Judas Priest -- Rochester, NY -- November 16th, 2011

[Sanitarium78]

Black Label Society:

Crazy Horse
Funeral Bell
Bleed For Me
Suicide Messiah
Overlord
Parade of the Dead
Fire it Up
Guitar Solo
Godspeed Hell Bound
Concrete Jungle
Stillborn

Judas Priest:

Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
Judas Rising
Starbreaker
Victim of Changes
Never Satisfied
Diamonds & Rust
Dawn Of Creation
Prophecy
Night Crawler
Turbo Lover
Beyond the Realms of Death
The Sentinel
Blood Red Skies
The Green Manalishi
Breaking the Law
Painkiller
----------
The Hellion
Electric Eye
Hell Bent for Leather
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
----------
Living After Midnight

So the Phil Lynott Tribute band started things out tonight and to be honest I was bored as hell during their set and so was most of the crowd. Even the two songs that everybody knows only got poliet applause of recognition. I'm sorry but i've tried to get into Thin Lizzy but everything i've heard bored me to death. I honestly don't hear what the big deal is with them. They're just a so-so rock band in my eyes.

BLS put on their typical show. It was enjoyable until Zakk decided he was gonna make his guitar solo go for about 12 minutes. When I saw them headline back in May his solo was only about 5 or 6 minutes. But as the opener he decides to do a solo that is as long as three songs It's a shame to because the crowd was into it the whole time up until the solo. After that they never got the crowd back. I wonder when Zakk is gonna wake up and realize that nobody, not even his fans give a shit about his guitar solos anymore.

Great show by Priest, as far as i'm conserned they've put together the setlist of the year for this tour. Halford still being able to pull off some of the high notes he does at age 60 is unbelieveable. Even though there was a time or two he didn't even bother to try and hit them like on the chorus of The Sentinel. I'll give him a pass though since he nailed it on Painkiller The band must've have forgot that they were in a indoor venue because during the first couple minutes of Rapid Fire the smoke was so thick you couldn't even see anybody on stage. They were still able to do their pyros though I would think in an outdoor venue the flames would probably be a lot bigger.

I really like Halford's stage demeanor. It almost seems like he's possesed by something with the way he looks down to the ground and slowly stalks the stage. I know he used to use a telepromter but i'm not sure about that now. Because he was moving around the stage very well and I didn't really notice anything that looked like one anywhere. During BTL Halford just let the crowd sing the whole song. He mouthed the words on stage to guide everyone but the vocals were all us. It's hard to pick just one highlight from this show. I would say Rapid Fire, Metal Gods, Judas Rising, Victim Of Changes, Starbreaker, Night Crawler, Beyond The Realms Of Death, Blood Red Skies and Electric Eye were my favorites of the night. Everything was played great the only problem I had is the soft/electric version of Diamonds & Rust. Yes, I know they've done it before but slow part has never worked for me. That was hardly enough to ruin the whole show though.

Just in case anybody working for the Main Street Armory in Rochester reads this, I just wanna tell you to please book more metal shows there. It's the perfect place for bands that can sell out the mid range venues. Plus, it's general admission so how can you not want more metal concerts there

Well, I managed to survive seeing Anthrax and Priest on back to back nights It was a great couple of days and at least I know if I have to do something like this again in the future I can make it through

[Strobic Axe]

Nice review. Zakk does tend to lose momentum during every show - at least this time it wasn't because of a 15 minute piano interlude.
I wanted to ask which version of Diamonds and Rust they were doing, so thanks for answering that - now I'll know when to take a piss break & grab more beer.

Can you tell me when each band hit the stage? I'm seeing this show in Toronto on the 22nd and my buddy doesn't want to miss Thin Lizzy (he's a Damon Johnson fan).

Thanks

[boznation]

same here time wise - I am going to the Jersey show tomorrow night - thanks -


-BozNation

[ravenheart]

I hope that by the time they come back to Europe before this tour finishes that they change the set. They've been playing this exact one all year now, and Europe has already seen it. They should look to change it before doing a second leg.

It's a great set though.

[Sanitarium78]

To the two posters asking about set time:

The doors opened at 530 and Lizzy came on around 630 and played until about 720. The change over was very quick, BLS started around 740 and played until 830. Priest came on around 915 and played until about 1145.

[Strobic Axe]

Thanks S78

[HackedUpForBBQ]

What an amazing two days it was.... Priest fucking killed it

[Wizard in Black 666]

Great review, man. Thanks for sharing that with us, glad you had a blast

[brutal_descent]

Originally Posted by Sanitarium78

Well, I managed to survive seeing Anthrax and Priest on back to back nights.

Definitely not a problem for me, I've done 3-4 back-to-back shows before.

[valgalder]

I didn't like BLS before this show..and now I really hate them! What a shit band with shit fans - if they pump up this guys ego so much that he does a ridiculous 15 minute guitar solo... fuck that guy.. everything I hate about modern music. For a big rock star he doesn't even have a good stage presence.. and never addresses the crowd or anything. Garbage.

on a bright note.. Priest was fucking awesome. Rob sounded better than I expected. He does look tired - but he is old and has been doing these mega long sets for a while now, so I give him credit. Great to see them in venue like this one last time. I have a feeling they will do more shows, but most likely a big appearance here or there.