Judas Priest, Queensryche Concert
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Judas Priest, Queensryche Concert
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Death's Review (7/9/05, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine, CA):
I'd never been to this venue, but in order to beat the Friday rush hour traffic on the 405 and get to the gig on time, I needed to bolt from work super early (4 pm) and meet up with friends for the almost one hour drive into the O.C. for tonight's show. With summertime in full swing, we decided to mark tonight's old-school lineup by re-enacting our own version of a heavy metal parking lot. My buddy from college, Divine Intervention, was in town, so we hooked up with another buddy (Chainheart) to party like it was 1985. But first we had to get there. And by the time we got off to our later-than-expected start and fought the traffic to get to the show, we only had about an hour to spare. So once we pulled into the parking lot (VIP parking, baby!), we threw open the tailgate action, blasted the Nevermore from the car speakers and started slamming Heinekens and Becks (probably shoulda been cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon or something if we were really going to do the heavy metal parking lot thing). Soon the cell phones were out and we got in touch with the friends who met up with us and helped us to slam the brews while they were still cold. Every once in a while a cop car would drive by and we would hide the beers like we were in high school, which was funny. We put all of the empty bottles back in the twelve pack containers as we finished them and stacked them in the parking space next to us. At some point guy in a big SUV pulls in and runs right over them and gets all pissed at us, which we in our drunken state thought was way out of line and really very funny. Heavy metal parking lot indeed.But things were over way too quickly because before too long it was time to go inside. Queensryche was taking the stage. Chainheart and I literally ran to our seats as "Neue Regel" was played. Wow - cool to hear forgotten Rage for Order classics. Divine Intervention was not too far behind with beer. Queensryche played to about a 2/3 full venue in the daylight, but they were still cool. The setlist was great. Highlights included a medley of "Nightrider" and "Blinded," and "Screaming in Digital." The crowd went nuts for "Walk in the Shadows" too. Queensryche played a couple of tracks from the last album (I thought they were only playing old material this tour?), which was our cue to go get another beer, this time with Richard Christy of the Howard Stern show (ex-Iced Earth, etc.) hanging out too. We got back to our seats (by the way, we had great seats), in time to see the new track from Operation: Mindcrime 2, which I think was entitled "I'm American" or something, and which went over OK. The crowd also loved "Empire." My personal favorite of the night was one of my all-time favorite songs - "Take Hold of the Flame," which was great to see just as it was getting dark and really brought me back to the old days when I thought Queensryche was one of the best bands of all time. I still love that old material, and while the band is a little more worn around the edges, they still put on an entertaining live show.
But of course this night was about the almighty Judas Priest, and by the time they were set to go on, the night was black, the venue was jam packed and the crowd looked to be 20,000+ strong. Wow. Friday night in the O.C. baby, and we were liquored up and ready to go! Priest hit the stage on an elaborate, multi-tiered set. They played a lot of new stuff, none of which was as interesting as the classics. I went nuts for killer, undeniably great, legendary heavy metal cuts - indeed, some of my all time favorite songs, such as "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "Victim of Changes." This was the kind of show where you were slapping high fives with everyone around you after every song, and after I got through telling the guy in front of me that "Beyond the Realms of Death" was, in fact, my all-time personal favorite, he turned to me later in the set during "Victim of Changes" and said, "I betcha this one's your second favorite." He was right. I was also jazzed for "Exciter," the song I believe to have spawned the entire sub-genre of thrash. And even "Turbo Lover" and "Painkiller" had me going nuts. I also have always enjoyed the acoustic version of "Diamonds and Rust" the band has been doing since the reformation, and there I sat, six sheets to the wind singing along with every word tonight under the summer night sky. Fuckin' A. It was Friday night, perfect weather and I was partying at an outdoor Priest concert with great friends. What more could I have asked for?
All in all, it was a great night. We met up with more friends and even did a little post-show heavy metal parking lot drinking too. Before long it was time to go. We rolled back to LA and this one faded into the memory books. But it was an awesome night, one that hopefully just begins to set the stage for the trifecta of summer concerts that would hit me over the next six weeks: Sounds of the Underground (7/22), Gigantour (7/24), and Ozzfest (8/13). This is what summer's all about.
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