Hardrock69
11-11-2011, 04:03 PM
Ok so a friend of mine surprised me a few months back by giving me a ticket to see Judas Priest, with openers Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society in St. Louis (technically St. Charles) last night.
Our seats were on the left side of the arena, 11th row on the floor.
We drove up there, thrilled to see this show, as we knew it was most likely to be the last time we ever saw the Metal Gods themselves, Judas Priest in concert.
Show time was listed on the ticket as 5:45 PM. WTF?
We got there about 4:25, and waited for the doors to open, which they did at about 5 PM.
Got in, took a peek at the overpriced merch.
Went in and found our seats. Some friend of Lady Gaga, calling her self "Lady Starlight" was acting as metal DJ. Super hot chick, on the very left end of the stage, spinning VINYL albums, playing classic metal tracks. Which she did during set changes as well. Found it interesting, really. Wonder why nobody had ever done that before in the history of live rock concerts.
Ok so first up was Thin Lizzy.
FINALLY...after Thin Lizzy cancelled their sole date on their 1979 tour when Gary Moore suddenly quit the band.....I got to see the band, after going to the venue in Wichita, Kansas in July 1979 only to find a notice taped to the door saying: "Thin Lizzy has cancelled due to illness", and thinking since then I would never get to see the band. Well, I did, minus Phil Lynott of course. Was good to see original members Scott Gorham, Brian Downy, plus Ricky Warwick on vox/guitar, bassist Marco Mendoza, keyboardist Darren Wharton and new guitarist Damon Johnson.
They played a good set list with nothing but TL classics. Was glad they played "The Cowboy Song", which is one of my TL faves.
The only negative is they brought out some dude named Richard Fortus, who thinks he is in Guns 'n' Roses, but since that band does not exist, he must be hallucinating. He only played the last couple of songs. Good guitarist though.
Started at 6 PM. Played for 50 minutes.
Set List:
Are You Ready
Waiting For An Alibi
Jailbreak
Massacre
Emerald
Killer On The Loose
Rosalie/Cowgirl's Song
Black Rose
Cowboy Song
The Boys Are Back In Town
2. Black Label Society.
10 Marshall stacks onstage. Zakk Wylde, appearing for the first song wearing a Native American head dress. An additional guitarist, bassist, and drummer. Looking like a bunch of hoodlums, lol.
Great players. Turned in a good solid performance of songs I do not recognize, as I am not a fan of BLS and do not bother even listening to their stuff.
Eventually it came time for Zakk to play his "solo".
10 fucking minutes of widdley-widdley. YES, TEN FUCKING MINUTES.
What a load of shit. I have known he was an amazing guitarist for 25 years now. A 2-3 minute solo spot is plenty and would allow time for 2-3 more songs.
But he can do what he wants.
They are good at what they do, and Zakk is actually quite a decent singer as well.
It all was a big mash of stuff that sounded almost identical, partly because the mix was just a big muddy sludgepit.
Apologies to BLS fans here.
Just not my cup of tea.
They went on at 7, played 60 minutes.
Set list:
Crazy Horse
Funeral Bell
Bleed for Me
Demise of Sanity
Overlord
Parade of the Dead
Suicide Messiah
Guitar Solo
Godspeed Hell Bound
Fire it Up
Concrete Jungle
Stillborn
Now...for the main event.
Priest came out kicking motherfucking ass. Started with Rapid Fire, then Metal Gods, and went on from there. Played for 2 hours and 20 minutes! Played at least one song from EVERY studio album they ever did.
HALFORD HAS HIS VOICE BACK! GOOD GOD!
I was FUCKING SHOCKED!
He still in many cases substitutes lower melody lines on most of the songs than they had originally.
But when it came to to scream I was fucking beyond belief! Was absolutely fucking incredible!
For example....Victim Of Changes....he sang it like he did in the 70s!
NO I AM NOT FUCKING KIDDING!
Since he got back with Priest, seeing them live has been all well and good, but for the most part, Rob was disappointing. Perhaps I saw him on off nights or something, but even when he was screaming it was shrill raspiness, usually in a lower key than he used to do.
