Doro Pesch is returning to Brazil soon, less than 3 years after her last visit to the country. The queen of metal will perform on the warm-up of Bangers Open Air (Friday, May 2nd) – tickets on sale – and spoke to Wikimetal by phone, brimming with enthusiasm and her well-known charisma.
Before even starting the questions, she updated us on her busy life: “I’m so excited about Bangers Open Air , and I just played with Manowar in Spain a few days ago, and before that, I played with Saxon and Girlschool in Germany. Everyone is excited. We’re excited to come back to Brazil.”
Doro and her debut at Bangers Open Air.
Doro sounds like a very happy and excited teenager on the phone. It's impossible to tell that the artist is a metal icon with a 40-year career. Starting officially with the questions, the artist shows genuine enthusiasm about returning to Brazil:
“I want to see my friends again, the rock fans again. That’s what I care about most in my life. It’s about the fans. And yes, we’re working on our setlist and we’ll play all the classics, and probably some from the new album, Conqueress (2023). Maybe ‘Time for Justice’, ‘Turner of the Dawn’ and ‘Fire in the Sky’, because Bill Hudson and I wrote this one together, and that will make him feel really good, because, as you know, he’s Brazilian. And yes, we’re on fire. We can’t wait. [We’ll have] all the hits, all that good stuff, from the old school to the new album.”
For her debut at the Bangers Open Air , Doro expresses excitement, saying that fans can expect many anthems: “I love singing along, especially with Brazilian fans. I always know they love to sing along.”
“I don’t know how long we can play, if it will be an hour or so. But I would put on all these great songs. The band is ready. We are ready. We are excited. We are already on fire. I’m going to bring good energy and I’m excited to see all my friends there again. Probably everyone in the front row will be people I know by heart, because I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos for ‘Living After Midnight’ and ‘Time for Justice,’ but there’s a lot of Brazilian footage in them. The lyric video , which was actually made by a Brazilian woman. Gabi is her name, and we put all the footage from the Brazilian Monsters of Rock in it. So, I hope all the fans will be at the Bangers Open Air , and we’ll have a fantastic time and yes, lots of energy and lots of headbanging, sweat, singing along and going crazy.”
We informed Doro that Bangers Open Air is the biggest metal festival in Latin America, and the singer expressed her pleasure and excitement at being part of such a large event celebrating metal. “It’s fantastic! It’s phenomenal to be a part of this, to play, to see all the other bands, all the fans. It’s incredible. I’m very happy. I’m very grateful for who we are. You know we can play there again, and it’s very, very important that, especially these days, people have good energy, that we feel we’re all in this together, with the music, everything we are is everything we need. There’s this feeling of great connection, of deep understanding, of having fun, kind of going crazy, feeling freedom.”
Exciting about the Bangers Open Air lineup
“Being together at the same time… That’s something so unique in the metal scene and we can celebrate all of this together. It’s so good and I saw the lineup. This lineup is fantastic with many German bands. That’s great, and all my friends, all the people I’ve toured with. I played with Saxon last week. That’s funny. I hope to see them. And I love WASP . I hope to see WASP and Blind Guardian . And oh, it’s going to be amazing. I’m really looking forward to it, and I’m very, very, very happy and grateful to be a part of it too.”
On Friday's lineup, Doro Pesch and Dogma are the only female acts. And as a reference for many bands formed by women, the artist says she's eager to see Dogma play: “I haven't seen them yet. I'm excited to see them and that's incredible, and I love many, many Brazilian bands as I've mentioned before, like Nervosa and Crypta . They have these outfits, they look like nuns, right? That's cool. I definitely want to check them out. It's unique and different and very cool.”
Doro's new album will be a tribute to Lemmy.
The queen of metal revealed that she is recording a new album that will be a tribute to her friend Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead . “I’m working on an album for Lemmy called Rock Till Death to honor him. It will probably be released by the end of this year because Lemmy was my best friend, and we have many songs that we sang together, so it will be fascinating!” Dorothy is also working on her next release, the live album Conquers Forever , celebrating her 40-year career, featuring many guests, which was recorded at Wacken Open Air in 2023.
Passion for the Brazilian public
At 58 years old, the German vocalist made history in the world of metal, playing at a wide variety of rock and metal festivals. She shared some of her perspectives on festivals around the world, comparing them to the fact that "the mentality of Brazilian fans is very unique.".
“It seems to have more energy than anywhere else in this world because they have so much passion. They have fire in their hearts, spirit, and it’s more energy than anywhere else. And it’s great to celebrate all of that together. And then, Bangers Open Air , as one of the biggest festivals, is super cool, and I know they probably can’t wait until this festival starts.”
“I can already feel everyone’s enthusiasm, and that’s what I love most – when people are enthusiastic, on fire, and passionate. It’s incredible, and it’s such a great festival. It’s fantastic. To give a great performance and make them really feel good, to give the audience so much power and energy is what they can take home, and probably, hopefully, think about. Weeks and weeks after they attend this festival, everyone feels empowered for a long time.”.
“In other countries, other festivals, sometimes the audience needs a little more time to fully get into the groove, but headbanging and singing along is what happens in Brazil. It’s from the very beginning. From the first note they’re on fire, and that’s totally different. It’s wilder and more passionate. And people go all out from the start. And it’s a joy to play in front of people who are super excited from the beginning. It’s much more fun, it’s not work, it’s fun. It’s like a great exchange of energy, and when it happens right from the first note, or even before the show starts, that’s great. It’s definitely different in Brazil. I think South America in general, they are the loudest and most passionate audiences. And it’s incredible. I love it.”
Message for Brazilian fans
At the end of the interview, Doro made sure to leave a message for her fans: “Hello, metalheads. Hello, my dear friends from Brazil! I love you so much. I always have. I always will. I can't wait to see you. I wish you a great time. I know it will be an incredible festival, so keep rocking. This was Doro Pesch! And I want to say hello to all the metalheads in South America, especially Brazil. We love you, and I can't wait to see you, ladies and gentlemen.”.
The first edition of Bangers Open Air will take place on May 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at the Memorial da América Latina in São Paulo. Tickets range from R$500 to R$2,000 and are available at Clube do Ingresso.
READ ALSO : Bangers Open Air releases updated schedule
