, I have to say that her new material is just as strong. The crowd helped out Doro with “Fur Immer” by singing along. You could see that she was giving it her all during that tune. A couple of cuts from 2 criminally ignored releases (at least here in the states) came next; “Burn It Up” from Call Of The Wild and title track “Fight.” Although she did a version of “Breaking The Law” on Classic Diamonds, I wish she would have stayed with her own material because she has a vast catalogue of great tunes to choose from. The show ended in proper classic style with “All We Are”.

There was no way that Doro was going to leave without doing an encore but she went above and beyond the call of duty. You can tell she was tired but she kept adding songs to the show. She truly gives her all to the fans and we appreciated every minute. She started the encore with the rocker “East Meets West” and followed it with “Love Me In Black.” This was great because it showed the 2 sides of Doro; the metal side and the tender ballad side. “Unholy Love” was next but after each song, she talked to the band, asking to do another. You could tell that this was not the plan and maybe she was surprised at the reaction she was getting from the crowd. Either way, it worked out well for us in the crowd and she finished the show with 2 new numbers “Warrior Soul” and “Haunted Heart.” At this point the band was exhausted and quite honestly, so was I. Let’s hope that it isn’t another decade before she comes back to the states for a headlining tour.

Additional pics from this concert and larger versions of these pics are available in our members area.
   
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2007 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.
You'll find concert pics of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.
You'll find an audio interview of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.
 
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