Judas Priest
w/ special guest: Steel Panther
October 28, 2014
Atlanta, GA – Gwinett Arena
After 40 years, heavy metal legends Judas Priest announced that they were going to call it a day following the world tour behind their latest album Redeemer of Souls. Well, as you can imagine, thanks to KISS and other bands who have staged so called “Farewell Tours” I feel like I can only take this with a grain of salt. When I heard Judas Priest was doing this farewell tour I have to say that I my interest was piqued. I was very skeptical as to how Priest would pull this off. The past 2 or 3 tours had the band playing pretty lifelessly and I also felt that Rob Halford just wasn’t up to par as he struggled to get notes out. When I started seeing footage from this tour, and hearing the band performing so well, I just figured that I should at least go and pay my respects to a band that changed the face of heavy metal forever.
Tuesday night rolled around and it was like a flashback to 1986 for me. I stood at my dresser looking through my shirts trying to find one that I thought would stand out and be a conversation piece. I decided to go with the Holy Grail shirt, grabbed my Brainfart press pass and headed out to the highway. It’s rare that I have to leave Atlanta for a show but for the Priest, yeah, I’ll drive to the burbs of Gwinett to see a show. With my windows down, cranking Rocka Rolla, and singing along, “Two faced liyahhhhhhhhhh…” (Had to show my old school cred off) I pulled into the lot.
As I parked my car, let me just say that Heavy Metal Parking Lot has changed quite a bit. Back in the days the lot was filled with Mustangs, Trans Ams, pimply boys in tight clothes, and girls with pants to tight you could count the pubic hairs and hair so big God could touch it. Today, it’s balding guys in khakis standing around their mini vans, drinking craft beers, and reminiscing on “this hot chick who gave me a blowjob at the Priest show back in ’84.” Yes, I actually did hear that by the way.
Between the front doors and my seat I ran into quite a few Fartheads (more so at this one show than at any other show besides King Diamond) and that’s always a nice thing. I also never know if they’re going to want to punch me or hug me but that’s another story. I took my seat and awaited opening act Steel Panther. Let me just say that I was totally opposed to this band being the opening act the minute I heard it. With that being said, I really did try to keep my mind opened regardless of how hard it would be.
The minute Steel Panther took the stage with their wigs and over the top comedy schtick, I just couldn’t contain my eye rolling. Not only was their schtick terrible but the songs weren’t even funny. What really chapped my hide more than anything was that Judas Priest picked THIS band as their opening act for their “farewell tour.” This is where Priest let me down. Priest very well could’ve picked some new reputable metal band such as Holy Grail, 3 Inches of Blood, whoever to open the show and exposing them to not just the classic fans but a whole new generation of young metal fans that would see that real metal was alive and well.
This could have been a ceremonial passing of the torch. Instead, these people got to see a joke band; a band that is making money hand over fist being a mockery of glam metal. It really breaks my heart that this is what it came to. I know even if that stupid fucking band reads this they’ll just be laughing their way to the bank but how the fuck they can look at themselves and know that this is what they’re doing to metal music makes me have zero respect for them. I get it. It’s a joke but keep it in the fucking comedy clubs and off of the stages that could and should be occupied by real, true, metal bands that are working so very hard to keep the genre alive. Hell, they say Judas Priest caused kids to kill themselves. Aside from Whitechapel, there’s not one other band that ever made me want to shoot myself in the face more than Steel Panther.
After declining the idea of getting an $8.00 beer in the concourse while running into some more friends/readers during intermission, I made my way back to my seat just. The huge Judas Priest curtain covering the stage gave me chills and I felt myself getting really psyched. As Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” blasted from the PA, the crowd sang along and cheered and when the house lights went out, audience roared very loudly as Priest’s intro music filled the air. I rose to my feet cheering like the rest as the opening chords to Priest’s newest single “Demonaut” ripped through everyone’s faces. The curtain dropped, much like my jaw, as I heard the band and lead man Rob Halford playing and singing with such heaviness and power. It was such an odd choice of an opener but it seemed to really work well and everyone seemed totally down with this.
