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Hey To You All Out There.......
I am writing this a bit late, I know, but better later than never.....a bit like Judas Priest down under. I was lucky enough to see Priest in their first ever concert in Australia; PERTH!! Where do I start..........
The set list is was exaclty the same as the Melbourne gig so there is no need to write that out again. The crowd was really weird in the sence that there was a HUGE variety of people there. Surfy guys and girls, 60 year + rockers, your typical metal heads, casual (almost formal) people and the list goes on. I was actually very impressed by the range of people there compared to other gigs I have gone to. I was lucky enuf to get to the very front and only about 1 metre away from Glenn, in his almighty glory. A local band called Black Steel opened for Priest. Black Steel actually supported Deep Purple as well and their bass player was from the old Perth band Allegiance and they actually did a few shows with Fight if I heard correctly. As soon as "Metal Gods" came on heaven had finally came to me. Everything was perfect. The sound, the lights, the look and the crowd. There were a few minor miss haps....Glenn stacked at the start of the concert and Tim never let him forget about it either. Offering Glenn his glasses several times. Another comical thing was when they played "Feed On Me", the sound engineer was obviously expecting "Machine Man" cos Tim and Glenn whispered something to each other and then Tim started laughing at the sound board. Tim's singing was absolutely amazing. Every right note as clear as can be. My ears were ringing for days and I still had the note he hit in "Victim of Changes" still in my head. WOW!!! That's all I can say about that. The crowd was pretty tame for most of the concert until "Painkiller" started and then it was on for young and old. "United" was exceptionally well received by everyone as well as the new stuff especially "One On One". I think I was the only person in the crowd that knew the lyrics to "Feed On Me" and "Hell is Home" cos everyone was just kinda jumping around.
The best part of the concert in my view was "A Touch of Evil". My favourite song of all-time and I was actually seeing the band who wrote it, peforming it; LIVE! I couldn't believe it. I'm only 19 and it felt like and eternity had passed before I got the chance to see them live. Before the concert while I was mixing with the crowd, I was talking to a guy that said "These new albums aren't Priest!! What the #@$! is with Painkiller, Jugulator and I havent even heard the new one!? Nothing beats Halford blah blah blah." He obviously isn't a true Priest fan. Cos a true fan loves every album the band puts together and stands by them through thick and thin. After that concert, I think he was regretting saying all that stuff.
Thats pretty much what happened the night the "Metal Gods" came to Perth. All I can say is that the next few days I was incredibly sad cos Priest had come and gone and I had to venture back to reality.
Brett
PS - If anyone out there is interested in being a pen pal to me regarding Priest stuff, please feel free to write to me at a_touch_of_evil@hotmail.com