Review: JUDAS PRIEST Goes Beyond Nostalgia

May 31, 2005

Malcolm X Abram of the Akron Beacon Journal has penned a review of JUDAS PRIEST's U.S. tour kick-off Monday night (May 30) at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio. An excerpt from the review follows:

"The less-than-full venue was populated with middle-aged metalheads who looked as if they could have been in the 1983 cult-classic documentary 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot', which was shot at a JUDAS PRIEST concert in New Jersey. Guys in vintage PRIEST tour shirts mingled with women well past their 18th (and 21st, and 30th) birthdays sporting halter tops and belly-baring shirts that looked as if they had been gathering dust in the back of their closets, while many of the younger folks sported gear featuring PRIEST progeny such as CHILDREN OF BODOM, IRON MAIDEN and THE DARKNESS.

"The band tore into its set as if it were 1983 again, opening with the familiar twofer of 'The Hellion/Electric Eye', followed by more classics, 'Metal Gods' and 'Riding on the Wind'.

"[Singer Rob] Halford, whose movements consisted mostly of some kind of heavy-metal robot move, seemed to have a different leather and/or shiny full-length coat for each song and showed that, although he may not hit every high note like he used to (he sang a great version of 'Exciter' a full octave lower than the original recording from 'Stained Class'),he can still dish out a ear-piercing shriek when necessary.

"Not content to deal in nostalgia, the band played a set list heavy with almost half of 'Angel of Retribution' and songs such as the thrash-metal tune 'Judas Is Rising'. 'Deal with the Devil' sat nicely next to the anthemic 'Breaking the Law' and an acoustic take on the band's electric version of JOAN BAEZ's 'Diamonds and Rust'."

Read the rest of the review at this location.

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