U.D.O., the German heavy metal band fronted by former ACCEPT vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, kicked off its 2024 North American tour on Friday (September 6) at Artie’s Bar & Grill in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below.
U.D.O.‘s setlist was as follows:
Setlist:
01. Isolation Man
02. Break The Rules
03. Forever Free
04. Metal Machine
05. Midnight Mover (ACCEPT)
06. Wrong Side Of Midnight
07. Fight For The Right
08. Heart Of Gold
09. Man And Machine
10. One Heart One Soul
11. Touchdown
Encore:
12. I Give As Good As I Get
13. They Want War
14. Animal House
15. Fast As A Shark (ACCEPT)
16. Balls To The Wall (ACCEPT)
The trek will make its way through two dozen cities, closing on October 10 in Columbus, Ohio. Support on the trek is being provided by MIDNIGHT HELLION, KILLDEVIL THEORY and POWER THEORY on select dates.
Remaining tour dates:
With MIDNIGHT HELLION, POWER THEORY:
Sep. 07 – The Vault – New Bedford, MA
Sep. 08 – Reverb – Reading, PA
With MIDNIGHT HELLION, KILLDEVIL THEORY:
Sep. 11 – Southport Music Hall – Jefferson, LA
Sep. 12 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
Sep. 14 – Fitzgerald’s – San Antonio, TX
Sep. 15 – Trees – Dallas, TX
Sep. 17 – Rockhouse – El Paso, TX
Sep. 18 – The 44 – Glendale, AZ
Sep. 20 – DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
Sep. 21 – Stages – Santa Ana, CA
Sep. 22 – Whisky A Go Go – West Hollywood, CA
Sep. 23 – Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
Sep. 25 – Rickhouse – Denver, CO
With MIDNIGHT HELLION:
Sep. 27 – The Vixen – Mchenry, IL
Sep. 28 – The Forge – Joliet, IL
Sep. 29 – BMI Event Center – Versailles, OH
Oct. 02 – Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC
Oct. 03 – Brass Monkey – Ottawa, ON
Oct. 04 – Token Lounge – Westland, MI
Oct. 05 – Q & Z Expo – Ringle, WI
Oct. 06 – Shank Hall – Milwaukee, WI
Oct. 09 – Blue Note – Harrison, OH
Oct. 10 – The King of Clubs – Columbus, OH
Tickets, as well as VIP upgrades which include a meet-and-greet with U.D.O., a photo op, autographs, and more are available at national-acts.com/UDO.
U.D.O.‘s North American tour was originally scheduled to take place in November/December 2023 but was postponed “due to an insurmountable combination of logistical, cargo, and rental equipment problems.”
In a 2023 interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM, Udo, who turned 72 in April, touched upon the setlist for the U.D.O. North American tour and whether it would include any of ACCEPT‘s classic songs. He said: “The promoter said, ‘Yeah, we heard Udo said he never, ever will play any ACCEPT songs.’ Yeah, of course. I mean, when I did the DIRKSCHNEIDER tour [focusing on ACCEPT material] also here in Europe, the whole DIRKSCHNEIDER thing [lasted] for nearly three years; I mean, it was a never-ending tour. It was nearly 300 shows, and I was really tired. I said, ‘Come on. U.D.O. has also enough songs. I don’t wanna play any ACCEPT songs anymore.’ Okay. [I] was a little bit too quick [to say that]. So the promoter in America, he said, ‘Yeah, but when you come on tour, you have to play ‘Balls To The Wall’. You cannot be in America without ‘Balls To The Wall’.’ And then he said, ‘Can we put this in the contract?’ And I said, ‘Don’t worry. We don’t have to put this in the contract. I know that we have to play ‘Balls To The Wall’ in America. Of course.’ And, yeah. So maybe we play one or two ACCEPT songs; I mean, I know which ones are in America famous enough. But we don’t make a mix, like 50 percent of ACCEPT and [50 percent of] U.D.O. Maybe [we’ll play] two [ACCEPT] songs, and then give the people what they want.”
U.D.O. released a new album, “Touchdown”, in August 2023 through Atomic Fire Records. The 13-track LP was recorded at various locations with producer Martin “Mattes” Pfeiffer and was mixed at Redhead Studio (Wilhelmshaven, Germany) while the mastering was handled by Stefan Kaufmann at ROXX Studio (Solingen, Germany),The record also includes a guest appearance by violinist Stefan Pintev on the title track, and bass tracks were recorded by former ACCEPT bassist Peter Baltes. Artwork was provided by Martin Häusler who was also responsible for shooting band photos in support of the new album campaign.
In April 2023, Baltes officially joined U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER, the two bands fronted by Udo Dirkschneider. The former ACCEPT bassist had been playing bass for U.D.O. since September 2022, initially as a temporary replacement for U.D.O.‘s then-bassist Tilen Hudrap who was hospitalized after the band’s show in Munich, Germany.
DIRKSCHNEIDER is the name of Udo‘s band which performs ACCEPT material exclusively.
Although Udo announced nine years ago that his initial DIRKSCHNEIDER tour would mark his final time performing ACCEPT songs, he has continued to play select shows under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner.
Four years ago, Baltes and former ACCEPT drummer Stefan Kaufmann were part of the songwriting team for U.D.O.‘s album called “We Are One”, a collaboration with Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr, the military band of the German federal armed forces.