Watch: ACCEPT Performs Without Singer MARK TORNILLO In Toronto

German/American heavy metal legends ACCEPT performed without lead singer Mark Tornillo last night (Sunday, October 16) at The Phoenix in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

It was announced prior to the concert that the 68-year-old Tornillo, who joined ACCEPT in 2009, would be unable to play the gig because he was having vocal issues and could have risked losing his voice had he gone ahead with the performance.

ACCEPT played an hour-long set in Toronto, with bassist Martin Motnik, drummer Christopher Williams and some of the other members handling the vocal parts. Fan-filmed video can be seen below.

Tornillo joined ACCEPT as the replacement for the band's original lead singer, Udo Dirkscheider. He can be heard on ACCEPT's last five studio albums, "Blood Of The Nations" (2010),"Stalingrad" (2012),"Blind Rage" (2014),"The Rise Of Chaos" (2017) and "Too Mean To Die" (2021).

ACCEPT's North American tour, featuring support from NARCOTIC WASTELAND, kicked off on September 29 in Nashville, Tennessee and is scheduled to conclude on October 29 in Columbus, Ohio.

In a 2018 interview with Metal Shock Finland, Tornillo stated about what it was like to first join ACCEPT: "It was frightening. When we first announced what was going to happen, there was really not many people on board with it. Online, there was a lot of naysayers, a lot of badmouthing. It was very disheartening. We all sat down and said, 'Look, we have to make an amazing record, or else we're gonna die here. This is going to be a swansong. We have to make an amazing record.' And that's what we did. We spent a lot of time writing 'Blood Of The Nations' and a lot of time recording it, and I think in retrospect, it paid off. If that album wasn't what it was, we wouldn't be here."

Asked about fans who have yet to "accept" him, Mark said: "Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I'm a purist too with certain things. I get it. But I think we've moved on. We're almost a different band at this point. We really are a different band at this point. We still pay tribute to the old ACCEPT by playing the old songs — I mean, we have the two people that wrote most of the songs, [so] we have to. That's always going to be part of ACCEPT's history. You can't change it. All we can change is the future. But everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I get it. I wish them all well, and I wish Udo well, and his band, you know. No hard feelings on my part, that's for sure."

Asked about ACCEPT's overall approach since he came into the group, Tornillo told "That Jamieson Show": "Basically, [we went] back to what we did in the '80s — what everybody did back in the day. The whole thing was, when I joined the band, Wolf [Hoffmann, guitar] did not want the band to rest on its laurels and only go out and play the classics. He wanted a real band. So we've been album-tour, album-tour — like it always was."

Mark also talked about his musical personal chemistry with Hoffmann, who is the sole remaining member from ACCEPT's classic lineup.

"It's grown quite a bit, actually," he said. "We've got a great mutual respect for each other and for our talents. This album ['Too Mean To Die'] was a total collaboration. This is the first ACCEPT album without Peter, so that was a big gap to fill. But everybody stepped up. Our [new] bass player Martin Motnik contributed quite a bit to this album."