Dirkschneider

In 2016 German metal icon Udo Dirkschneider, who fronted the power metal outfit Accept during the band's commercial peak in the 1980s, announced that he would be retiring all Accept songs from his set. In order to please longtime fans -- he had been performing and recording as U.D.O. since 1987 -- he decided to do a tour under the moniker Dirkschneider that focused solely on Accept material, effectively closing out that chapter of his life forever. The tour proved popular, and was soon extended into 2017 and beyond. The AFM Records-issued concert album/film Live: Back to the Roots documented a performance in Brno, Czech Republic in December 2016. ~ James Christopher Monger