(Live Review) POWERWOLF and DRAGONFORCE - Miwaukee, WI (9/23/25)
- Chris Tighe
- Oct 14
- 6 min read
Greetings, friends, fans, and followers. Welcome to episode #88 of the most exciting review column in human history, Beard Reviews. Tonight, we explore power metal from outside the USA with Germany’s Powerwolf and Great Britain’s Dragonforce.
The Beard, and a very excited Little Johnny have journeyed to Milwaukee. This will be the Beard's first visit to the Eagles Ballroom since they $&#%ed me over hard on my VIP seats to Opeth. Apparently the Eagles Club interpreted VIP as Vision Impaired Placement since they took my money then pulled my seat and repositioned me so far to the side that seeing Opeth was virtually impossible. I would have preferred going to see this show “ANYWHERE” else, but as that was logistically impossible, here we are.
As usual, Little Johnny had a spot in the maelstrom of the-main floor while I will be trying to find an acceptable sight line on the balcony. For the record, Eagles Club has three tiers of tickets.
Tier #1 is GA. You can stand on the main floor.
Tier #2 is more expensive, and they are called VIP Balcony. Once again VIP means exactly Jack over Shit. It means you can STAND in the balcony even though there are approximately 100 plus seats available all the way around the balcony. Why, if you are VIP can you NOT sit there?
Because tier #3 (for about 150 bucks apiece) are VIP Reserved Balcony.) Those ticketholders actually get to sit down.
Now, they SAY that seating is available in sections where there were no “reserved” VIP rickets purchased. HAHA…they SAY that. What they DO however is rope off ALL the seats and claim they were ALL purchased VIP reserve seats. THIS, MY GOOD READERS, IS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!!!
Each “reserved” box has at least eight seats in it. The particular box I stood behind all night (with my VIP balcony ticket), only had four seats filled all night. I assure you, good readers, THAT box was not the only one that did not fill up. At minimum, there were about 30-50 seats in the balcony that never got filled. Now, certainly the venue can claim they were purchased, and the purchasers must have just not shown up. Is anyone buying that???
Gee, lets have about fifty people buy the most expensive tickets to the show and then NOT show up to see said show. I strongly suspect the venue of malfeasance, and given my previous Opeth experience,there is certainly evidence this venue does not care about anything more than getting all the money it can out of patrons.
Even one of the security people admitted, “Oh yeah, this happens every show.” Eagles Club owners, you suck! But I say that knowing full well you also don’t care what I have to say, you’ve screwed me before. You screwed me this time and you will screw me again next time too. In the strongest way possible, let me say. Do not support this venue, or at minimum get the cheapest tickets possible because anything more is just standing in a different part of the building. VIP Balcony my bearded ass!
Rant over, let's review the bands, (who by the way, and for the record, had nothing to do with any of this.)
DRAGONFORCE
Openers, and celebrating twenty-five years together, were London’s own ultra power metal act Dragonforce, supporting their ninth studio release Warp Speed Warriors.
As always, Dragonforce never met a song that didn’t need one more guitar solo in it, so what they do can get repetitive quickly if you don’t love a lot of guitar histrionics. Originals and guitar wizards Herman Li and Sam Totman led a stage full of musicians who knew play it loud and play it fast. The stage was set up with two gigantic fake video game consols, one on each side where Li & Totman could solo from. This did present a cool look.
Not to be forgotten, Marc Hudson provided the vocals and Alicia Vigil laid down a great bass line while Gee Anzalone thundered away tirelessly on the drum set.
Three times during the set, the infamous giant stuffed chicken made an appearance and was joyously tossed about the room by fans. Twice, the chicken even made it all the way up to the balcony, (thanks in part to a great heave by our own Little Johnny.) His efforts elicited a strong cheer from the crowd. The lad also joined in several circle pits, as well as participating in a group of “mosh pit push-ups” called for by Hudson during "Space Marine Corps".
The crowd loved Dragonforce and their video game-tinged set list. The Beard was of course happy to hear classics like “Fury of the Storm” and “Through the Fire & the Flame.”
Unfortunately, Dragonforce were the usual victims of the Eagles Club bad sound. Most of the time it is just the way the room is with only a few bands really rising above it. Dragonforce was often muddy and just lacked good volume and clarity at the same time. Based on fan reactions though it was a fun set, just nothing utterly amazing. 81/100
Johnny? “Cool set Beard. They got a lot of energy. We pitted, and, hey, did you see me heave that chicken? This was a great show.”
POWERWOLF
Headliners Power Wolf, have been around for twenty years and have released ten albums with the latest being 2024’s Wake up the Wicked. Power Wolf are unusual in that virtually the entire band has remained together for their twenty year run allowing them great stage familiarity.
Although they have a similarity in sound to Sweden’s battle oriented Sabaton, the lyrics and themes are entirely different with Powerwolf tending to focus on religious aspects and folk legends like werewolves or vampires. Powerwolf also believes in a big show with costumes, face makeup, impressive and ever-changing backdrops, and lots of smoke & lighting. Often, they also have pyro, but apparently not here at the Eagles Club. The pyro guy probably didn’t pay for the Reserved VIP pyro pass. (Ed: Heh, heh - good one!)
Powerwolf’s sixteen song set had some great numbers, and I fully enjoyed “Bless em with the Blade,” “Demons are a Girls Best Friend,” and “Sainted by the Storm.”
Vocalist Karsten Brill, looking like a vampire that had made a few too many stops at the buffet table, was nonetheless jovial, and entertaining. He was a good singer for that power metal style with clean lyrics (at least when the songs were in English not Latin), and he knew how to keep the crowd into it by leading chants, and back & forth lyrics as well as encouraging circle pits which Johnny gleefully applauded.
Benjamin Greywolf Buss though is the guy to watch both for his guitar work and his entertaining facial expressions. That guy is having a wonderful time up there. Christian Jost (whose keyboards were on an elevated landing), was a regular acrobat as he often jumped off it onto the main stage area to get into the songs. Unfortunately, he also fell off the elevated stage once unintentionally and sustained a shoulder injury. According to the band page he is fine, though bruised. I guess Powerwolf really does suffer for their art.
For my first time seeing them live, I enjoyed it. I liked the set, the show, and the musicians. Put them in a decent venue and I will like them even more. I cannot penalize Powerwolf because Eagles Club management are jack-weasels, so I am calling this an 86/100 and a worthwhile show from all the musical aspects. Just see them anywhere other than this place.
Thoughts Johnny? “I liked all the werewolf stuff Beard. Those backdrops were awesome. We got to Pit and circle and even surf a little. You booked us a good show tonight. Sorry you hate the venue. Just hang down here with me next time. This is where all the fun happens anyway."
So, that wraps up Beard review #88. Remember to catch the Beard and little Johnny every Tuesday on your home for Metal, the Mighty Decibel. Check out all the videos on the Beards TikTok page at thebeard0728, and friend or follow Mark McQueen on social media.
Until next time, this is the Beard saying, “Live Life” “Stay Heavy” & “Horns Up.”
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