[ATTENDED: March 20, 2018] Judas Priest
Judas Priest was one of my favorite bands when I was a kid. I remember being very excited when Screaming for Vengeance came out. I even liked Turbo (“Turbo Lover” may be a terrible song but it is sure catchy). But then by 1988 I had stopped listening to them, thinking that they’d gone all synth. I moved on from JP to more heavy music, but I returned to JP’s earlier more progressive-sounding rock quite a lot. Which means I missed the outstanding “Painkiller” and the whole “Ripper” Owens period.
I even saw Rob Halford live with his band Halford in 200o (opening for Queensryche and Iron Maiden). I decided I wanted to see this essential childhood band especially since they had a new album out that had gotten decent buzz. I knew it wasn’t all the original members. Bassist Ian Hill was still there with Halford.
The drummer Dave Holland was replaced by current drummed Scott Travis in 1989, so he’s a veteran of the band.
Original guitar maniac K.K. Downing left in 2011 and his replacement Richie Faulkner has been accepted into the Priest fold.
And then there was Glenn Tipton, the other original member and part of the twin guitar attack.
So 3/5 original members is pretty good for a band that started in the mid 1970s. Then Tipton revealed that he had Parkinson’s and would not be touring with the band. Ouch. I wondered if it was still worth gong, and I was soundly criticized for doubting the Beast which is Priest. He was replaced by their engineer Andy Sneap. (more…)
