Onioner
07-18-2010, 01:15 AM
Holy shit, it was rarities night! No real epic show stories (well maybe one...) here, but I'll just narrate my night I suppose.
We got in around when doors opened up and got on the balcony directly facing the stage. It had one hell of a view, better than rail in my opinion since the sound was better and there were no monitors in our face. So after we get comfortable, I see none other than CHUCK FUCKING BILLY down the hall. :rocker: After freaking out, I run towards him and his ladyfriend (wife?) and say hello. I shook his hand and now my hand feels about 100x times more metal. I asked when the new album is coming out, and he said they're working on it right now and it should be out early next year (after of course telling him that The Gathering was one of my favorite metal albums ever).
So the opening band was Cylinder from Santa Cruz. They sucked. Horribly. Their singer sounded like he belonged in a country version of Nickelback (I'll kill someone if I hear someone say "y'all" in person again). And his screams sucked big time. The riffs seemed alright, but they seemed more akin to Alice In Chains on a bad night than anything remotely close to Rob Halford. Only heard of the band today, so no setlist. However I know their closing song was "Don't Count On Me" if anyone actually gives a damn.
And now, Rob Halford. This show was so unconventional, I just didn't know what to expect by about half way through. No leather and cape from the big man, just a coat and black pants and then down to a t-shirt and aforementioned pants. Opening with Silent Screams was downright odd, but it was a pretty epic opening. Rob's voice was somewhat nasal to begin with, but it was amazingly consistent for the show and dude hit every scream. He also premiered a new song from the new Halford album coming in October. The riffs were definitely better than "The Mower" but the lyrics were repetitive. The rest were some of the deepest cuts you could find from the guy's catalog. Even the Fight songs were obscure! And Drop Out never even came out on an album before! The only Priest song was "Never Satisfied," which wasn't as surprising since it's been apart of the promotion of his new live album. Oh and they gave away free copies of Crucible at the merch booth.:D
I will be honest, I'm a Priest nut that's simply too young to make any crazy claims about Rob's performances. BUT, I've analyzed the evolution of Rob's voice from '77 to now based on YouTube videos, live concerts, dvds and albums so much, I know by heart what his voice sounds like during a given time period. Rob will never ever sound the way he did in the late 70s and the 80s again. People grow older. But goddamn did Rob sound as good as he did on the Resurrection tour in 2001. Since that tour Rob's voice slowly declined in strength until 2005's Angel of Retribution tour where it was just plain rough, but since then he's improved with every tour, and this time was no exception. Rob Halford was just plain simply outstanding tonight. Hearing him pull of Resurrection like it was nothing was nothing short of mind-blowing. The man's got a few screams and then some left in him, even if we'll never hear Victim of Changes the same way it was done on Unleashed In the East ever again.
Oh yeah, no "You've Got Another Thing Comin," "Breaking the Law," or "Metal Gods!" How often does that happen?!
1. Silent Screams
2. Made of Metal?? (New song with those words in the chorus. I'm assuming since that's name of the new album that it is it's title track)
3. Resurrection :rocker:
4. Made In Hell
5. Never Again
6. Drop Out
7. Golgotha
8. Heart of a Lion
9. Never Satisfied
10. I Am Alive
11. Saviour
ENCORE
12. Crystal
13. Rock the World Forever
It was a shorter set than I would have liked, clocking in at maybe 75 minutes, but every song was an under-appreciated gem and you could tell Rob was happy to bust out the rare stuff if his repeated saying of "You've made me so happy, thank you" wasn't indicative enough. I came out of that show feeling a little different than I did at most of my concerts.
I come out of my favorite shows feeling like I've witnessed something truly epic and special. Eric Clapton raping on guitar in summer 2009, Exodus playing for 2 hours to their hometown with their friends last June, High On Fire completely upstaging 7 other damn good bands at the Missing Link last May and my first concert ever, Blue Oyster Cult in June 2007. I came out not thinking I'd seen something amazingly epic, but rather something spontaneous, one of a kind and fun. I will probably never see any of these songs live ever again, and that reason alone made the concert worth it. They were great songs, and they deserve to be heard live. But as long as the mighty Judas Priest exists, those songs will always be shut down in favor of some of the greatest metal songs ever. And to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. But tonight was a fun change of pace, and if anyone gets the opportunity to see Halford live, do it. Who knows how much time Rob's got left in him, and these songs deserve a home in our ears.