This time out, no fucking way. Just as he did in his heyday, when it came time to go high, there were times he went even fucking HIGHER....and could hold notes for a long fucking time as well.
Halfway through the set, I quit screaming "GODDAM!!!! HOLY FUCK!!!" and just stood there with my jaw on the floor. Fucking absolutely, terrifyingly incredible.
THE METAL GOD IS TRULY BACK.
Sure.....he is in his late 50s. Cannot do what he did even 15 years ago.
But where it counts, he was spot on, and turned in a performance worthy of his title as Metal God.
GOD-DAM FUCK MOTHERFUCKER HE WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!!
Ok. The new kid. Ritchie Faulkner. You could almost call it, The Ritchie Faulkner Show, with Judas Priest. Just kidding, but Ritchie stayed out front on the left side of the stage for the most part, while Glenn hung back in his customary spot just in front of Ian Hill.
Ritchie is a better soloist then Ken Downing on a technical level. Scary also how he looks like KK.
A perfect fit. At the end of Another Thing Coming, the band gave him a solo spot....as the band chunked along on F#, he played some blistering solo stuff.
And unlike Zakk Wylde, who solo'd with blazing speed as well, but would merely repeat the same lick over and over for ten seconds before moving on to the next lick, which he would repeat for 15 or 20 seconds, Ritchie was very inventive, and kept your attention by constantly going into new areas. Unpredictable in what he would do next, but played brilliant and flashy, yet solid technically advanced metal shred. I have nothing but high regards for his abilities.
And he can go for the rest of his life now, saying he was a guitarist in Judas Priest.
Sure I wish KK would have been there. I really wish he would not have retired.
But Priest have a worthy replacement.
Glenn was his usual self. Good solid player, pretty much motionless, staying in his place, playing everything to perfection.
Ian.....look, here is my opinion on Ian.
Priest bass lines are not demanding in any way, shape, or form. Yet Ian has provided the deep end for Priest since even before KK joined the band. He is the one TRUE ORIGINAL MEMBER.
Every time I have seen priest, he is back there rocking out....HARD. Playing the steamroller bass lines that enable the rest of the band to layer their guitars and vocals over.
He is underrated, in my opinion. He should get some kind of achievement award for his work ethic.
For just being there.
Scott Travis totally kicked ass. Have never seen a performance where he was having an off night.
Have seen him with Priest 5 times including last night, and with Fight once.
Have met him and talked with him a couple of times. Nice to see someone in the biz who is tall as I am lol. He is a truly cool guy.
Production:
They had a lot of Vari-lites, or whatever they are called. Had the standard green lasers, but also to my surprise they had a laser they could pretty much throw out any color. Perhaps they were using gels or something to change the colors.
And the FIRE!
FIREFIREFIRE!!!! HEHEHEHEHEH! HEHEHEHEH! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!!!!!!
It was one of the most interesting productions I have seen in years. I mean REALLY FUCKING COOL.
Everything a Heavy Metal arena show should be.
And they played a song I have wanted to hear for the past 23 years, but have never seen them play:
Blood Red Skies from the Ram It Down album. I did not see that tour, so to see them play it (my fave tune from RID) was a real treat.
IF this is really their final "world tour", they are definitely going out in a blaze of glory.
Very much worth seeing. If they are coming to a venue near you, you should go if you care about them at all.
Set list:
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
Judas Rising
Starbreaker
Victim of Changes
Never Satisfied
Diamonds & Rust
(Joan Baez cover)
Dawn Of Creation
Prophecy
Night Crawler
Turbo Lover
Beyond the Realms of Death
The Sentinel
Blood Red Skies
The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)
(Fleetwood Mac cover)
Breaking the Law
Painkiller
Encore:
The Hellion
Electric Eye
Hell Bent for Leather
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Encore 2:
Living After Midnight
Newspaper item about the show. Idiot who wrote it did not even mention Thin Lizzy.
