Words by Lisa Fox, photos by Alan Swan.
It is always going to be tough to review a band that claim to be “The Greatest Band of All Time”. Everything Arnocorps do is harder, louder and heavier. They make no apologies for this confidence. In fact they simply bring balls to the walls attitude as they make music and entertain. Watching ArnoCorps live isn’t really a gig… it’s an all-out audio assault rescue mission behind enemy lines.
Having jumped on the early morning ferry from Belfast, and been faced with none other than the band themselves, we are more than a little excited for the show tonight. Sadly however, we don’t make it to the venue in time to catch the support bands. We heard good things, but can’t testify personally.
Get to the chopper?! Get your ass to Mars?! Screw that, get yourself along to The Classic Grand! We find ourselves in the midst of a battleground of combat gear, stogies and facepaint. The Glaswegian faithful are ready for an indoor adventure with our favourite action heroes. We smell cigar smoke and looked to the stage where three guitarists, a bass player and drummer tuned up as vocalist Holzfeuer appears at the back of the room brandishing an ArnoCorps flag and watching on proudly as the sound of machine gun fire and helicopters echo around the venue.
Churning out Austrian folk tales (bastardised by Hollywood, don’t you know), tonight’s set is full of mind blowing heroic anthems. Seconds in to the show Holzfeuer is already leading his troops into a serious bout of crowd-surfing tomfoolery.With lyrics and guitar riffs of alien hunters (Predator), post apocalyptic war (Rise Of The Machines) and Greek gods (Hercules), even if your not a fan of the Governors films be ready to form an addiction; because you’ll be hooked straight away! The audience lap it all up, with wave after wave of bodies heading stageward – only to be grabbed, raised aloft and hurled effortlessly back into the fray. The interaction between band and crowd is epic, and the sense of camaraderie cannot be rivalled. That’s before we even mention the on-stage posing competition, and punters bench pressing each other in the crowd during Pumping Iron.
The show finishes with a climactic Last Action Hero with is preceded by chants of “Der Wolf” and culminates in a huge invasion that sees more folk on the stage that in the crowd. As we stagger out of the venue we are left convinced that yes, Arnocorps really are the greatest band of all time.
Please also check out our extensive live photo gallery from all the action and fun of ArnoCorps live at The Classic Grand in Glasgow courtesy of our photographer Alan Swan!
