Judas Priest Concert Review

JUDAS PRIEST, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 4, 2002

Metal Gods
Heading Out to the Highway
Touch of Evil
Bloodstained
Victim of Changes
One On One
Diamonds and Rust
Green Manalishi
Beyond the Realms of Death

Hell is Home
Breaking the Law
Desert Plains
Turbo Lover
Painkiller
The Hellion/Electric Eye
United
Living After Midnight
Hell Bent for Leather

Hardrock69"s Amazing Review!!

"What is so AMAZING about this review you ask?".

Gee...I dunno...prepare to spend 5 minutes exercising your ability to read the written word on this screen.....

Though I DO know one thing.....

(begin generic rave here)

THEY KICKED MY MUTHAFUKKING ASS LIKE A MUTHAFUKKING MUTHER FUKKER IN THE MUTHERFUKKING F**UCK OF THE *&*&%)&*%$#@#@%!!!!!!!!

(end generic rave here)

( AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR HERE?)

Details as follows:

I had arrived in Atlanta from Gnashville around 3:30 or so. Hooked up with a new friend, The Hellion, (EXTREMELY cool...look forward to seeing him again soon!), made our way to where DEB was in the Downtown area. After some time spent in a bar drinking on my part, DEB, The Hellion & I met up and went forthwith to the venue. Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW...Umm..I mean..REVIEW!...yeah the Review..

Was standing about 20 feet back, dead center. Prime standing place to get my ass kicked by the Almighty Priest!

Lights go down, some smoke is happening, then....the intro sound for their first song "Metal Gods".

I had seen set lists from this tour already, so they played stuff like "Bloodstained", "Painkiller", "Hell Is Home", "Victim Of Changes", and more. I had received a video of their Buenos Ares, Argentina show only 2 days before the show in Atlanta, so I got a small preview.. In Atlanta, they did not play "Machine Man" but they played two songs I did not expect...that I would only have HOPED they would play...."Desert Plains"...and "Beyond The Realms Of Death"! WOAH!! DAMN!!! HOLD THE PRESSES!! HOLY SHIT!

Next song up was "Heading Out To The Highway". Last time I saw them, K.K. and Glenn had screwed up the dual lead during the song something fierce. THAT part of the song turned out ok, but the performance was not without it's troubles....during the middle of the song Glenn's guitar strap became unfastened from his guitar. Guitar tech dude was on the money and ran out there to fix things. On with the show.

Glenn began the next song "Touch Of Evil". Great version of this song. K.K. was pretty energized, and throughout the rest of the set was getting the crowd on his side of the stage pretty worked up!

"Bloodstained" was a great audience participation tune...Ripper had the crowd singing the choruses, which they did with great gusto!

"Victim Of Changes"....having never seen Ripper sing live before, I was wondering how he would do on this...I must say he was f'n excellent. Did the song justice! Only problem occurred during Glenn's solo spot in the midst of the etude when a strange HOWL came out of the P.A.....sort of mid-range tone that was strong, steady and overpowering. Lasted for about 30 seconds, then the badass crew fixed the problem. Howl was shut the fuck up, Glenn got back to the task of coming out of his solo spot to begin the second-half of "VOC" and the Metal World was made perfect again.

**We interrupt this program to bring you the following special announcement!**

ALL FOR ONE!!!
ONE FOR ALL!!!
UNITED WE STAND!!!
NEVER TO FALL!!!

**We now return you to our regularly scheduled proramming!** :)

"One on One" was pretty cool. Another tune where Ripper got the crowd to sing the choruses.

I got to witness the new acoustic version of "Diamonds and Rust"...pretty cool. Great centerpeice for the set...takes the intensity down a bit in between kicking the audiences ass with the other heavy shit.

"Green Manalishi" was f'n great. Ripper did all the songs justice that required him to do some demonic banshee-wailing. I am somewhat jaded, so I had a "Prove it to me" attitude going into this show, but Ripper sent all my doubts to Hell to burn forever.....Certainly with "Beyond The Realms Of Death" which was played next, (Gee, isn't that just the coolest f'n song title?????)

Next up was "Hell Is Home", with more acoustic guitar. Priest always had songs that were quite mellow in their repertoir, it was just during that in the 80s they did not do so much quiet stuff, and it was not until the Jugulator tour that they actually started using acoustic guitars on stage.

Ahhh and of course, no show complete without....."Breaking The Law"? If I never hear that song again, it will be too soon, but then, those people who only know Priest from that song and "Another Thing Coming" kinda demand to hear it, so that is the way it goes haha. By the way, they left "Another Thing..." out of their set. THANK GOD!!!:-)

Oh...mannnnn....."Desert Plains". Ripper kicked serious ass on this! I always dug how they played this song at 78 speed compared to the studio version. Ripper did a lot of high screams on this...man...if anyone says he is not a great singer they oughta be shot...

"Turbo Lover"?? YAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWnnnnnnnn........... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......... ......... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

PAIN!!! PAIN!!! KILLAH!!! KILLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott Travis's intro was great!!!! I also had wondered how Ripper would do on this one, and he f'n nailed it!!! He f'n RIPPED!!!!!!! ;-)

"The Hellion" (pre-recorded)/"Electric Eye". Another great performance.

First encore was "United". Very much an appropriate song in this day and age. Very well received by the crowd.

Next was "Living After Midnight". Yawwn. But I do not mind hearing it as much as I am tired of "Breaking The Law" and "Another Thing...."

Last up was "Hell Bent For Leather". Great performance of this song.No bike?

