Judas Priest concert review

 

 

Black Star Riders, Saxon and Judas Priest
The Anthem
Washington DC
March 18th, 2018


The mighty Priest descended upon the nation's capital on an unusually warm March evening. Opening up were Black Star Riders who released their third album last year. This was of course the band that was formed out of was left of the band that was still calling themselves Thin Lizzy. Their sound is sort of a 90's hard rock mixed with occasional traces of Irish music. They come on just a few minutes late and the venue is maybe half filled. Their stage presence was steady but for me they were very average. I was glad to see veteran guitarist Scott Gorham still going at enjoying what he was doing.
Highlight-Probably them doing Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak.

The Anthem begins filling up nicely after their set and the banner goes up with the cover of Saxon's latest release Thunderbolt while the roadies get their gear set up. More people are pushing to the front because let's face it even though we were mainly there to see the Priest plenty of us were also there to see the NWOBHM legends as well. The band emerged in the dark and when the lights came on they erupted. It's hard to tell what older bands might be good or not live, but Saxon seem to tour constantly and they were on fire. There set was a mix of tracks from the newest release Thunderbolt and classics from their heyday between 1980 and 1984. The place was about filled early into Saxon's set and the crowd was into them the whole time. Biff Byford interacted well with the crowd even borrowing a denim vest from someone in the crowd, slipping it on and then launching into Denim and leather. They did what a good opening act should do which is get the crowd pumped up for the headliner and the mighty Saxon delivered.
Highlights-The whole set really, but if forced to choose I'd say The power and the glory, Denim and leather, Princess of the night and the closer Heavy Metal Thunder.

The crowd begins pushing up to the front as  the curtain is dropped for Judas Priest's road crew to get their gear and stage set up. This was only my second time seeing Priest as the first time was way back in 1990 on the Painkiller tour. It seemed like we waited an eternity and then War Pigs comes on and everyone begins singing along as we know the start is near. Guardians the instrumental from the new album comes on then bam the curtain goes down, the metal gods appear and they launch into the title track from their latest Firepower and it's on. I have to admit I did not like the Ripper Owens era nor was I big on the first three albums with Halford back at the helm, but Firepower is their best album in decades and live it was like they hadn't lost a step at all. Faulkner went in for the retired KK seven years ago and of course Andy Sneep is in for the ailing Glen Tipton, but it's still Priest. After the opener they went into a number of songs they hadn't played as much live in recent years which only got the crowd more into it. The pace was relentless and they kept hammering the crowd with killer tracks like Bloodstone and Running Wild. Then now forgetting about the new album they went into Lightning Strike the first release off the new album. Next up was Saints in hell from Stained Class and this is of course the first tour they have played this song live. I was singing along and this guy about half my age puts his hand on my shoulders and says "sing it, man, sing it" and we both did as loud as we could. One of the great things about this show wasn't just that younger people showed up for this but that they knew the old Priest (and Saxon) songs and were just as thrilled and familiar with something like Saints in hell and Sinner as they were with the band's more known tracks. Halford ruled the stage knowing they were in control. Ian Hill stays semi in the background as always but is obviously into it too. Scott Travis (nearly 30 years in the band now) is a machine behind the kit. Richie Faulkner has gone from being the new guy to being a center of the show and making it look easy. Some people have criticized Andy Sneep saying he lacks stage presence or whatever but remember he is filling in as Glen has not left the band so I think Andy is being respectful and filling his role. He did very well at that in my opinion. Anyways back to the show Priest had everyone eating out of their hands as even turbo lover and Angel sounded good live. Some heads are gonna roll had the place buzzing with intensity. It got even louder with Rob road his motorcycle out and they launched into Hell bent for leather. Scott Travis got to introduce Painkiller and pit of about 20 or so people opened up near me. It was insane by this point which was all cool. After that they came back for the encore and Electric Eye had the place bouncing, Metal Gods had the place singing at a deafening level and the expected tracks You've got another thing comin' and Livin' after midnight closed out their set. The band rightfully took a bow and excited and the screen above them proclaimed the Priest would be back. Holy crap somehow, someway they were just as good as they were when I saw them in 1990. I had my doubts going into it, but the legendary band delivered (yeah, the goods). I made my way out into the air and like everyone else still standing around I was talking non-stop about how amazing that was. If you get a chance to see them  then yes see them on this tour.

