Over the last 10 years or so I’ve mellowed or gravitated towards the singer songwriter scene more than hard rock for obvious reasons. Loudness and standing usually is associated with real rock shows and it is hard for this reviewer to handle anymore. This evening was different though.

Rolling back the calendar to 1980, JP is touring behind their mega monster album “British Steel”. I had never been to a show where the band played an album in its entirety. Very cool indeed. Terms like “the most influential” and “ground breaker” are used when measuring this album’s contribution to creating heavy metal and I think it is well deserved. It is hard to believe this band has never had a Top 40 hit, yet has remained a strong fixture on classic rock formats for close to 30 years.

As the gig unfolded it was amazing how “British Steel” sounds close to modern rock today, a truly classic piece of hard rock art, if you will. A little known fact is that this album was Judas Priest’s 6th album at the time it was released and it finally got them recognized.

This night all the black shirted, heavily older male crowd wanted was to ROCK and Rob Halford and the boys delivered big time. Stone cold jammers like “Breaking the Law”, “Metal Gods” and “United” ruled the night. The light show lasers beamed thru the smoke littered stage as Halford prowled like a man possesed. The band this night seemed out to prove to the crowd that they were here to win over fans who only had recently heard of them thru playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band !

“Livin’ After Midnight” brought the place to a thunderous scene that had to be witnessed to believe. I have been to many gigs at the Verizon, but this was the first one where they actually ran out of freakin’ beer due to everyone just getting swept up in the moment to capture a glimpse of what was a classic piece of metal history.

“You Don’t Have to be Old to be Wise” and “The Rage” fit like a pair of comfortable jeans this night, too. Being a lifetime member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I find it numbing that a 30 years running band like this is not inducted yet. Metal music is a curious animal that comes out of you when you least expect it and that it did to me this night. The term better late than never applies to me finally seeing JP and you can count me in the legion of their fans for life from this day foward!

As far as the opening band, Whitesnake, I came in kind of ho hum wanting to get to the Judas Priest part of the show. After the first 3 songs, I was swept away by Mr. Coverdales’ stage persona and vocal range. He’s flanked by a good crop of younger dudes these days, but the main thing is the dude still has it!

Until the tunes starting rolling out, I did not realize how many killer songs were done by this band. Caught up in the wave of bands in the late 70’s and early 80’s it is hard to remember who was who back then. Plus I had just moved to Houston and had other things on my mind. HA!

Anyway, “Bad Boys”, “Love Ain’t No Stranger” and “Slow & Easy” kicked my ass right out of the gate. To think that Coverdale founded this band back in 1977 and still looks and sounds this good was amazing indeed. “Is This Love”, “Give Me All Your Love” and “Here We Go Again” rocked the pro-male crowd into a frenzy. The lavendar/green laser lights were beyond effective also. The hiccup in their set was the long outdated drum solo and guitar jams that were pure “go to the bathroom/bar times” for sure.

The last tune they did was a wall rattling “Still of the Night” ! They more than warmed up the crowd for Judas Priest.

This was one of those shows that I thought afterward that I was lucky to still get out and see legendary bands delivering. What is going to happen to the music scene when these bands go away?  Have you noticed the legion of cover/tribute bands actually touring these days?!  Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing folks. Get on out there and enjoy it while you can…Out.