*ahem* we now move from the "set-list" portion of our programming to to the "performance category" ;)

The band was tight. VERY tight. What should I expect?

Glenn switched between 3 (I think) of his guitars during the set (then there was an acoustic for "Diamond's And Rust"). His solos were precise, he was the tried-and-true Glenn Tipton we all know and love....kicked our asses GOOD!

Ian Hill-BASS GOD MOFO!!!!!! (Am I blowing some smoke or what?) Hell, just telling it like it was! :)

Ian was in his usual place, kicking total ass. Played some great lines on some of the newer stuff, and basically ROCKED!!! Due to the fact that he is somewhat "back of the front lines", he is perhaps not noticed quite so much as the others but DEFINITELY FELT!! ;)), but I made it a point to watch him during several diferent songs, and he just went OFF!!!

**HAT'S OFF TO THE METAL GOD OF THE "LOWER REGIONS"!!!!**

Scott Travis...man......I gotta tell ya. 3rd time I have seen him (Once on Painkiller, once w/FIGHT, now again with the mighty PRIEST). 3rd time's a charm? I dunno, but (to repeat something I have said too much already), he KICKED MY MUTHAFUKKING ASS!!

I must take a moment to compliment the FOH (Front Of House) sound God. Reason being, he made Scott Travis sound f'n great. The Crack of the snare was penetrating and persistent. Kick drum was loud and solid low-end thud, with the perfect amount of high-mid slap to give it definition. Toms were loud and slamming, again with great definiton! Cymbals and hi-hats were clean and crisp without being too noticeable!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

Rest of the mix was great. Noticed many instances of subterranean pitch-transposer on Ripper's voice...at a tone much lower than his own...very low volume and in the background (relatively speaking)...a kewel touch...reverbs and delays were clean and great in their effect. Man...reminded me of some of the great shows I heard Gungi Patterson do for Priest in the 80s

**ahem** ok back to the review. Scott was fantastic. His meter was very precise. I did not catch any mistakes, though of course only the band and crew would notice any minor ones. He reminded me kinda like a God Of Thunder having a race with Satan whilst riding a herd of cannons! :) He had several solo spots...like "Painkiller" where he was f'n explosive!!!!

He was the dynamite to back up the fireworks provided by bandmates Tipton, Hill, Downing & Owens at the front of the stage!!! I had a great time watching him beat us up with his drums!!! He also keeps busy playing with Racer X (both a studio and a live album released in the past 18 months).

Now for a brief interlude on the lights...The Metal Light God Review (what, ya wan' me to do a review of the ticket takers too?). The lights were exactly what was required. Great looking Par can layouts, kewel lighting effects, great between song lighting...man this dude knew his f'n cues!!! (and perhaps some p's too, but we'll save that discussion for another time...) So Thumbs up to the God Of Light!

Now...another of my guitar teachers over the past 23 years, MISTER Ken Downing, affectionately known as K.K. Came out in a full length leather coat looking every inch a MUTHERFUCKING METAL GUITAR GOD (yeah so I feel that way about the band, alright? ;))

Had a black ESP Flying V guitar. Not sure what kind of bridge was on it, but the points of the wings had chrome-plated metal tips on them. It looked to me as if the frets were scalloped as well. Rosewood fingerboard...DROOOL!!! Anyway, it sounded great, and he played some amazing stuff. A fantastic turn in Victim Of Changes. Even threw in a lead bit on a song (I think it was in the midst of Breaking The Law?) that was sooooo cool!

Both guitarists had custom racks for their speaker cabs...playing through 4 Marshall cabs apiece. Did not see what Ian Hill's Rig or bass were. I did not see what kind of amps Glenn & Ken used, though they both had pedalboards, Ken a few times using a whammy-pedal for some cool shit!

Now...last but certainly not least. Tim "Ripper" Owens.

F'n Incredible.

As much a fan of Rob Halford as I am, I still have to say that Tim is the best there is on the road right now. I gotta say that what I saw Tim do last night, was better than what I heard in St. Louis in August 2000 when Halford was opening for QR/Maiden. Now...back in the day, Halford woulda blown him away. But, times change, and gravity and other things take their toll on one's voice. I must say that these days I feel Tim Owens is the shit.

Don't believe me?????? Go see him and listen for yourself. Rob COULD rule the day back IN the day...but I feel that Ripper is the Next Generation of Metal Vocal Mutherfukkers!!!

I always said I dug what he was doing vocally and I always looked forward to seeing him live. I have not been comfortable with the songs they have been writing on the last two albums, but the songs I heard them play last night from Jugulator and Demolition translated well to live performance. I had watched some boot vids I have of recent shows, and the final test of a song's value (in my opinion) is how it comes across live. Sometimes stuff is better live than from the studio, or vice-versa. Their performance of "Hell Is Home" was f'n great!!! The vocals have a great melody that makes it a standout composition.

I am now slightly disgusted that I missed them on the Jugulator Tour.

I have some friends who are hardcore critics of things musical, however I rest assured that what I saw last night would please the most critical of Metal Fans out there.

A pure slab of slamming, hot, molten-radioactive MUTHERFUKKING METAL! Massive in intensity, I stared in Crazed Amazement...floored by Rippr's performance and getting off on the great shit I was hearing. I did not go berserkers yelling, screaming or jumping up and down....I wanted to remember every last bit of that show...so I mostly just stood their and drooled, and watched half the fuckers in the crowd play air-guitar! ;)

and then.....finis..

'Nuff Said!

Photos by: Scott "Exciter" Saunders

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