Highlights-Yeah, the whole things, but if I have to narrow it down then Running Wild, Bloodstone, The Ripper, Saints in hell, Painkiller and Electric Eye.

Reviews for suckas-Judas Priest-Nostradamus

Mr. T is a true tough guy, but this time he's taking on an album that's so bad it could wear down most people. Hey, this is Mr. T, surely he can take it and give Judas Priest what they deserve. Let's see what he has to say.



"I didn't need to be Nostradamus to predict this album was going to smell like a full dumpster on a Sunny day. This band used to be good, but they just ramble on like idiots and spout out crazy jibba-jabba on this album.
Look at some of these songs.
"Alone"? No wonder they're alone after putting out this boring garbage.
"Pestilence and Plague"? They'll be praying to have pestilence and plague instead of what I'd give them if I got my hands on their fool necks.
"Future of mankind"? Don't know about the future of mankind, but the future for Judas Priest is pain from me if they keep making worthless albums like this.
What's worth than a bad album? A really long bad album like this one.
I pity Judas Priest if they think they are going to keep getting away with releasing junk like this."

Thank you, Mr. T.

Heavy Metal Thunderdome

It's been a while since I did one of these so here you go. Remember you are judging by the music in this one.


Dio-The last in line

vs.


Judas Priest-Defenders of the faith


***Based on the music which album do you prefer?

Top Of The Heap: Judas Priest

As promised here is the debut of Top of the heap. It's simple, twice a month we pick a band and then Andy and I pick our favorite album by that band and give reasons why we picked it. Then you are invited to comment on what your favorite album by that band is. For our debut we selected Judas Priest. Our favorites are...

Andy's Pick-


Gull Records 1976

For our first installment of Top Of The Heap Mark suggested Judas Priest. A great choice I though but how do I possible decide what my favorite record is by them? The band has been around now for something like 38 years! Aside from their last few releases I'd enjoyed just about every Priest album I've heard. I wore out all the tapes I had from them over the years (including the underrated Painkiller) and have put some serious wear and tear on my LPs by Rob Halford and company. What I'm trying to get at is other than maybe Black Sabbath there is no other band that has made an impact on classic heavy metal like Judas Priest. On this (their second record and last for Gull Records) early example of 1970's heavy metal the band churn out what I consider to be the first "true" heavy metal classic album. Sad Wings Of Destiny starts of with "Victim Of Changes" which is one of the greatest Judas Priest songs of all time. Still played in concert today this song is a classic with it's hard edge approach and brilliant solos. Followed up by the creepy sounds of "The Ripper" and the brilliance of "Dreamer Deceiver"/"Deceiver" Sad Wings Of Destiny is an actual "album". What I mean by this is that Judas Priest wrote quality songs for a complete record allowing the album to have that perfect flow. They didn't seem bothered to write "hits" and then tack on filler at the end. This record is meant to be enjoyed as a whole. By the time you hit "Prelude" you realize this. With it's dark feel this short instrumental paves the way for the timeless classic "Tyrant". "Genocide" is bluesy hard rock while "Epitaph" is a sorrowful ballad. "Island Of Domination" is heavy 70's hard rock that does dissolve into pub rock with an AC/DC vibe going for it at times. Sad Wings Of Destiny is an album Judas Priest fans either love or hate. There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground. I for one love it. It isn't overly produced. It isn't all heavy metal. There is a lot going on here from beginning to end emotion wise. It showcases the band right before stardom would overcome them and in the process gives you a first look at where their greatness started from.

