SAXON Announces November 2025 Tour Of U.K. And Ireland; DIRKSCHNEIDER To Support

British heavy metal legends SAXON have announced the "Hell, Fire And Steel" tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland for the fall of 2025. The trek will see the Biff Byford-fronted outfit play its entire 1980 album "Wheels Of Steel" in full, alongside tracks from the band's latest effort, 2024's "Hell, Fire And Damnation". Support on the tour, which includes dates in Belfast, Dublin, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, Wolverhampton, London and Cardiff, will come from DIRKSCHNEIDER, the band featuring former ACCEPT members Udo Dirkschneider and Peter Baltes. DIRKSCHNEIDER will perform ACCEPT's classic 1983 album "Balls To The Wall" in its entirety to celebrate the LP's 40th anniversary.

Byford says: "We first toured with Udo and ACCEPT in the U.S.A on our 'Crusader' tour and have done lots of stuff together since, but we have never toured the U.K. together so this is gonna be epic. 'Balls To The Wall' and 'Wheels Of Steel' under the same roof... It's going to be something really special to witness. Bring it on!"

Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday, November 29 at 10 a.m.

Tour dates:

Nov. 04 - Belfast, Ulster Hall
Nov. 05 - Dublin, Olympia
Nov. 07 - Manchester, O2 Appollo
Nov. 08 - Sheffield, Octagon
Nov. 09 - Glasgow, O2 Academy
Nov. 11 - Newcastle, O2 City Hall
Nov. 13 - Bristol, Beacon
Nov. 14 - Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
Nov. 15 - London, Eventim Apollo Hammersmith
Nov. 16 - Cardiff, The Great Hall

"Hell, Fire And Damnation" came out in January 2024 via Silver Lining Music.

SAXON recently announced the "Hell, Fire And Steel" tour of continental Europe which will not only see the band performing songs from "Hell, Fire And Damnation" but will also the whole of "Wheels Of Steel" (released 45 years ago next year) as well as other fan favorites and hits from across the group's career.

The "Hell, Fire And Steel" tour kicks off in Bremen, Germany on February 4 and concludes on March 5 in Leipzig, Germany.

"Hell, Fire And Damnation" is an album which sees SAXON investigate all areas of history and mystery amidst ten of their most confident and thunderously powerful songs yet.

On "Hell, Fire And Damnation", singer Biff Byford delivers his richest vocals in years, Nigel Glockler and Nibbs Carter on drums and bass, respectively, lay down the rhythmic law with bombastic power, and the guitars of Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler are fresh and fiery, a perfect complement to each other, carrying an overall energy and fury which will have fans salivating. Musically, SAXON bring it all to the table. There's a furious tribute to actual heavy metal in the denim-and-leather-coated super-sprint "Fire And Steel", a wonderful nod to the NWOBHM's birth in the electric mid-pace "Pirates Of The Airwaves", but maybe the true treasure amidst the jewels is "There's Something In Roswell", with the sort of expansive groove and embrace which deserves arenas.

Produced by Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST, EXODUS, ACCEPT) and Byford, with Sneap mixing and mastering, "Hell, Fire And Damnation" strides the perfect line between confident, current power, and gloriously irreverent flexing of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal muscle which SAXON co-created.

"I think this album's one of the best he's done sound-wise, and he's done a lot of albums," Biff declared. "It has a really raw, vibrant sound... if you compress the total time making this album, it was four weeks tops… you can hear everything brilliantly, nothing's overcomplicated, nothing's over compressed. The guitar sounds are fucking immense, they're just great, raw guitar sounds. And we haven't done a lot of overdubbing on there, it's just playing. I really, really like it."

Early last year, SAXON guitarist Paul Quinn announced that he was stepping back from touring with the band. As a result of his decision, SAXON canceled its April 2023 South American tour as well as the appearance at the Monsters Of Rock cruise. Quinn has since been replaced on the road by DIAMOND HEAD's Brian Tatler.

Brian has already joined fellow guitarist Doug Scarratt, drummer Nigel Glockler, bassist Tim "Nibbs" Carter and Byford for a number of shows in 2023 and 2024, but will continue to be a member of DIAMOND HEAD.

Byford and Quinn are the sole remaining original members in SAXON's current lineup.

Originally from South Yorkshire, England, SAXON has gone on to sell about 23 million albums and has produced such classic songs as "Denim And Leather", "Princess Of The Night", "Wheels Of Steel" and "Power And Glory".

Image credit: montopolisTHRASHER