UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER Is Pleased By Response To His 'Back To The Roots' Tour

Finland's Kaaos TV conducted an interview with former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. vocalist Udo Dirkschneider prior to his November 8 concert at Rytmikorjaamo in Seinäjoki, Finland. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the ongoing DIRKSCHNEIDER tour, dubbed "Back To The Roots - Farewell To Accept", during which is playing classic ACCEPT songs for the last time:

Udo: "There was already a plan that we [would] do the second part of this. I mean, so many people wanna have this show. And we [were] not in Austria, we [were] not in Italy, we'll do more shows in Germany, and also now we go America with the whole thing, and Canada. So, I don't know. The whole thing was exploding. At the moment, there is, in a way, a break with U.D.O.; we [will start in] the beginning of March working on a new album, so I mean, why sitting home? Instead we can do stuff like this. So, yeah, it's a lot of fun, and the people like it, it looks like, and yeah, why not?"

On the fan response to the DIRKSCHNEIDER tour:

Udo: "Yeah, nearly everything [has been sold out]. In Germany already so far, two shows are sold out and the other ones are nearly [sold out]. So, yeah, the whole thing was not planned like this. It was planned to do, let's say, ten [or] fifteen special shows in Europe, and then that's it. But then the whole thing was, like, I don't know… exploding, you know. So many people [said], 'Ah, we wanna have this. We wanna have this.' And I'm still surprised about this. There's a lot of interest, and it's good to see; the people wanna see this. Of course, there has to be an end [laughs], and that will be after the American tour and Canada tour in the beginning of February. And then we make a short break, and then we start working on the next U.D.O. album. So a lot of people were thinking, 'Oh, that's it. This is the last time he's on stage.' No, no, no — don't worry. [Laughs] We're coming back with U.D.O."

On whether it will be sad for him to not play any of the classic ACCEPT songs anymore:

Udo: "I don't know yet. I mean, that will be when we start working on the next tour for U.D.O. without ACCEPT songs. But I think also it will be not really… Of course, there's still some emotion there, but already on the 'Decadent' tour with U.D.O., we were just playing three ACCEPT songs. So I think it will be not a big problem to do a setlist without ACCEPT songs. And, of course, some people say, 'Oh, you cannot do this.' Yeah, then the only thing I can say is then go to [see the current lineup of] ACCEPT and you can listen to the songs. For the next U.D.O. tour, [we will] have more space to put more U.D.O. songs in there — maybe songs we never played or whatever; we will see. And also another new album is coming out. That means… I think we've got enough really, really good songs to make up a really good setlist, definitely."

DIRKSCHNEIDER released a live album called "Live - Back To The Roots" on October 28 via AFM Records. The effort, which was recorded on April 2 at Kaminwerk in Memmingen, Germany, was made available as two-CD digipak and gatefold three-vinyl in four different colors (black, gold, silver and clear).

DIRKSCHNEIDER touring lineup:

Udo Dirkschneider - Vocals
Sven Dirkschneider - Drums
Fitty Wienhold - Bass
Andrey Smirnov - Guitar
Kasperi Heikkinen - Guitar