Metal Mark's pick-

Hell bent for leather

Columbia/CBS

1978/1979

I have changed my favorite Priest album over the years as Screaming for vengeance, Sad wings of destiny and Sin after sin have all been my favorite album in the past. For the last year or two it has definitely been Hell bent for leather. The first time I heard this album was in the mid-1980's. I was at a yard sale of a guy who was desperate to get rid of everything. I bought a box of stuff for a $1 and it had Star Trek books, some darts, old guitar straps, flashlights but most importantly stuffed into the bottom of the box were a couple of tapes. There was KISS-Creatures of the night, Whitesnake-Slide it in and Judas Priest-Hell bent for leather. I thought that I had hit the jackpot and in a way I had. I liked all three tapes, but Hell bent for leather made the strongest impression on me. To me Hell bent for leather is like a middle of the good albums of Priest's career. As such I think it has some of the raw sound of the previous 1970's efforts, but it also has some of the unbelievable tightness and heavy melodies that would dominate their outputs of the early 1980's. Hell bent for leather is a rollercoaster ride of some of the band's most exciting songs. They have powerful heavy hitters like the title track, Killing Machine and Delivering the goods as well as real headbangers like Running wild plus Rob Halford really gets a chance to show his tremendous skills on the likes of Before the dawn and the fantastic Evening Star. To me this album has the sound and the spirit that made Judas Priest such a legend in the metal world.

***So what is your favorite Judas Priest album?

Battle of the bands

It is...



Judas Priest

vs.



Motorhead

***Which band do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

Here you go...


Accept-Breaker


vs.


Judas Priest-Stained Class

***Which cover do you prefer?

Underrated and overrated 70's albums

I think I did one of these lists for 80's album so now maybe I'll tackle the 70's. Here are five albums that I overrated at one time and five that I underrated.




Underrated

1-Led Zeppelin-3
This one didn't click with me for years just because it was way more mellow than I was used to. It has grown on me and I glad that it is an album with it's own personality.

2-Rush-Caress of steel
Not everyone's favorite Rush album for sure. Odd around the edges and perhaps that's why it stands out for me.

3-Aerosmith-Get your wings
This one often gets left in the shadows of album like Rocks and Toys in the attic. It's more subtle, but the grooves are solid.

4-TKO-Let it roll
Known more for their 80's output, but this 1979 release was a solid Boston inspired album that didn't work for me in the mid-80's. In recent years I came around.

5-KISS-Hotter than hell
I used to skip past this one for most of their other mid-70's albums. Now I think it's one of their 4-5 best of their long career.

Overrated
1-Deep Purple-Who do we think we are
I always put this in with their fine string of early 70's albums, but really it's a mixed bag.

2-AC/DC-High Voltage (US version)
All their other 70's efforts rock and this one has some fine songs, but some snoozers too.

3-KISS-S/T
I used to like this one just as much as the five albums after it. There is some potential there, but it's clunky too.

4-Alice Cooper-From the inside
I got really into this one for a while mainly just because I liked the concept. Then I realized the songs were not quite as good as the ideas behind them.

5-Judas Priest-Rocka Rolla
Once I saw this one a small step away from Sad wings of destiny and sin after sin. Time and repeated plays has made me realize that the distance is wider than I thought it once was. Their are some sparks here, but it's a long ways from where they would go with their other 1970's efforts.

Judas Priest-British Steel 30th anniversary edition

Sony
2010

Many fans consider British Steel to be a landmark album of sorts for Priest. That's probably true more with the band's popularity and appeal on this side of the Atlantic. The band obviously think highly of the album since they celebrated the anniversary a year early with their tour in order to have this CD/DVD in our hot little hands when the actual 30th anniversary hit. The first part of the set is the Legacy edition disc from 2001 with the bonus tracks of Red, white and blue and a live version of Grinder. I didn't buy the 2001 version because I already my old copy that I purchased back around 1989 or 90. Oftentimes and album can say it's re-mastered, but you may not hear much of a difference in sound quality. Not so this time around as the quality is remarkably clear. Every beat, guitar lick and word hits harder than ever. The album as a whole took half a step up in my estimation just do to the know fiddling that was done here. This is new, but not to most people. The majority of fans who have this set on their shopping lists are buying this because of the DVD. Recorded live in Florida last year on their British Steel Anniversary tour this disc has the band churning out British Steel in it's entirety plus a few old favorites at the end of their set. The film quality is spotless with steady camera work and a good variety of camera angles. The sound quality is also everything it should be which means it's loud and bone rattling. The music itself is crushing and the British Steel tracks have certainly aged well for being thirty years old. Grinder still crushes, Steeler is a brain melter and You don't have to be old to be wise allows the entire band to attack your senses. My only really problem with this disc is that Rob Halford seems like his just isn't in it. His voice is there for sure, but he just seemed tired and often just goes through the motions. I know he has been at it for a long and perhaps he has some physical pain, but his stage presence seemed sorely lacking on this show.The crowd were certainly wound up tight and ready to explode. Not perfect, but a good way to celebrate a fine album.

