I don’t do many Saturday posts but I had no time yesterday so…
I saw Judas Priest live Thursday night. These guys were heavy as shit, seriously. They many not sound that heavy on record just because recording technology in the 70s and 80s was subpar to what we have now. I assure you though, these guys blew me away with their sheer heaviness, probably due to modern technology for performing live.
Anyways… They played their quintessential album British Steel live in its entirety. This is my 2nd time seeing a band perform an album of theirs live in its entirety. “Rapid Fire” was the fastest song of the night. I love the line “And they left a trail of destruction second to none.” Next was “Metal Gods,” a live staple. It’s heavy and fast until its melodic chorus. Rob Halford told us that the next song contains the words “Breaking the WHAT?” I screamed as loud as I could “BREAKING THE F—–G LAW!”
“Living After Midnight” was surprisingly HEAVY. I managed to headbang during the verses of “United,” too. I hate that song on record but I still sang along to it live. The riff in “The Rage” is sweet, by the way.
Their next set consisted of four songs: “Victim of Changes” and “The Ripper” from Sad Wings of Destiny; “Hell Patrol” from Painkiller; and “Prophecy” from their concept album Nostradamus. I love Rob Halford’s evil Ripper voice; I was very disappointed to learn that is not his regular voice. “Prophecy” was surprisingly my favorite song of the night; I loved shouting “I am Nostradamus!”
But of course they had a encore! They played “Freewheel Burning” from Defenders of the Faith (my least favorite Priest album); “Diamonds and Rust” from Rocka Rolla; and what else, “You Got Another Thing Comin’” from Screaming for Vengeance. YGATC is my favorite song of theirs but I enjoyed their other songs more. “Freewheel” sounded great live, as did “Diamonds.” All in all, a great show (at a great price).
“Hell Patrol”
“Diamonds and Rust”
“Victim of Changes”
As for the opening band, Popevil… I would post some downloads by them but I don’t hate you guys (even though you never comment on my posts…GRRRRR….seriously, I’m posting some good tunes, the least you can do is say “Thanks”). Seriously, they were THAT bad. They’re sorta like Creed/3 Doors Down. I used to think that all live music is good, regardless if the band sucks or not on record, but I stand corrected now.