Color me casual. As delighted its hardcore fans with obscure tune after obscure tune for much of its two-hour-plus show at the in Broomfield on Saturday night, I couldn’t help but feel I would have enjoyed the show more if it had been a lot shorter.
Judas Priest is calling this tour the Epitaph Tour, and has said it will be their last, though the guys have also said they are writing material for another album, so who knows whether they will, in fact, retire. Judging by their performance Saturday night, the enjoyment in performing is still there, and Rob Halford’s voice, while at times a little rougher, can still rip a multi-note scream like nobody else in hard rock.
Stylistically, the band has gotten heavier over the years, with much of the newer material having a nu-metal or death-metal feel. Halford, himself, alluded to this in his stage banter, talking about “speed metal, thrash metal, death metal, it’s all heavy metal to us, and we love it.”
New guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced the recently departed founding guitarist K.K. Downing, brought more of that nu-metal feel in his solos as well, which had a faster edge than Downing’s more melodic leads.
The band kicked off with the opening track off its seminal 1980 album “British Steel,” a fiery rocker, and followed with the Priest anthem “Metal Gods” and the almost-danceable “Heading Out to the Highway.”
During most of the songs, a banner with the cover art for each album was hung behind the stage. The stage show depended heavily on many of the popular metal tricks, such as extensive pyro explosions and lots of laser lights. There was also the obligatory ride by Halford on a motorcycle during “Hell Bent for Leather.” Priest clearly enjoys embracing the bombastic elements of its music and rabid fandom.
Listening to the songs, it became evident how much Priest has influenced metal. While Black Sabbath is credited as the originators of metal by most, it is Priest that really took it and made it something that other bands could emulate. During “Beyond the Realms of Death,” Faulker and guitarist Glenn Tipton drenched the arena with plenty of chorus-effected guitars in the best ballad sense, a trick on which Queensryche built its career. The pounding drums and bass of “Painkiller” could be seen as the forerunner to the dark, kludgy brand of metal many embraced in the ’90s. You could feel the arena vibrating, even at the farthest end away from the stage. In fact, thank god for earplugs, or my ears would have been ringing for sure the next day.
Ultimately, Priest’s show was about the fans that have been following the band for 40 years now. The band knows its audience, and delivers. Casual fans like me are an afterthought.
Set list
Rapid Fire, Metal Gods, Heading Out to the Highway, Judas Rising, Starbreaker, Victim of Changes, Never Satisfied, Diamonds and Rust, Prophecy, Night Crawler, Turbo Lover, Beyond the Realms of Death, The Sentinel, Blood Red Skies, The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown), Breaking the Law, Painkiller, E1: Electric Eye, Hell Bent For Leather, You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, E2: Living After Midnight
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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band .
Tina Hagerling is a Denver photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. Check out more of her .
