Harley cameo (Photo by Teresa Turnage-Simon)
Live at Cedar Park Center
May 14, 2015
There was a time when walking into an arena to see Judas Priest rock your face off was a rite of passage into metal hood. Just YouTube “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” if you don’t believe me. This rang true on this rainy night in Texas as the Cedar Park Center housed a few thousand to see these metal kings run through what might be their final run. There should’ve been more, but not everyone is buying tickets in an age of multiple choices.
Texas Hippie Coalition opened with a good 60-minute set of some down home metal grooves as big as their frontman (James Richard “Big Dad Ritch” Anderson) and the state they’re named after. “We lied to get on every big tour we’ve been on (Black Label Society, Lynyrd Skynyrd),” Big Dad Ritch laughed as he related his band’s history. It was not only a heavy rock show, it was a living room meets Storytellers experience. It downright endeared the band to you. Their brand of good time southern metal filled up the arena well.
The bass player (John Exall) was a regular stage lion, prancing and prowling all over the place. The drummer was solid, but seemed kinda isolated from the rest of the band, making this newcomer to the band wonder if he was a newbie or hired gun. Exall and guitarist Cord Pool did jam in his vicinity every once in awhile, as all rhythm sections do, but they didn’t feel like brothers back there.
“Red dirt metal” is a perfect label for this band (also known as THC), who embrace their dirty country roots without mellowing out to their Willie and Waylon inspiration. An hour was a long opening set, but it went over well.
The photographers in the pit had to wait for the stage hands to roll up the giant Judas Priest frontdrop curtain that dropped to signal the start of the show. The twin guitar attack of “Dragonaut” kicked things off at high speed. They jammed right into “Metal Gods” and “Devil’s Child” and then stopped to say hello to the somewhat rowdy crowd before chiming into those instantly recognizable and epic introductory notes of “Victim of Changes.” There’s nothing like a rockin’ sound system blaring full-on metal and it just brings a knowing smile of satisfaction to any metal head within earshot.
The band was certainly on this night, delivering the goods song after song without skipping a beat. Frontman and true metal singer Rob Halford showed off his “still got it” vocal chops early on during the wind-down to “Victim of Changes” and next in “Halls of Valhalla.” It was during this song that we noticed something ironic and cool —an interpreter for the deaf on the side of the arena. He was rocking out while moving his hands all over the place.
New guitarist Richie Faulkner is a dead ringer for the departed (“I quit,”) KK Downing and he carried the lion’s share of shredding —on a Flying V no less. He and founding guitarist Glenn Tipton toyed with each other often, harmonizing and syncing their riffs together. Halford roamed the stage at a moderate pace. He came out sporting a cane —hopefully for looks — and he departed off to stage right a few times, even delivering vocals from his wireless mic out of sight. And, of course, he rode out on a local Harley Davidson at one point in the show. The giant video screen graphics were cool, as was the light show and non-stop fog. There was a small mosh pit halfway back on the floor for most of the entire Priest set. Weird, huh?
While certain tunes were left out for time’s sake, Judas Priest did a good job of spanning their career, skillfully playing through an old classic like “Beyond the Realms of Death” from Stained Glass, as well as “Redeemer of Souls,” the moniker of this tour and title track of their latest album.
The crowd loved singing along to staples like “Turbo Lover” And “Breaking the Law,” which was their second-to-last number. They finished with “Hell Bent for Leather” and left the stage for half a second for four (count ’em!) encores: “Electric Eye,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” “Pain Killer” and “Living After Midnight.”
While Judas Priest has sounded better, there wasn’t any real complaints to be had on this night. They killed it like pros.
Photos and review by Doug Van Pelt. Photo editing by Teresa Turnage-Simon
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