We got in around when doors opened up and got on the balcony directly facing the stage. It had one hell of a view, better than rail in my opinion since the sound was better and there were no monitors in our face. So after we get comfortable, I see none other than CHUCK FUCKING BILLY down the hall. :rocker: After freaking out, I run towards him and his ladyfriend (wife?) and say hello. I shook his hand and now my hand feels about 100x times more metal. I asked when the new album is coming out, and he said they're working on it right now and it should be out early next year (after of course telling him that The Gathering was one of my favorite metal albums ever).
So the opening band was Cylinder from Santa Cruz. They sucked. Horribly. Their singer sounded like he belonged in a country version of Nickelback (I'll kill someone if I hear someone say "y'all" in person again). And his screams sucked big time. The riffs seemed alright, but they seemed more akin to Alice In Chains on a bad night than anything remotely close to Rob Halford. Only heard of the band today, so no setlist. However I know their closing song was "Don't Count On Me" if anyone actually gives a damn.
And now, Rob Halford. This show was so unconventional, I just didn't know what to expect by about half way through. No leather and cape from the big man, just a coat and black pants and then down to a t-shirt and aforementioned pants. Opening with Silent Screams was downright odd, but it was a pretty epic opening. Rob's voice was somewhat nasal to begin with, but it was amazingly consistent for the show and dude hit every scream. He also premiered a new song from the new Halford album coming in October. The riffs were definitely better than "The Mower" but the lyrics were repetitive. The rest were some of the deepest cuts you could find from the guy's catalog. Even the Fight songs were obscure! And Drop Out never even came out on an album before! The only Priest song was "Never Satisfied," which wasn't as surprising since it's been apart of the promotion of his new live album. Oh and they gave away free copies of Crucible at the merch booth.:D
I will be honest, I'm a Priest nut that's simply too young to make any crazy claims about Rob's performances. BUT, I've analyzed the evolution of Rob's voice from '77 to now based on YouTube videos, live concerts, dvds and albums so much, I know by heart what his voice sounds like during a given time period. Rob will never ever sound the way he did in the late 70s and the 80s again. People grow older. But goddamn did Rob sound as good as he did on the Resurrection tour in 2001. Since that tour Rob's voice slowly declined in strength until 2005's Angel of Retribution tour where it was just plain rough, but since then he's improved with every tour, and this time was no exception. Rob Halford was just plain simply outstanding tonight. Hearing him pull of Resurrection like it was nothing was nothing short of mind-blowing. The man's got a few screams and then some left in him, even if we'll never hear Victim of Changes the same way it was done on Unleashed In the East ever again.
Oh yeah, no "You've Got Another Thing Comin," "Breaking the Law," or "Metal Gods!" How often does that happen?!
1. Silent Screams
2. Made of Metal?? (New song with those words in the chorus. I'm assuming since that's name of the new album that it is it's title track)
3. Resurrection :rocker:
4. Made In Hell
5. Never Again
6. Drop Out
7. Golgotha
8. Heart of a Lion
9. Never Satisfied
10. I Am Alive
11. Saviour
ENCORE
12. Crystal
13. Rock the World Forever
It was a shorter set than I would have liked, clocking in at maybe 75 minutes, but every song was an under-appreciated gem and you could tell Rob was happy to bust out the rare stuff if his repeated saying of "You've made me so happy, thank you" wasn't indicative enough. I came out of that show feeling a little different than I did at most of my concerts.
I come out of my favorite shows feeling like I've witnessed something truly epic and special. Eric Clapton raping on guitar in summer 2009, Exodus playing for 2 hours to their hometown with their friends last June, High On Fire completely upstaging 7 other damn good bands at the Missing Link last May and my first concert ever, Blue Oyster Cult in June 2007. I came out not thinking I'd seen something amazingly epic, but rather something spontaneous, one of a kind and fun. I will probably never see any of these songs live ever again, and that reason alone made the concert worth it. They were great songs, and they deserve to be heard live. But as long as the mighty Judas Priest exists, those songs will always be shut down in favor of some of the greatest metal songs ever. And to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. But tonight was a fun change of pace, and if anyone gets the opportunity to see Halford live, do it. Who knows how much time Rob's got left in him, and these songs deserve a home in our ears.