Written by Dave Clements

A strong front came through the Woodlands earlier this weekend and I think put summer behind us (at least for a few days). This night was a beautiful Fall evening with lots of comfort and music in the air. And we are talking Heavy Medal music in the form of Corrosion of Conformity, Judas Priest and the one and only Alice Cooper.

Corrosion of Conformity is not new to the stage. These guys have been around since the early Eighties, getting their start in Raleigh, North Carolina. They started, as I understand it, as a hardcore punk band but later moved towards a slower and blues-tinged heavy metal sound. The heavy metal sound is what we got this Sunday night at The Pavilion, and plenty of it!

I was impressed with them even though their music was totally unfamiliar to me. Although there were many empty seats for their set those in attendance seemed to be locked into what these four guys were doing just after the sunset on the back side of the lawn seats.

Before going on about the music I need to add that the likely reason there weren’t more people in their seats is because they were at one of the two merch tents waiting in line to buy another black tee shirt. They were at times a hundred people deep snaking their way towards the tent/s. I know for sure that they weren’t going to buy their first black concert tee shirt because all but a handful of patrons in the venue were wearing black! (And as an aside the only color shirts on sale were, you got it, black!)

Now back to the music. After watching COC, as everyone referred to them, I’d call these guys the grandfathers of heavy metal, not because they originated it but because they were, just like me, old, all hair seen on stage was gray, actually very gray. That didn’t, by any means, impact their performance. They were high energy during their seven-song set, and I honestly liked their show a lot but nothing like the two acts that followed.

Although I have never been a fan of heavy metal I have for a very long time wanted to see this band, Judas Priest. Not sure exactly why but I thought they would be fun to photograph at a minimum and as stupid as it sounds I really thought their name was intriguing.

When JP hit the stage I quickly became speechless. I had no idea the quality of the show they were going to bring this night to the thousand in attendance, who were now all in their seats, extra black tee shirt in hand.

These guys have been doing this ‘heavy metal thing’ for many decades now since their start in Birmingham, England in 1969. And I hasten to add they do it right, every second they are on stage. With album sales of over 50 million, they are often ranked as one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time. Knowing that is of no surprise after watching them perform for 75 minutes to an extremely energetic crowd that were soaking it all in.

Did I mention that soaking it all in was no easy task? It hardly took the first three songs and I was totally getting them!

Their front guy Robert John Arthur Halford is special. He is very theatrical and more importantly quite a vocalist. He helped me understand very quickly why they are recognized as so very special in the world of heavy metal. Rob is over the top good but so is the entire band, the entire show, the lighting, the videos, the movement on stage, the clothing, the props (especially the motorcycle) and the enthusiasm to entertain are all special. The songs, didn’t matter, at least to this reviewer, because the Judas Priest Experience was just super special.

Maybe you will see a little bit of what I’m talk about in my photos, but I am fairly certain I didn’t capture ‘The Experience’ of the show.

Go see Judas Priest, if you haven’t seen them, heavy metal fan or not! Enough said…

Before moving on Rob shared that in the last 24 months they have played to 1.2 million fans around the world, traveled over 125k miles an eaten over ten thousand pizzas.

Mr. Shock Rock looked like he couldn’t wait to hit the stage. Although I was excited to see him again I was more excited to see if Nita Strauss was on this tour with Cooper. Thank goodness SHE WAS!!!!

Have you seen her before? She is special… actually beyond. When she is on the stage it is painful to decide…do I shoot THE HEADLINER Alice or his crazy good, and crazy good looking guitar player Strauss? Cooper or Strauss, my only hope is for them to come together and shoot them both at the same time. If you go to the HMR Photo Gallery you can see how I did.

Alice’s set was all you could hope, just sad to be on a Sunday evening. Cooper is a Saturday night sort of guy and following JP cannot be an easy task when you are starting your 23-song set at 9:40 pm. That said, he pulled it off beautifully. With the help of his friends on stage all frequently coming together side by side on a front stage riser. I think I got some good shots but I would describe Cooper as the band of a million photos, if they would let you take them. They actually limited us to the first four songs.

What can I say about this showman that hasn’t been said before? He enjoys what he does, he does it well and he is very creative in how he does it. His visuals are nothing like those at The Sphere in Las Vegas but they are still quite excellent. Everything he does on stage reeks of professionalism and planning – and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be there and enjoy this great night of music.

If I had to be critical of anything it would be that I think the tour tried to share with Houston two great nights of music in one night. I felt like trying to enjoy and absorb Judas Priest was all this music lover could do. I would have gladly come back another night to absorb the King of Shock Rock all by himself!

Until next time, please help keep live music alive.

dwc

PS I almost forgot to mention that in the middle of the Judas Priest show the band put a visual up of artists we have lost – in essence to pay tribute to their accomplishments. The artists included Freddie

Mercury, Janis Joplin, Ace Frehley, Christine McVie, Chris Cornell, Ronnie James Dio and Ozzy Osbourne (and I am missing a few..).