Udo Dirkschneider indicates highlight of U.D.O.’s lone show in 2020 was they could play the show

Udo Dirkschneider indicates highlight of U.D.O.’s lone show in 2020 was they could play the show

U.D.O. and former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider was recently interviewed by senior columnist Alexandra Mrozowska for Hard Rock Haven. Dirkschneider was promoting U.D.O.‘s upcoming new live record Live In Bulgaria 2020 – Pandemic Survival Show, which will be released via AFM Records on March 19, 2021.

In terms of the atmosphere for the show in Bulgaria, Dirkschneider indicated: “For us, it was also the only show in 2020 and while normally we’d be on tour, all the tours and festivals were cancelled. Our tour was postponed until February this year, but it couldn’t happen again, so we have to wait until after the summer. If we’re lucky – and I hope so – we can start touring again then. But in my opinion I don’t think we’ll have any festivals taking place this summer… That’s why also for us as the band it was really special [thing] to do [a Bulgaria show] and we wanted to do it. That’s why there was a lot of energy also onstage and I think the whole band was giving it everything they’ve got there. We could finally say “Oh, here we go, we can play a show in front of people”, so the highlight of the show was that we could actually play the show. Another good thing about this show was also that the promoter made sure there was no audience in front of the stage and [everyone] was just sitting, you know – over 2500 people that were there… And after the show as well as when we were already back in Germany we asked the promoter if anything happened – if anyone got the virus. And these guys said no, nothing happened and everything was fine. So we were lucky we could do this show and nothing happened [and it’s] because these guys did a great job.”

With respect to U.D.O.‘s setlist which included some Accept classics, Dirkschneider stated: “Well, with U.D.O., I normally don’t play any Accept songs anymore… but the [Bulgarian] government and the promoter were asking, “Come on, this is a special night, so is it possible that you might play some classic Accept stuff?…” And we said, “Okay, here we go…” I mean, it was a really special night and the only show in 2020 (laughs). I think we did five classic Accept songs and the people were also really happy about this. They didn’t expect [them], so in a way that was a big surprise for the audience.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Udo Dirkschneider at Hard Rock Haven‘s website.

U.D.O.‘s “Man And Machine” video (from Live In Bulgaria 2020 – Pandemic Survival Show album):