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I often ask myself, how come, that some bands of this genre have gonne a long time ago again, and some of them seem the owe the eternal life, although going through an extensive line up change in between, like in Judas Priest. And don't forget, some of their great hits are older than 30 years, Songs like ‚Living After Midnight’ , ‚Hell Bent for Leather’ or ‚Breakin’ The Law’. Okay, Judas Priest certainly belong to the inventors of classic Heavy Metal, who have written music history. But other artists have done the same, and are already past tense. Not Priest, who have got the Metal God Rob Halford back again after some exchanges. And now they seem to do better than ever, according to the present standards of course. No matter about new albums including the very new one named 'Nostradamus'. But let's face it, Judas Priest belong to this sort of band, who actually don't need to do another album. Because at a liveshow the old fans from the past and the young freaks still wanna hear most of all ‚Turbo Lover’, ‚Breakin’ The Law’ und ‚Another Thing Comin’.I It's the same situation
tonight at the Zenith in Munich, which ain't sold out. The back part of
the venue is hidden behind a black curtain. And the audiance might count a
aprox. 3.500 people gathering here in nostalgic feelings and expecting the
high priests of metal and their performance. Some years have past since
the band have been here last time. And we all don't get any younger, do we?...
But it is the Rock'n'Roll keeping us young in the end. And K.K. says with
a smile on his fact just before showtime: „The Best has yet to come“.-
So what....?
It's not that long ago, I've seen this band with their big boss Jon
Schaffer live on stage here in Munich. But there have been some major
changes inbetween, or should I rather call it reincarnation. Because after
a short inbetween stint of singer Ripper Owens, now the long lost son
Matthew Barlow has found his way back to his beloved one's. It's pretty
funny, because on stage, you can't deny some visual similarities between
him and Ripper. But for all those true Iced Earth fans this circumstances
are more than just welcome. - However, despite this fact, Matt Barlow
doesn't mind singing tracks from the Ripper era as well, like ‘Ten
Thousand Strong’ or
‘Declaration Day’. Now to get it the right way, it's the band beeing first on the spot tuning their cords to Nostradamus and prophecy, before our Metal god appears at the top of the sideboard in his silver cloak. A true theatrical take off Robby is presenting us... And he takes his time to celebrate the prologue. Apart from the main focus which is Halford, nothing really has changed including guitarist Glen Tiptons leather jacket, which might be quite have a certain value now after so many years. Never mind... it is the recognition most of all, and we get that first of all through the high priests voice. Soon after he got rid of his merlin fur, it takes another song length to finally appear in the front of the stage. Inbetween he is only hearable. Not good for us photographers, as worthful time runs off quickly. In the end we get one more full song to get enough pics of the frotnman - thanks god for that. That's better than nothing, as we say so. The rest of the show we watch from a distance, without our cameras of course. We are heading straight to the back and the mixing pult. Because only for there we get a decent acoutic within this walls. But who cares.
You just can't hold back the true fan, because right at this moment up
there, the gods of the one and only true heavy metal are celebrating their
music.
No, I actually
can't complain about this visit of Judas Priest here in Germany. It's a
solid heavy metal show going for the slogan: keep it true, keep it metal,
very close to the fans, even after the official show. Imagecare rules,
thought the reality looks a bit different. But who cares... Let the music
do the talking, it's as easy as that... |