David Reece, who sang on ACCEPT's 1989 album Eat The Heat, will rejoin the German metal veterans on stage for two shows of their 50th-anniversary "Teutonic Titans" tour. He told The Metal Voice he will perform "a few" songs at Oberhausen, Germany, on November 21 and Milan, Italy, on December 2.
Reece said the invitation came from guitarist Wolf Hoffmann in August, while he was playing a festival in Bulgaria. He ignored a call from an unknown U.S. number, then found an e-mail from Hoffmann asking whether he would join ACCEPT live on the anniversary run. "I think I almost broke into tears," Reece said, adding that his answer was obvious: "Absolutely." The dates were settled over the following weeks; Milan made sense because Reece lives in Italy.
It's a notable reconciliation. Reece replaced Udo Dirkschneider for Eat The Heat, but the record was a commercial and critical letdown, and tensions with the band peaked midway through the tour in an altercation with bassist Peter Baltes in Chicago. ACCEPT split by the end of 1989 and reunited with Dirkschneider in 1993 for Objection Overruled. Mark Tornillo has fronted the band since 2009.
Reece said he hopes the reunion sends a positive message to fans, pointing to Ritchie Blackmore's appearance with DEEP PURPLE in New York this past August as a similar moment of old wounds healing.