Doro Pesch is hard rock and metal royalty. The German singer has been rocking since the early ‘80s, first with Warlock and then as a solo act. Her last studio album was 2012‘s Raise Your Fist, and her latest effort is the massive live collection Strong and Proud: 30 Years Of Rock And Metal.
Recorded during her 2013-14 anniversary tour, Strong and Proud is available as 3 DVDs, 2 Blu-rays, CD and LP. It includes three different concerts. The first was a festival gig at Wacken Open Air. The other two shows were in Dusseldorf. One was dubbed Classic Night, the other Rock Night.
The first DVD is portions of those three shows, with 38 songs in total. The shows include Doro’s classics along with cover songs and numerous special guests. Appearing at the Wacken Show were Motorhead’s Phil Campbell guesting on the Judas Priest cover “Breaking The Law.” Joakim Broden of Sabaton also appears, as does Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger.
The Classic Night show includes “Fear Of The Dark” with ex-Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley. Doro also covers Lordi’s “Hard Rock Hallelujah” with Lordi, and Udo Dirkschneider sings on two different tracks.
Dirkschneider also appears during the Rock Night gig, dueting with Doro on the classic Accept song “Balls To The Wall.” Lordi return on “Bad Blood,” and there’s a ripping version of Saxon’s “Denim and Leather” with the legendary Biff Byford himself. Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch also guests on a track.
Just those shows alone would make for a great collection, but Strong And Proud includes a ton of bonus material as well. There’s an extensive documentary Behind The Curtain: Inside The Heart Of Doro. There are also several additional songs from all three shows. Byford returns for the Priest cover “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” and there’s also a guest spot from Savatage’s Chris Caffery.
In addition, there are two songs from the 2015 Rock Hard Festival and two tracks from Doro’s 2015 Russian tour. A standalone CD is also available, but it only has 14 songs, so getting the DVD is highly recommended. Doro fans will definitely want to add Strong and Proud: 30 Years Of Rock And Metal. It’s packed with great songs and a ton of bonus material, and shows Doro is rocking just as hard today as she did 30 years ago.
(released July 15, 2016 on Nuclear Blast Records)