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/11/judas_priest_at_the_family_are.php
Go see this show. Great concert. Cannot stress it enough.
Our seats were on the left side of the arena, 11th row on the floor.
We drove up there, thrilled to see this show, as we knew it was most likely to be the last time we ever saw the Metal Gods themselves, Judas Priest in concert.
Show time was listed on the ticket as 5:45 PM. WTF?
We got there about 4:25, and waited for the doors to open, which they did at about 5 PM.
Got in, took a peek at the overpriced merch.
Went in and found our seats. Some friend of Lady Gaga, calling her self "Lady Starlight" was acting as metal DJ. Super hot chick, on the very left end of the stage, spinning VINYL albums, playing classic metal tracks. Which she did during set changes as well. Found it interesting, really. Wonder why nobody had ever done that before in the history of live rock concerts.
Ok so first up was Thin Lizzy.
FINALLY...after Thin Lizzy cancelled their sole date on their 1979 tour when Gary Moore suddenly quit the band.....I got to see the band, after going to the venue in Wichita, Kansas in July 1979 only to find a notice taped to the door saying: "Thin Lizzy has cancelled due to illness", and thinking since then I would never get to see the band. Well, I did, minus Phil Lynott of course. Was good to see original members Scott Gorham, Brian Downy, plus Ricky Warwick on vox/guitar, bassist Marco Mendoza, keyboardist Darren Wharton and new guitarist Damon Johnson.
They played a good set list with nothing but TL classics. Was glad they played "The Cowboy Song", which is one of my TL faves.
The only negative is they brought out some dude named Richard Fortus, who thinks he is in Guns 'n' Roses, but since that band does not exist, he must be hallucinating. He only played the last couple of songs. Good guitarist though.
Started at 6 PM. Played for 50 minutes.
Set List:
Are You Ready
Waiting For An Alibi
Jailbreak
Massacre
Emerald
Killer On The Loose
Rosalie/Cowgirl's Song
Black Rose
Cowboy Song
The Boys Are Back In Town
2. Black Label Society.
10 Marshall stacks onstage. Zakk Wylde, appearing for the first song wearing a Native American head dress. An additional guitarist, bassist, and drummer. Looking like a bunch of hoodlums, lol.
Great players. Turned in a good solid performance of songs I do not recognize, as I am not a fan of BLS and do not bother even listening to their stuff.
Eventually it came time for Zakk to play his "solo".
10 fucking minutes of widdley-widdley. YES, TEN FUCKING MINUTES.
What a load of shit. I have known he was an amazing guitarist for 25 years now. A 2-3 minute solo spot is plenty and would allow time for 2-3 more songs.
But he can do what he wants.
They are good at what they do, and Zakk is actually quite a decent singer as well.
It all was a big mash of stuff that sounded almost identical, partly because the mix was just a big muddy sludgepit.
Apologies to BLS fans here.
Just not my cup of tea.
They went on at 7, played 60 minutes.
Set list:
Crazy Horse
Funeral Bell
Bleed for Me
Demise of Sanity
Overlord
Parade of the Dead
Suicide Messiah
Guitar Solo
Godspeed Hell Bound
Fire it Up
Concrete Jungle
Stillborn
Now...for the main event.
Priest came out kicking motherfucking ass. Started with Rapid Fire, then Metal Gods, and went on from there. Played for 2 hours and 20 minutes! Played at least one song from EVERY studio album they ever did.
HALFORD HAS HIS VOICE BACK! GOOD GOD!
I was FUCKING SHOCKED!
He still in many cases substitutes lower melody lines on most of the songs than they had originally.
But when it came to to scream I was fucking beyond belief! Was absolutely fucking incredible!
For example....Victim Of Changes....he sang it like he did in the 70s!
NO I AM NOT FUCKING KIDDING!
Since he got back with Priest, seeing them live has been all well and good, but for the most part, Rob was disappointing. Perhaps I saw him on off nights or something, but even when he was screaming it was shrill raspiness, usually in a lower key than he used to do.
