Over the years we have clocked up some serious  mileage travelling to VENOM concerts throughout Europe. There has been some epic travels, and this journey down to see M-PIRE of EVIL in France was perhaps one of our most ambitious Venomous trip thus far……
A 750 kilometre drive down to Marseille in the South of France for the first M-PIRE of EVIL concert on the Thursday, with a short hop of 150 km for the second concert on the Friday. Leaving the rather cool for the time of year weather of Switzerland, the heat increased the further south we went. So it was 3 rather sweaty Parry’s that arrived in Marseille. A quick shower at the hotel and then off we go to the venue.
We pull into the venue carpark, park up the Hydramobile, and the first person we see is Jeff MANTAS. Hell Yeah’s exchanged as we are joined by JXN and THE DEMOLITION MAN. Was hard to believe that a year had passed since we saw M-PIRE of EVIL live in Italy, but it was great to see the lads again, and we (and they) were already excited about tonight’s concert.
Quite a small venue, but cool and with a decent stage. So heads down…..
METAL MESSIAH gets proceedings under way, and the band are at once sounding precise and heavy as fuck! DIE HARD, WAKING UP DEAD and DON’T BURN THE WITCH follow. Then comes a few of the tracks that were re-recorded for the CRUCIFIED album. BLACKENED ARE THE PRIESTS, CARNIVOROUS and TEMPLES OF ICE are delivered in ferocious style. Have to say that the setlist for the evening was absolutely perfect – we had a few VENOM classics, some of the re-recorded tracks from CRUCIFIED, and songs from each of the M-PIRE of EVIL releases, perfection to these ears!

HELL TO THE HOLY and WELCOME TO HELL lead us to the newest M-PIRE of EVIL song, DEMONE. Everything sounds just great, and the sweat that is dripping from the band (and me!) shows that every ounce of energy is being given! HELLSPAWN and CREATURES OF THE BLACK  are sensational, and we have an awesome collection of V classics to end the evening: BLACK METAL, WITCHING HOUR, COUNTESS BATHORY, LEAVE ME IN HELL and IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN. Before WITCHING HOUR, MANTAS called me up onto the stage to sing the chorus, which was an amazing but nerve-shattering experience. People like me should probably not really share the stage with musicians of this calibre, so it was more than an honour for me – I just hope my attempts at singing did not spoil the evening for too many people in attendance, Ha!

So a fantastic concert  to start of this M-PIRE trip, and early the next day we were on our way to Laudun for the second M-PIRE concert.  Passed through some very scenic French countryside before arriving at the very cool Forum venue. After parking up, we get out to stretch the legs. JXN spots us while he is having a smoke break, and he strolls over towards us. MANTAS and THE DEMOLITION MAN are not far behind, so we are all sitting near to the Hydramobile, taking in the warm spring sunshine.  Lots of fun with some m-pirous and Venomous talk filing the few hours before gig time. Excellent venue this time, but the village seemed to be hidden deep in the French countryside, meaning it was not a sell-out crowd. But those in attendance were all set for a cool evening….

Italian Thrashers NECRODEATH were the main support band of the evening, and they had a nice little surprise added to their set. They were to be joined onstage by THE DEMOLITION MAN, and together they performed the song Black Magic as a tribute to Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman, who had sadly passed away a few days earlier.

M-PIRE of EVIL hit the stage, and delivered another top quality set of the purest Metal. The setlist remained the same as the previous night. Also remaining was the sheer awesome Heavyness and tightness – this band is on fire on stage right now!! The setlist was just about perfect, with an excellent combination of the M-PIRE catalogue, coupled with some of the re-recorded VENOM Tracks from the CRUCIFIED album, and of course, there just HAS to be some of the classic VENOM Tracks too. The balance is just perfect! The band perform the tracks to perfection onstage, everything sounds true to the originals. The classic VENOM tracks are performed  exactly as they were first recorded all those years back. These classics were written by MANTAS, and it is so awesome to see and hear the great man rip through them live.  THE DEMOLITION MAN is a demon on the Bass’n’Vox of course, and JXN is the find of the century on the drums! The guy is really incredible, an amazing natural talent, and he just plays the drumkit without any of the cheats / gadgets used by so many modern drummers – incredible!!

It is always a bit of a bummer saying goodbye to the lads, and as they were playing in Italy the following week we were severely tempted to head south again for even more M-PIRE. In the end though, we settled for these 2 brilliant concerts in France, safe in the knowledge that we will be seeing M-PIRE of EVIL live again later this year. A big Thanx for everything was offered to JEFF, MARC and TONY from us 3, coupled with plenty of Hell Yeahs, and we departed into the dark French night back to our hotel in Marseille. We spent the next day driving around the coastline and checking out the sights, before leaving very early on the Sunday morning to cover those 750 km to get back home….

Nearly 2000 km were covered in these few M-PIRE days in France, and while I must admit we were rather tired and sore by the time we got home, we had a sensational time. M-PIRE of EVIL absolutely dominated at these 2 gigs. So much so that we are already getting rather excited about our next time seeing M-PIRE of EVIL hit the stage – bring it fuckin’ on!!!!