Battle of the bands

A couple of long running heavy hitters in this match-up.



Judas Priest

vs.



Scorpions

***Which band do you choose?

Replacements

Nowadays pretty much any hard rock/metal band has gone through a number of line-up changes. Some more than others as bands like LA guns and Krokus have gone through more than their share of changes. However there have been times when a replacement comes in and there is perhaps a time of uncertainty. It depends on the musician and sometimes how big the shoes they have to fill are. Music critics are always quick to point to Van Halen and AC/DC changing front man and selling more albums with the replacement, but I always prefered Diamond Dave and Bon Scott. Whenever I think of replacements I also focus in on Iron Maiden. Here is a band that in 1981 were on the rise, the replace Dianno with a much different vocalist in Bruce Dickinson and to say it worked out would be a massive understatement. Years later when Bruce decided to leave Maiden and they were faced with filling the singer spot again. This time they of course the expectations from fans were higher because they were now a major player although in a somewhat turbulent time in the not so metal friendly 1990's. Rumors swirled about who they would get and again they went for a singer different from the predecessor in the form of Wolfsbane vocalist Blayze Bayley. Only this time the results were not as favorable. It wasn't all Bayley's fault as the writing suffered too. Still looking back it doesn't seem that he was the right guy for the job. Maybe that's just hindsight. Then again Maiden are back on top in recent years and Bayley's recent solo efforts have been solid. Another replacement I come to is Ripper Owens in Judas Priest. These were some huge shoes to fill. Halford was the metal vocal god. We knew Maiden without Bruce, but Priest without Rob. Priest went the opposite route of Maiden. Instead of getting a different style they went for a guy who had been in a Priest cover band. The head scratcher for me was they get a guy with the same vocal style, but then change the music to a sound that doesn't really compliment the vocals. The result was two bad albums. Then when Halford came back they came out with two more bad albums with the writing still suffering. Owens has found steady work since, but bounced around as more of a journeyman vocalist. That's the downside. On the upside a surprising one for me was Brian Robertson in Motorhead. Okay he was in Thin Lizzy and he was a solid hard rock guitarist, but a very different style and image from Motorhead. We have all heard the stories of Lemmy complaining about him taking too long in the studio and Robertson still only lasted one album. However "Another perfect day" was a real gem and too often overlooked in their long catalog. So he was a surprise in how well he worked out in the end product.

***Any replacements that you hated or loved in hard rock/metal bands?

Judas Priest as heard by a five year old

Last week one night the kids were watching something in the living room. I went to out bedroom to get some laundry folded and put away. While there I decided to put in Judas Priest's Live Vengeance 1982 DVD to make the chore go faster. While I was watching in my five (almost six) year old came in to see what I was doing. She stayed for a few songs and had these observations.

(On Rob Halford) "Boy, he has a huge screaming voice" and "Does it hurt to sing like that?"

Next she asked if this was recorded a long time ago and I said yes. She followed with "Wow, they must all grandpas by now and I'll bet they don't go out an do this loud music anymore since they are all grandpas".

One she said more than once "I guess they aren't wearing shirts because they are so hot and sweating. I guess they didn't want to get their shirts sweaty so they took them off first".

Heavy metal horror story

Gather around to hear this tale that will make your flesh crawl.

