Judas Priest

support In Flames
author MS date 23/02/05 venue Valby Hallen, Copenhagen, DEN

Okay, so I had never actually heard anything by Judas Priest, but as soon as In Flames signed on as support band for them, there was no doubt. I had to go. In Flames, swedish melo-death at it's very best, have not played in Denmark since 2000, which was the first time, and they are one of my personal favourites. This was the first show of the Judas Priest World Tour 2005.

In Flames

As we entered the hall, the artwork of In Flames newest album "Soundtrack to your Escape" was on the back wall of the stage. At about 20:00 the band entered the stage, and opened with the first single of the new album; "The Quiet Place". Very good opener actually, starting with a moody intro, and then a hard breakdown. Lemme tell you, Frid?n's voice is incredible live. Some of the screams he delivers are absolutely amazing.

Now the crowd was of course mostly Judas Priest fans, and since they are an oldschool heavy metal, going back over 30 years, most of the crowd were middle aged men with leather vests and tatoos. Not excactly the type of people who listen to In Flames, so in the beginning the crowd was mostly just chilling. Between songs,

Frid?n adressed the crowd in sweedish, and though my sweedish is not what it has been (:P), I did understand his praise for Carlsberg. Later on, when In Flames started playing some of the old classics like "Episode 666", "Pinball Map" and "Embody The Invisible", the crowd really hit it off, and was at it's peak when the heavy introriff of "Only For The Weak" errupted. The small group of In Flames fans in the front of the crowd went completely nuts, jumping and moshing. They finished off with their newest single "Touch Of Red", and then what in my oppinion is the best track from the new album; "My Sweet Shadow". That one really got the crowd going too.

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Judas Priest

In Flames played for a total of about 50 minutes, and when they finished, we were busted and went to get some water, whereafter we sat at the tribunes in the back of the hall to watch Judas Priest.

They started the show with a red spotlight emerging from a black entrance on stage, scanning over the crowd. The band then entered the stage, and the lead singer emerged from the entrance.

Troughout the show, he walked around on the set as though it was planned. They had elevators on the side of the stage which he popped up and down of, and he sometimes wielded big Judas Priest flags, which he waved around alot. He was wearing a leather jacket with laces of leather flapping after him. His voice was very penetrating and suited the music well, which most of all reminded me of Manowar or Iron Maiden. Leather Metal or Power Metal. The whole band, of course, had long hair except for the singer who was bald. They had a very typical 80's metal look. They had two guitarists, which together with the bassist often moved synchronically, waving their guitars up and down to the beat, and headbanging. Looked very cool to some of the slow Doom Metal-like beats they had.

The lighting was very cool and fittet the music well, with stroboscope lights making the drummer look like he was drumming slow motion. Between songs, you could hear the crowd chanting "PRIEST!, PRIEST!, PRIEST!...", very similar to Iron Maiden concerts when the crowd chants "MAIDEN!, MAIDEN!...", and when they played their most famous track "Breaking the Law", the singer made the crowd sing the chorus; "Breaking the law, breaking the law". The crowd in general during the concert were very orderly, not moshing, hardly any jumping, but of course lots of metal horns in the air.

Now for the encore, the lead singer rode an MC onto the stage. I Couldn't make out the brand, but I'm pretty sure it was a Harley. It's their image. This was very similar to Manowars "Warriors of the World tour" in 2002, where they rode three Harley's onto the stage for the encore.

All in all, it was a great concert, although some of the songs started sounding a little alike through the end of the show, but I guess that always happens when you don't know any of them. For a band that has more than 30 years on their back, it was a good performance.

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Setlist:

  • 1. The Hellion
  • 2. Electric Eye
  • 3. Metal Gods
  • 4. Riding on the Wind
  • 5. The Ripper
  • 6. A Touch of Evil
  • 7. Judas Rising
  • 8. Revolution
  • 9. Hot Rockin'
  • 10. Breaking the Law
  • 11. I'm a Rocker
  • 12. Diamonds & Rust (acoustic)
  • 13. Deal With the Devil
  • 14. Hellrider
  • 15. Beyond the Realms of Death
  • 16. Exciter
  • 17. Victim of Changes
  • 18. Green Manalishi
  • 19. Painkiller

---- Encore ----

  • 20. Hell Bent for Leather
  • 21. Living after Midnight
  • 22. You've Got Another Thing Comin'

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