BraveWords scribe Mark Gromen has checked in from his annual pilgrimage to the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen, Germany:

"All day, the backstage was fueled by rumors that Accept were going to pull off a surprise show, so much so that their crew had no idea what was coming. Having seen the band just a week before in Norway, I can attest that the July 13th performance (Friday the 13th, no less) was filled with long dormant material. Drummer Christopher Williams said afterwards that the band had been practicing during the week off and decided to do something different. Fans were treated to the likes of 'Demons Night', 'Objection Overruled', 'Slaves To Metal', 'No Regrets' and 'Aiming High'. A full report on the entire festival, including this unique set, will be posted soon."

Over the past few months, Accept has been anything but passive, instead they‘ve been finalising their latest project, their upcoming live release Symphonic Terror – Live at Wacken 2017, which will be released on November 23rd via Nuclear Blast!

Fans can expect a unique, 2 hour Accept show, shot on August 3rd, 2017 at the legendary W:O:A, where the band played the biggest and most extraordinary show of their career in front of 80.000 live fans at the festival, on top of thousands more fans watching via the live stream! The show was divided into three parts, showing the full creative power of Accept:

The first part hosted the premiere of new tracks "Die By The Sword" and "Koolaid", as well as some of their most popular songs, such as "Restless And Wild" and "Pandemic". The middle part hosted guitarist Wolf Hoffmann accompanied by a symphony orchestra, presenting the best-of from his recent solo album Headbangers Symphony, which includes metal versions of some of the world‘s biggest classical compositions (e.g. from Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi,...). And in the last but not least part, fans were able to bang their heads to Accept anthems (also accompanied by the orchestra), such as "Princess Of The Dawn", "Breaker", "Fast As A Shark" and "Metal Heart", as well as to new songs like "Stalingrad", "Shadow Soldiers" or "Teutonic Terror". The finale could be nothing less than an 8 minute version of their eminent hit "Balls To The Walls"!

"This was a mash-up of intensity and precision," Wolf Hoffmann says about the fusion of Heavy Metal and classical music. "The fans are extremely open-minded," continues Wolf happy, "but I was nervous 'till the last minute before the show anyway. After all it's still a metal festival! But I think that, after many years of Accept combining both worlds, fans have started to really accept this concept."

What started as a world premiere in Wacken and caused quite a stir worldwide (thanks to the live streams) will be continued in early 2019. This means Accept are planning to tour across Europe with an orchestra in spring 2019.

"I really hope we will be able to fulfill our dream - we are working hard on it!" tells Wolf Hoffmann with eager anticipation. "What I can already say now is that there will be lots of optical and musical surprises, that fans of Accept have never experienced before. We want to multiply what we have achieved in Wacken and are happy about every bit of support we get. One thing is for sure: 2019 will be exciting!"

Accept's tour schedule is as follows:

July
19 - Malakása, Greece - Rockwave Festival
21 - Fritzlar, Germany - Rock am Stück
24 - Tolmin, Slovenia - Metaldays
26 - Székesfehérvár, Hungary - Fezen Festival
28 - Vienna, Austria - Stadthalle (with Judas Priest, Battle Beast)

September
28 - Agoura Hills, CA - The Canyon
29 - Pasadena, CA - The Rose
30 - Santa Clarita, CA - The Canyon

October
6 - Monterrey, Mexico - Tecate México Metal Fest
10 - Belém, Brazil - Botequim
12 - Fortaleza, Brazil - Complexo Armazém 
14 - São Paulo, Brazil - Carioca Club
16 - Belo Horizonte, Brazil - MG

November
2 - Weissenhäuser Strand / Ostsee, Germany - Metal Hammer Paradise

Photo by Mark Gromen