Once there was great metal band. They were pioneers of the sound. They became great and it seemed that they would always be putting out quality albums forever. Time went by and this band continued to produce solid music. Only one fateful year they were due to have a new album out. There was no reason to believe that it would not be as good as the previous releases. Yet it was released and the sounds that came out were truly terrifying to my poor unsuspecting ears. It was this album.





To add to my fears the band now looked like this.

Oh, the horror. My eyes! My ears!

One of the scariest times of my life.

Favorite and least favorite Judas Priest albums

My favorite Priest album has always been "Screaming for vengeance". One of the first I ever heard from and it has stuck with me. Great vocals, sharp guitars and most of the material is very memorable.

Now although Priest have done a lot of good albums they have also done a few clunkers. Both Ripper Owens albums are weak, Turbo was very poor too, but I'll go with "Nostradamus". It's a long, soulless drone with very little to offer.

***So what are your favorite and least favorite Priest albums?

Clash of the album covers

Two by the same band again. Both Priest covers, it is...

Hell bent for leather

vs.




Screaming for vengeance



***Which cover do you prefer?

Number 10

Moving right along is number 10 of my top 25 hard rock/metal guitarist countdown. We have...



K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton

I was hesitant at first on this pick because Priest have not put out a good album in some time. However they did do a lot of great albums year ago. The guitar style and approach of this pair varied from the 70's to the 80's, but they still managed a direct sound that is still influencing metal bands today.

***I'll have numbers 9 and 8 out on Friday.

Clash of the album covers

Here you go.


Dio-The last in line

vs.


Judas Priest-Painkiller

**Which cover do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

I think that I had this one in mind for some time, but just now got around to it. So we have....



Judas Priest-Sin after Sin

vs.



Led Zeppelin-Physical Graffiti

***So which cover do you prefer?

Judas Priest-Nostradamus

Epic
2008


There are so many ways I could approach this review. I could state that it has been 18 years since Priest have done a good album and that this streak will now continue on. Perhaps I could equate this album to feeling very hungry and then opening a refrigerator full of food that is all of the food is rotten and moldy. Or I could say that I didn't have to be Nostradamus to predict that this album was going to be poor. None of those really tell enough about what did or didn't happen on this album though. I should be judging this as a Priest album and I did, but I couldn't help but think about Iron Maiden while listening to this release. Maiden and Priest were arguably the two best metal bands of the 1980's yet now Maiden can do something like 2006's "A matter of life and death" which is full of epics and all of them work. Priest set out to do this two disc set filled with epics and quite honestly virtually nothing works on this album. So why is that? Well, I think it's because Maiden have long been about building their songwriting skills and adding on thus epics have become a natural progression for them. Priest had some tracks like "The Sentinel" and "Victim of changes" that were not epics per se, but they certainly use a certain amount of storytelling elements and they do it well. However these were exceptions because Priest were primarily about go for the throat metal rockers and that's what worked for them. That doesn't mean they can't grow, but you have to know your limitations or else you end up with two discs full of boring crud and some of the worst written material of the year. I thought Halford and Tipton were talking back around 1987-1988 about realizing that they shouldn't have used synthesizers of Turbo because it wasn't metal and it wasn't them. So why are they using synths again? I have no idea, but they overuse them and they serve to bore me to tears and lose my attention before the vocals or the main guitar riffs actually kick. I wasn't too big on "Angel of retribution" because I felt that it seemed forced yet Nostradamus is even less of a real Judas Priest album. That's sad because this band was so steady from the mid-1970's until the mid-1980's and it's shame to realize that they may not have another good album left in them. Just about every song just meanders around eating up time, but making no impression and largely feeling more like background music or bad horror movie theme songs. Like many fans I thought that when Halford returned to the fold that they would get back to form, but that hasn't happened. Honestly everything Halford did when he was out of Priest was at least good yet not that he is back in this band they can't seem to even get a spark going. I can't quite understand it and don't want to believe it, but unfortunately Judas Priest appear to have spent a long time making a real clunker.

http://www.myspace.com/judaspriest