Judas Priest/Anthrax
Rating: 4 Skulls
Death's Review (2/15/02, Roseland Ballroom, New York):
If you are any kind of old-school metalhead living anywhere at all in the northeastern United States, then at some point last week you SHOULD have gone out to see Judas Priest live. New York, Boston, Washington, Philly... it seemed that everyone was slapping on the denim jackets with the 'Screaming for Vengeance' patches on the back and gearing up for Anthrax and Priest. Thank god I live in New York, and my show was on a Friday night.
Anthrax
Photos by Cyn
You see, in order to get the full effect and to truly enjoy a Judas Priest (or Dio, or Halford, or Ozzy, or Kiss, or AC/DC or almost any other band from "that" era with the exception of Iron Maiden) show in 2002, you need to drink a lot of beer, and the show needs to take place on a Friday or Saturday night. There's a certain feeling of adventure you get on a nippy Friday night in February as you get ready to go out and see Judas Priest. Think of the fans and the mullets you'll see!
Anthrax
If you'll allow me to bastardize a funny anecdote about the Boston Priest show I read in a recent Bullpen Promotions report, a metalhead seeing a mullet is like other people seeing a four-leaf clover; for a metalhead out and about and looking to party, encountering a club full of mullets is the equivalent of a room full of lucky charms. You know that if there's gonna be mullets, there's also gonna be beer, black leather jackets, old, faded concert shirts, loose women with leopard-print patterns on way-too-tight clothing, tattoos, cigarette smoke-the works. Hell, there might even be a few chicks in spandex. There will surely be cheap beer, at least there should be. But no matter what, you know if there's a substantial number of mullets at a metal show, the classic feeling of early eighties metal will surely be in the air. And trust me, if you are going to see Judas Priest, there will be mullets. And lots of them.
AnthraxMullets aside, we definitely had a great night at this show. Roseland was more than sold out, and that meant that many people I knew were still looking for tickets as the day turned into evening. I knew it was going to be packed. The lineup was me, Hel, Cyn and Ylana. We actually got in before the show started, and positioned ourselves right near the stage. Soon Anthrax came on to a still half-empty venue (the line to get in was SLOW and very long, extending all the way out to Broadway-somehow, we were able to circumvent it and walk right in), to the tune of "Among the Living".
Each Anthrax band member had the same shirt on: black, with a pentagram on the front and a sports-jersey style name and number on the back. Scott Ian was #20; Charlie Benante #18; Frank Bello #17; Jon Bush #9; and that other new guitarist #00. It only took me a couple of minutes to realize that the # on the back of the jersey corresponded to the number of years that band member had been in Anthrax. I paused for a moment-apparently, Jon Bush has been in Anthrax nine years now. Time sure does keep flying right on by.
Judas PriestAnthrax sounded good, but they basically played the same old tired set as they've been trotting around for a few years now, with no pre-'Among the Living' material on display this night and still two covers. One interesting part of the show was the performance of the fairly cool new song, "Superhero," which is definitely in step with Anthrax's recent material (meaning somewhat catchy and straightforward) but is pretty heavy, with an angular-style riff, and is definitely a metal song, with no noticeable "nu". I expect this is a strong indication as to what we might hear on Anthrax's forthcoming studio effort, and, if so, I'm sure I'll like the record.
Next was the mighty Judas Priest. My reaction? "eh." What, you say? Honestly, Ripper is a good vocalist, and technically he is a great one. But he lacks the charisma and the PRESENCE of the Metal God, and that is never gonna change for me. Seeing Priest with Ripper will always feel akin to Van Halen with Hagar, Maiden with Blaze, or Sabbath with Tony Martin. Clearly second-rate. In many ways, the decent set list ("Beyond the Realms of Death", "Victim of Changes," "Desert Plains," "Touch of Evil", "Turbo Lover") made me crave the real thing all the more. Still, as I sat there in the first few rows and watched Glenn Tipton play the solo to "Victim of Changes" it dawned on me-quit finding fault, and shut up and enjoy the moment: It is Friday, I have a Heineken in hand, I'm with friends and Glenn Tipton is right there in front of me playing the solo to "Victim of Changes". Does it get any better than this? Sure. But I can honestly say there was nowhere I'd rather be this Friday night (although I was anxious to get to Abyss' party which, as promised, featured a special appearance by Pestilence and the added "bonus" of a bird's-eye view of the wreckage at Ground Zero [I was watching CNN in his apartment and they were showing live scenes of Ground Zero under the commentary, and then I'd get up and look out the window and see the same thing right there and trust me, it was way more intense in reality], plus a party full of cool people thrashing late-night to Immortal, Hypocrisy, Thy Primordial, Slayer and Megadeth).
Judas Priest
Ripper was not bad, by any means. When I saw him in '98, he had more of the Halford persona going than he does now-instead of the famous leather studded "YMCA"/biker hat he had on a simple baseball cap. I actually thought that detracted from the show: if I'm supposed to pretend I'm watching Judas Priest at least make it easy for me!!! But seriously, Ripper's voice is great, and he rocked "Beyond the Realms" like I thought nobody but Halford had any business doing, and Ripper generally hit or exceeded every high note in the repertoire. Certainly he is vocally capable of anything Rob was, technically. As the show wore on, more of Ripper's charisma did come across, and later tunes like the surprise inclusion of the much-maligned but also cool "Turbo Lover" benefited greatly, with "Turbo Lover" taking on a sparser, more thrashy structure that really seemed to enhance it in the live setting.
Judas Priest
But too often, it sounded like everybody, including the fans, were just getting drunk, dancing around and having a good time, and that memories and nostalgia and generalized metal feelings took center stage. All good things, but that is what this night was about , and not any purported relevance of the band's new music, despite their continued presence on the roster of Atlantic Records. The bottom line? A decent effort and I had a great time. Musically? A mediocre display of nostalgia with almost nothing challenging or new to be heard in the venue.
Judas Priest
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