How much old-skool heavy rock do you want? Exactly this much.
The Lizzified fistpump of Black Star Riders roused us plenty, but coulda roused us more if: 1) soulful Belfast rasper Ricky Warwick would have unstrappd his ax (Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson can handle it, thanx) to recall why BSR's three albums trump his solo stuff; and 2) they would have played their best material ("Bloodshot," "Hey Judas," "You Little Liar," "Testify or Say Goodbye") instead of too many Irish street-fightin' chants. Hope they stay together, though, cuz dynamic songs like "Bound for Glory" and "The Killer Instinct," plus their twin-guitar carve and Warwick's aggro presence, mark them as way more than a warm-up act.
Opinion on Saxon largely boils down to whether you rock with Biff Byford's mode of bellering 1980-81 hits like the proto-thrasher "Wheels of Steel" and the dumbro anthem "Denim and Leather." But even those who demur discovered that the band has grown (sorry?) more sophisticated over the years, so that tonight's highlights included the slickly executed drone-string riff of "The Secret of Flight" and the gloomy moods of "Nosferatu," both from their new "Thunderbolt." The real triumph, though, arose via Nigel Glockler's powerfully complex and precise drums, the only instruments cleanly delivered by the theater's high-tech speaker bank all night. Made a man yearn for war.
So the choice of Black Sabbath's peacenik riffer "War Pigs" as the recorded intro for Judas Priest sent mixed messages. But if it felt like master metal vocalist Rob Halford was auditioning for a reprise of his occasional substitutions for Ozzy Osbourne, the sometimes panting but always focused singer left no question about his commitment to Priest in this moment, nor did we worry about the band's viability without its classic Glenn Tipton & K.K. Downing guitar complement. You can tell a band is still breathing flame when it includes three new songs, with the gut-stabbing "Evil Never Dies" receiving a special dose of passion from Halford's valkyrie throat. To their credit, Priest also indulged old fans with less frequently performed vintage selections such as "Sinner," "The Ripper" and "Grinder." Axman Richie Faulkner (chosen because his name ends in -er?) ripped with confident flash, while temporary fill-in Andy Sneap (who not coincidentally produced both Priest's new "Firepower" and Saxon's "Thunderbolt") handled his twin parts and solos with ease. Weakened by Parkinson's, Tipton has nevertheless been joining for encores on this tour, and his humble entrance and unrestrained picking lent new meaning to "Metal Gods." He got love from us, oh yeah. The exit recording was Queen's "We Are the Champions." Like the Sabbath intro, it of course represented a bid for Hard Rock Unity. But no bragging was necessary.
PHOTOS BY FUZZY BORG.