Judas Priest Brings Metalworks to San Antonio: Review and Photos

They had been screaming for vengeance. They had been breaking the regulation. They had been dwelling after midnight.

OK, the final two are lies. But Judas Priest kicked ass and took names all the identical on Tuesday at San Antonio’s Tech Port Center + Arena, their first of a two-night stand within the “Heavy Metal Capital of Texas,” as Rob Halford described it. They even had the courtesy to wrap the present simply after 11 p.m., as a result of even metallic maniacs want their magnificence relaxation.

Judas Priest is winding down the present North American leg of their 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour, however they confirmed no indicators of fatigue as they barreled by way of a career-spanning set of each hits and deep cuts that was markedly totally different than the set checklist they used in the course of the first half of 2022. Flanked onstage by towering smokestacks that paid homage to the G. & R. Thomas Ltd. foundry in Halford’s native Walsall, England, the Birmingham blokes gave an entire new that means to the phrase “metallurgists,” performing with surgical precision and pulverizing depth.

Following a muscular, career-spanning opening set by Queensryche (whose lead singer since 2012, Todd La Torre, gave Halford a run for his cash along with his glass-shattering screams on classics like “Queen of the Reich” and “Operation: Mindcrime”), Judas Priest’s onslaught started with “The Hellion / Electric Eye.” Guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap (who additionally co-produced 2018’s Firepower) lunged throughout the stage as they blasted Glenn Tipton and Okay.Okay. Downing’s epochal riffs with type and ease. Sneap took the primary dizzying solo of the night, proving he is simply as important onstage as he’s behind the blending console. And as Halford bellowed the “I’m made of metal” pre-chorus, Faulkner pointed to the scar on his chest ensuing from the a number of open-heart surgical procedures he underwent after rupturing an aorta onstage in 2021.

Like the remainder of Priest’s set, the gesture was each poignant and robust as nails.

Halford, in the meantime, appeared to nonetheless be driving the excessive from Priest’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this month. The 71-year-old frontman stalked the stage, pausing periodically to flash the satan horns on the feverish throng of roughly 3,000 followers, who fortunately reciprocated. Halford has naturally adjusted his phrasing and supply on sure songs to make them extra bearable to sing night time after night time for half a century, however his husky, mid-range growl nonetheless packs a punch, and his piercing falsetto shriek stays peerless. The latter was particularly evident on Stained Class gem “Beyond the Realms of Death” and newer cuts like 2014’s “Halls of Valhalla” and 2018’s “Firepower,” proof that getting mushy with age has by no means crossed Priest’s thoughts.

Credit additionally belongs to drummer Scott Travis, who joined Priest for the career-rejuvenating Painkiller and has lent a extra metallic edge to every successive launch along with his indefatigable double-kick work and supersonic fills. Travis and co-founding bassist Ian Hill locked right into a lurching groove on the hard-rocking “Devil’s Child” and propelled the double-bass-heavy “Judas Rising” off 2005’s triumphant reunion album Angel of Retribution.

Between driving his Harley-Davidson onstage for “Hell Bent for Leather” and sidling up subsequent to the huge, inflatable bull that dominated the stage throughout “Living After Midnight,” Halford thanked the viewers for 50 years of help. “It’s all about you. It’s always been about you,” he stated. “Without you guys, we’ve got nothing.”

A Heavy Metal Centennial Tour is perhaps a stretch, however to borrow the title of their 1986 Turbo trek, Judas Priest nonetheless has loads of Fuel for Life left within the tank.

Judas Priest, 11/22/22, Tech Port Center + Arena, San Antonio
1. “The Hellion / Electric Eye”
2. “Riding on the Wind”
3. “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”
4. “Jawbreaker”
5. “Firepower”
6. “Never the Heroes”
7. “Beyond the Realms of Death”
8. “Judas Rising”
9. “Devil’s Child”
10. “Genocide”
11. “Steeler”
12. “Between the Hammer and the Anvil”
13. “Halls of Valhalla”
14. “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)”
15. “Screaming for Vengeance”
16. “Hell Bent for Leather”
17. “Breaking the Law”
18. “Living After Midnight”