Today I woke up and read the news that former Manowar drummer Scott Columbus has passed away. As sad as this is it reminded me of my first concert ever, which happened to be Manowar with said Columbus behind the drums. So I thought I'd write a few lines about my memories from that show as a tribute kind of.

I was fifteen years old but I still remember quite a lot from that show. I remember the support band called Bludgeon that I've heard nothing from since, so I guess they didn't quite catch the fame. My strongest memory is from the very start of the Manowar show though. It's probably what made me remember the show when reading about Columbus since he was a big part of that first impression! On this tour (Warriors of the World) Manowar had brought a ton (literary, a ton!) of equipment and gear - all was stacked on stage. A huge wall of amplifiers and elements, and on top of it all was Columbus on his huge steel drum set overlooking the entire stage. This colossus of metal was then enlightened by spotlights from below cutting through the smoke... and then the rest of the band came on stage and the drumming echoing through my body - a feeling I've come to know and love after the years.

I remember that my friend who I went to the gig with forgot his ticket at home and realised when we were almost at the venue, so we had to turn back and get it - which resulted in quite bad spots in the crowd. But despite the distance to the stage I've rarely gotten such strong drum beats in my chest from a show. Few bands play as loud as Manowar... or should I say KILL?

After the intro I only remember bits and pieces from here and there in the show. I remember Eric Adams coming on stage riding an amplified motorcycle (!), and an "interview" of Joey by a hot Swedish chick in Swedish - where Joey stated (in broken Swedish) that Manowar would stay in Sweden until they had drunk all beer, fucked all women and blown all speakers! I think that the show they did earlier this year in Gothenburg is the only one they've done in Sweden since then though... I also remember Joey having a go at the Swedish newspapers who had not given them a good review on the night before - not to repeat what he said let me just say he wasn't impressed!

Nowadays I'm not really into Manowar anymore, but it's still a lot of nostalgia for me however - and when the mood comes on I might still blast the classics. After all, in a sense you could say that Manowar and Scott Columbus got me into Heavy Metal in the first place.

So hail to you Brother of Metal. See you in Valhalla!