This time out, no fucking way. Just as he did in his heyday, when it came time to go high, there were times he went even fucking HIGHER....and could hold notes for a long fucking time as well.
Halfway through the set, I quit screaming "GODDAM!!!! HOLY FUCK!!!" and just stood there with my jaw on the floor. Fucking absolutely, terrifyingly incredible.
THE METAL GOD IS TRULY BACK.
Sure.....he is in his late 50s. Cannot do what he did even 15 years ago.
But where it counts, he was spot on, and turned in a performance worthy of his title as Metal God.
GOD-DAM FUCK MOTHERFUCKER HE WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!!
Ok. The new kid. Ritchie Faulkner. You could almost call it, The Ritchie Faulkner Show, with Judas Priest. Just kidding, but Ritchie stayed out front on the left side of the stage for the most part, while Glenn hung back in his customary spot just in front of Ian Hill.
Ritchie is a better soloist then Ken Downing on a technical level. Scary also how he looks like KK.
A perfect fit. At the end of Another Thing Coming, the band gave him a solo spot....as the band chunked along on F#, he played some blistering solo stuff.
And unlike Zakk Wylde, who solo'd with blazing speed as well, but would merely repeat the same lick over and over for ten seconds before moving on to the next lick, which he would repeat for 15 or 20 seconds, Ritchie was very inventive, and kept your attention by constantly going into new areas. Unpredictable in what he would do next, but played brilliant and flashy, yet solid technically advanced metal shred. I have nothing but high regards for his abilities.
And he can go for the rest of his life now, saying he was a guitarist in Judas Priest.
Sure I wish KK would have been there. I really wish he would not have retired.
But Priest have a worthy replacement.
Glenn was his usual self. Good solid player, pretty much motionless, staying in his place, playing everything to perfection.
Ian.....look, here is my opinion on Ian.
Priest bass lines are not demanding in any way, shape, or form. Yet Ian has provided the deep end for Priest since even before KK joined the band. He is the one TRUE ORIGINAL MEMBER.
Every time I have seen priest, he is back there rocking out....HARD. Playing the steamroller bass lines that enable the rest of the band to layer their guitars and vocals over.
He is underrated, in my opinion. He should get some kind of achievement award for his work ethic.
For just being there.
Scott Travis totally kicked ass. Have never seen a performance where he was having an off night.
Have seen him with Priest 5 times including last night, and with Fight once.
Have met him and talked with him a couple of times. Nice to see someone in the biz who is tall as I am lol. He is a truly cool guy.
Production:
They had a lot of Vari-lites, or whatever they are called. Had the standard green lasers, but also to my surprise they had a laser they could pretty much throw out any color. Perhaps they were using gels or something to change the colors.
And the FIRE!
FIREFIREFIRE!!!! HEHEHEHEHEH! HEHEHEHEH! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!!!!!!
It was one of the most interesting productions I have seen in years. I mean REALLY FUCKING COOL.
Everything a Heavy Metal arena show should be.
And they played a song I have wanted to hear for the past 23 years, but have never seen them play:
Blood Red Skies from the Ram It Down album. I did not see that tour, so to see them play it (my fave tune from RID) was a real treat.
IF this is really their final "world tour", they are definitely going out in a blaze of glory.
Very much worth seeing. If they are coming to a venue near you, you should go if you care about them at all.
Set list:
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
Judas Rising
Starbreaker
Victim of Changes
Never Satisfied
Diamonds & Rust
(Joan Baez cover)
Dawn Of Creation
Prophecy
Night Crawler
Turbo Lover
Beyond the Realms of Death
The Sentinel
Blood Red Skies
The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)
(Fleetwood Mac cover)
Breaking the Law
Painkiller
Encore:
The Hellion
Electric Eye
Hell Bent for Leather
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Encore 2:
Living After Midnight
Newspaper item about the show. Idiot who wrote it did not even mention Thin Lizzy.
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/11/judas_priest_at_the_family_are.php
Go see this show. Great concert. Cannot stress it enough.