{"id":17859,"date":"2018-09-21T01:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17859"},"modified":"2018-09-18T18:12:44","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T22:12:44","slug":"its-friday-night-in-atlanta-and-the-priest-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=17859","title":{"rendered":"It’s Friday Night in Atlanta and The Priest is Back!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judas Priest<\/strong>
\nSeptember 14, 2018<\/strong>
\nAlpharetta, GA \u2013 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a long time fan of Judas Priest, I can honestly say that ever since Richie Faulkner joined the band, there seems to have been a dose of youthful energy injected into the band. It seemed like just a few years ago that Rob Halford was struggling up there on stage but in comes Faulkner, the band tunes down a full step, and the God of Metal is back. The power, the intensity, the voice was back but would they be able to deliver the goods again on this tour?<\/p>\n

Touring behind what I feel is their best album in decades, Firepower, a Friday night couldn\u2019t get any better than having Judas Priest in town. The vibe in the venue was electrifying and even though it was an outside shed, there somehow managed to be a vibe that felt contained which just fueled the excitement. I decided not to peak at the setlist beforehand as I wanted to be surprised so this also added to the vibe. As \u201cWar Pigs\u201d blasted over the PA, the crowd went absolutely apeshit chanting \u201cPriest! Priest! Priest!\u201d and then the curtain dropped revealing guitarist Richie Faulkner ripping into \u201cFirepower.\u201d Right out of the fucking gates the band sounded amazing.<\/p>\n

Without even taking a breath, Faulkner went into \u201cDelivering the Goods\u201d which Priest hasn\u2019t played on a tour since, I believe, 1980 (correct me if I\u2019m wrong). Once again, the place went nuts and Halford was in top form as he worked the crowd decked in head to toe metal god regalia. Halford then took the time to address the audience with his now legendary \u201cIt\u2019s Friday night in Atlanta and the Priest is Back!\u201d banter. \u201cYou ready for some more Judas Priest style heavy metal?\u201d The crowd lost it as they slide right in to \u201cSinner\u201d which had Faulkner and new guitarist Andy Sneap on fucking fire.<\/p>\n

Faulkner plays like he\u2019s been in Judas Priest for decades and you can tell just what an important role he has taken on. I totally missed seeing Glenn Tipton up there but since his Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis, producer\/guitarist Andy Sneap has stepped in handpicked by Glenn. Andy has a very similar stage presence to Glenn except for the fact that a lot of the times he looked like he was scared to death. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s his normal \u201clook\u201d but he looked horrified half the time. That being said, Sneap\u2019s playing wasn\u2019t just spot on but it seemed to inject a bit more energy and youthfulness into the sound much like Faulkner. As a whole the band sounded better than I have heard them since the Painkiller tour so I can do nothing but tip my hats to these guys for carrying the torches.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesert Plains\u201d was another surprise and it was so awesome to get to hear this one played live. There was a really touching tribute to Glenn on the screens as Priest went into \u201cNo Surrender\u201d from the new album. \u201cTurbo Lover\u201d sounded so fucking good and heavy and the crowd sang along with the chorus proving that this song has become every bit as classic and iconic as any other Priest song. \u201cRising From the Ruins\u201d was outstanding and I can totally see this song becoming a Judas Priest classic.<\/p>\n

From there, the rest of the show felt like one big fucking encore as it was one facemelt after another. \u201cFreewheel Burning\u201d, \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Another Thing Coming\u201d, \u201cHell Bent for Leather\u201d and \u201cPainkiller\u201d just came at us like a fucking freight train that wouldn\u2019t stop. The band was absolutely killing it, the fans were losing it, and Halford was securing his seat upon one of three thrones reserved for the Metal Gods (one already occupied by Dio, of course). The encore of \u201cElectric Eye\u201d, \u201cBreaking The Law\u201d, and \u201cLiving After Midnight\u201d while somewhat predictable, when you\u2019re with a group of friends and this trifecta is being played at deafening volume by the masters themselves, it\u2019s every bit as exciting as the first time I heard them.<\/p>\n

Seeing Judas Priest playing so high at the top of their game is something that any long time fan of a band wants to see. Same goes for a band like Iron Maiden. There is no better feeling than knowing that one of the all time greats are still able to pull it off and pull it off with all of the passion, fire, and energy of a band more than half their age. After the band took their final bow to the roaring crowd, the screens all read \u201cThe Priest Will Be Back.\u201d Hopefully it\u2019ll be sooner than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judas Priest September 14, 2018 Alpharetta, GA \u2013 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater As a long time fan of Judas Priest, I can honestly say that ever since Richie Faulkner joined the band, there seems to have been a dose of youthful energy injected into the band. It seemed like just a few years ago that Rob Halford was struggling up there on stage but in comes Faulkner, the band tunes down a full step, and the God of Metal is back. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[628],"class_list":["post-17859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concert-reviews","tag-judas-priest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}