Put on my heavy metal shoes and jumped in the truck with my side kick Kenny and headed to the Woodlands to see the “Epitaph Tour” of Judas Priest. The last time these gents hit H-Town it was a killer gig at the Verizon and I was willing to make the long trek to see what was left in the tank with this headbanging British steel outfit.  Found out there was enough to satisfy yet another throng of mainly black t-shirt wearin’ males guzzlin’ $11 beers and standin’ all night!

The night kicked off with Thin Lizzy whom we missed most of due to wonderful Houston traffic problems.   I got to see “Boys Are Back in Town” so what else did I really need to see anyway?

Following these guys was a band I’d never seen or really heard of called Black Label Society.  This heavy metal band was formed by Zakk Wylde in the late 90’s and has spawned nine stuidio albums to date. Wylde got a lot of run when he toured in Ozzy Osbourne’s band in 2007 as lead guitar player.

The solid line-up of John DeServio, Nick Catanese, and Chad Szeliga complimented ZW’s bad ass guitar mashin’ style.  His long trademark hair flying around like a madman was a neat effect and the antimated antics heavy metal style of the band in general rocked.   I was able to witness a touching thing right before Wylde went on stage from my vantage point down close.  Here’s a prototypical biker type dude kneeling for 30 seconds or so before his drummer crossing himself and praying.   Nice touch being the Catholic I am.  Then he donned a huge Indian head dress for some unknown reason and took the middle of the stage like it was a pulpit of metal!

I’ve never really been a huge “metal head” type guy, but this stuff had a nice feel to it.  Granted the whole hour or so BLS prowled the stage it basically sounded like one long guitar jam to me.  Not a bad thing at all, but in metal lyrics are mostly secondary and lots of beer helps.  Crowd dug what was going on and I fed off the energy and enjoyed Wylde’s theatrics a lot.

Next up the headliner Judas Priest rolled out with lots of pyrotenics and elaborate shenanigans to hype up the event.  Smoke, lit stairway to the drum case, and HUGE flames of fire scorched the night air as the British invasion took over the Woodlands.  Even though the title for the tour was ‘Epitaph’, head ghoul Rob Halford has scoffed that it is JP’s obituary.  He says a new album is in the works, but touring like this one would be curtailed in the future.  All the more reason for the fans this night to soak it all in and they did.

“Rapid Fire”, “Metal Gods”, and “Heading Out to the Highway” rocked out of the gate where I got to photograph this tight rockin’ outfit.  Ian Hill (bass and only founding member left), Glenn Tipton (guitar) , Scott Travis (drums), and Richie Faulkner (new guitar wizard for retired K.K.Downing) did a fine job of filling in all around the roaming devil Halford.  And roam he did to the point of where is he?!   Dude was going off stage like every song and appearing in a new get up or just catching a breather I presume.

At 60 RH has lost the ability to hit all the notes and hobbles around more than prowls, but who really cared this night?   Devil horn signs pierced the air from the crowd as the huge catalog of tunes spilled out like “Never Satisfied”, “Breaking the Law”, “Painkiller”, “Hell Bent for Leather”, and killer “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”.   It was great to hear Judas Priest play some songs they haven’t played in years.  This was actually the first tour they’ve ever played “Blood Red Skies”.  However, if this was truly the last major tour for JP as they claim, “Screaming for Vengeance”, “Saints in Hell”, and “Living After Midnight” should have been played.  Most of the crowd and all metal women still love “Turbo Lover”, but for the true metal heads this song was commercial crap in 1986 and is still preventing The Priest from another chestnut from their arsenal.

But I’m not complaining about this steamy hot night in Texas.  Judas Priest is a legend in the world of hard rock and the monikor of Metal Gods will always fit them well……………..CYA out there somewhere in the LIVE music world folks!