Judas Priest Celebrate 50 Heavy Metal Years
w/ Special Guest: Queensryche
The Shrine Auditorium – Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, March 15th, 2022
Review/Pics: Will
Queensryche
Always love the opportunity to see Queensryche so I couldn’t have been more excited when they were added as special guests to this tour. Hand it to the band… They picked out the perfect setlist. On a tour with the Mighty Judas Priest labeled “50 Heavy Metal Years” there’s no need to “whip” out any ballads, and the Seattle Lads kept it strictly Metal and strictly old school ‘Ryche!
Todd La Torre, who’s now been in the band for a decade, sounded incredible. Still hitting every note with ease and allowing the classic Ryche tunes to live on as they were recorded. Michael “Whip” Wilton is the epitome of cool. Lashing out licks while barely breaking a sweat with his Skull emblazoned guitar with the Tri-Ryche fretboard. Other founding member, Eddie Jackson (bass) did an amazing job handling most of the back up vocal duty. Casey Grillo was barely visible behind the kit but his presence was definitely felt. Rounding out the lineup was rhythm guitarist, Mike Stone making his second appearance with QR since his original 5 year stint in the band in 2003.
All songs were pulled from their first 5 releases kicking off with “Queen Of The Reich” from their 1983 “EP” and taking us through “The Warning” up to 1990’s “Empire“. The set pulled from everything you’d want to hear in a condensed hour show and QR made the most of their time.
Mission: Accomplished. Queensryche were the perfect appetizer to get everyone’s mouth watering for the main course.
Judas Priest
On this night the PACKED Shrine Auditorium was transformed into a huge British Steel Mill to welcome Heavy Metal Legends, Judas Priest. Think about it…50 HEAVY METAL YEARS! I’m 50 and Priest have been Delivering The Goods since I was but a twinkle!
After Queensryche’s blistering set, the crowd was amped and ready to rock. And the atmosphere was intensified as the lights dimmed and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” was blasted out. This led to a welcoming, sing-along serenade by the Metal Thirsty fans.
Boom… “Battle Hymn” started and the huge Judas Priest Cross Symbol Light Rig lifted from the stage and out came Rob and the boys kicking off the evening with “One Shot At Glory” from “Painkiller“.
Celebrating 50 years of making ear drums bleed is no easy task, but JP pulled songs from 11 of their 18 studio albums and left nothing to be desired on the table.
They went back to the depths from their 1974 debut, “Rocka Rolla” all the way to 2018’s “Firepower“. The two biggest helpings came of course from the amazing “Painkiller” and the classic “British Steel” albums.
A huge video screen acted as a backdrop to the “Steel Mill” stage projecting old videos, album covers, accompanying imagery as well as a great timed video of a young Glenn Tipton soloing over the live performance.
You just have to love Rob Halford. He wandered all over the stage during the show, throwing horns and playing air guitar next to Richie and Andy. He’d disappear behind the curtain during some of the musical breaks and return to the center just in time to let out one of those classic Halford screams. If there are no tracks being used on this tour, then we’re going to have to classify Rob as an Alien. 70 years old and still able to rip out the piercing scream at the end of “Victim Of Changes“. Chills I tell ya… Chills.
Ian Hill, the lone original member of the band, was the most understated. He stood mainly in one corner of the stage hammering out amazing classic bass riff after riff. The twin guitars and traded off solos are now handled by Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap (with a constant beaming smile). I love the energy that both of these guys bring to the stage. Accordingly adorned in classic JP leather and studs, they make a solid set of bookends handling the classic Priest catalog.
I must note it was great seeing “The Falcon” on stage. It was only FIVE months ago that he suffered an aortic aneurysm and complete aortic dissection while at the Louder Than Live Festival. His heart issues were nothing to sneeze at and that was very apparent by the large scar, proudly on display on his chest. One of those life saving scars that acts as a reminder how lucky he was.
Scott Travis was a beast on the drums and had a great moment to shine when he introduced the last song of the main set as he thumped into the intro to “Painkiller“.
The 6 song encore was basically all the greatest hits that you hadn’t heard yet starting with “The Hellion/Electric Eye“. Right after that, the sound of a revving engine was heard as Rob rode out on “The Bike” for “Hell Bent For Leather“. It was after that, Rob introduced a special guest simply as his friend GT. And out walked the great Glenn Tipton. The affects of Parkinson’s Disease were very apparent but that didn’t stop Glenn, wearing a “No Surrender” t-shirt, from flashing a huge smile and ripping out the classic riffs to “Metal Gods“, “Breaking The Law” and set closer “Living After Midnight“.
Spotted checking out the metal legends for their LA gig were Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), David Ellefson (Ex-Megadeth) , Sam Bam Koltun (Faster Pussycat) Patrick Kennison (Lita Ford), Courtney Cox and Nikki Stringfield (The Iron Maidens) and especially exciting for THIS photographer was spotting the legendary Ross Halfin at work!
I have faith that I’ll see Judas Priest again, however if this was the last time that I laid eyes on the band, it would be a very worthwhile memory and one that I will truly cherish.
Related Links:
Judas Priest
Queensryche
