Warm up show

Traditionally, the festival kicks off with a full dose of metal on Thursday evening at the warm up show. Since 2009, this event is set to take place at the newly built Messehalle named volksbank*messe located right at the festival ground. Tickets for the warm-up show as well as for the festival may be purchased at doors or at our online shop.

SAXON

For sure every metalhead as well as frequent BYH!!!-visitors will know the Anglo-Saxon group fronted by Biff Byford, as SAXON were until now our guests for already four times. Last time in 2008 they were co-headlining the festival and this time they will be on top of the list of our warm-up show. The band always kept true to their roots, which makes them the perfect band for this evening, and like in the past a blisting liveatmosphere will be guaranteed once more. SAXON always proved that they can still set the stage on fire, but they are also still able to nail it down in the studio like their last album 'Into The Labyrinth' showed. Of course the fans will be keen on a NWoBHM-night to get all the classics like 'Crusader', 'Denim And Leather', 'Wheels Of Steel', 'Strong Arm Of The Law' or 'Motorcycle Man', which helped to coin the sound of this musical era - for sure they will get them!

DEMON

There's a special historical connection between DEMON and the Bang Your Head!!!: The show of this British legend at the Stefan-Hartmann-Halle in Tübingen during the BYH!!! 1997 still belongs to the most memorable moments in our festival history. This was one of the reasons to invite the band back in 2005 for our tenth anniversary, but DEMON was one of the bands who had to cut down their set dramatically because of the delay caused by the huge thunderstorm going down the night before. Now we will have the chance to get what we missed five years ago, because DEMON will be back at the Bang Your Head!!! No doubt: A band that created albums like 'Night Of The Demon' or 'The Unexpected Guest' which became milestones for the NWoBHM must not be missed on such an evening!

BLITZKRIEG

BLITZKRIEG are one of the bands from Great Britain that were honored by a guy named Lars Ulrich and his band METALLICA who covered one of their classics: the signature song 'Blitzkrieg'. The original version was released in 1980 as the flip side of the 'Buried Alive' single, but luck was not on the side of the band: After publishing another song on a compilation album the musicians parted ways. About three years passed until BLITZKRIEG came back to life and in 1985 finally the long overdue debut 'A Time Of Changes' saw the light of day - but at that time the star of the NWoBHM was already sinking and other bands had outrun BLITZKRIEG by far. But there can be no doubt regarding the musical impact that the band fronted by Brian Ross made on the scene. Since the middle of the nineties the band is releasing albums from time to time, the nicely traditonal-sounding 'Sins & Greed' (2005) and 'Theatre Of The Damned' (2007), which was co-produced by SAXON singer Biff Byford, being the last ones to date.

ROXXCALIBUR

METALLICA is not the only band to pay tribute to the glorious era of the NWoBHM. Since 2007 a Germany-based band named ROXXCALIBUR (of course the name is a reference to the legendary 'Roxcalibur' compilation) is doing the same with their liveshows as well as with their first album. Not only underground circles gave 'NWoBHM For Muthas' a very warm welcome for it's welldone coverversions of 14 precious Hard Rock and Heavy Metal offerings. Among them were some rare songs by legends like GRIM REAPER, JAGUAR, WITCHFINDER GENERAL or SAVAGE. At last year's Keep It True-Festival the musicians, that normally play in the bands VIRON and ABANDONED, invited for a 'NWoBHM 30th Anniversary Show', were they were accompanied by NWoBHM heroes like Dave Hill (DEMON), Brian Ross (SATAN/BLITZKRIEG), Jess Cox (TYGERS OF PAN TANG), Lee Payne and Russ North (CLOVEN HOOF) and many others. Who knows: Maybe ROXXCALIBUR will also be not alone on our stage?