Following a stellar opening song, Priest ripped into the classic “Metal Gods” which had guitarist Richie Faulkner commanding everyone to pump their fists in the air. The crowd abided as the band killed this one and totally melted my face off. Halford announced in true old school fashion, “Its Tuesday night in Atlanta and the Priest is back! Are you ready for some Judas Priest style heavy metal?” The crowd wnet nuts and BAM! The band launched into “Devil’s Child” which absolutely kicked things up about 10 notches. The fists were pumping and it’s been a long time since I saw that much air guitaring and headbanging at an arena show. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better here comes Mr. Halford singing, “Whiskey woman dontcha know that yooo ah drivin’ me insayyyyyyyyyyyne?” as Priest slammed right into “Victim of Changes.” Halford fucking nailed it and as he let out that closing scream the place just lost their minds.
Priest as whole was playing better than I’ve heard them play in years. In past tours Rob Halford really seemed to be struggling vocally but on this tour Priest tuned down a full step. Not only does this enable Halford to still show that he has a powerful voice, it also makes the songs sound that much fucking heavier. Lead guitarist Glen Tipton was ripping shit up as usual while good ol’ Ian Hill was just rockin’ out in the shadows by himself collecting his pay check. Halford was way more animated than I’ve ever seen him and was really quite vocal and playful with the crowd. New guitarist Richie Faulkner really seems to inject the Priest with a youthful fire and energy that is obviously contagious within the band.
“Devil’s Child” and “Victim of Changes” were such huge highlights that it made it hard for the next handful of songs to come close to capturing that magic, power, and excitement. The setlist featured three other songs from the band’s latest album Redeemer of Souls and honestly they seemed to lose steam with these songs. It’s not so much that the songs aren’t good as I found them to be pretty cool. It’s just that the audience seemed to completely lose interest as the band just seemed to kind of coast through them. For as much as people raved about this album, they sure seemed like they couldn’t care less about hearing the songs live. As for the inclusion of “Turbo Lover” and “Love Bites”, those did absolutely nothing for me. I didn’t like those songs back then and I didn’t like it tonight.
Once Priest got over that somewhat dragging hill of the middle part of the set, the band just seemed to put it in neutral and ride full speed into a closing set of hits. The thing with this closing punch of hits is that while on paper it looks predictable (which it was), it was still so fucking fun to share in the excitement of everyone hearing these songs. No matter how many times I hear “Hell Bent for Leather”, “Breaking the Law”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, and “Living After Midnight”, in a live setting it’s just as exciting and fun as it was the first time I heard them.
All in all, Judas Priest exceeded all of my expectations by a long shot. I went in not expecting much and I came out with a huge ass smile on my face. The scaled down stage production of screens and a few stairs actually really worked well as it kept it minimal and focused on the music which was played with a lot of heart and sounded heavier than ever. I can’t help but feel that Priest had so many opportunities to really pull deep from their catalog and surprise the long-time fans but have to at least give them credit for standing by their new material in the live set. That aside, Judas Priest completely redeemed themselves to me. If there was ever going to be a “farewell tour” by Priest this is exactly how I’d love to remember them. I will forever remember Judas Priest as a band that proved me wrong when I thought they were incapable of delivering a powerful, fun, and musically exciting performance. 40 years of metal is no small potatoes. Judas Priest is one of the bands that wrote the book on heavy metal as we know it and after this tour the chapter will be closed.
Judas Priest Setlist:
Dragonaut, Metal Gods, Devil’s Child, Victim of Changes, Halls of Valhalla, Love Bites, March of the Damned, Turbo Lover, Redeemer of Souls, Beyond the Realms of Death, Jawbreaker, Breaking the Law, Hell Bent for Leather
Encore:
You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
Encore 2:
Living After Midnight, Defenders of the Faith
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