Zaphod's Heads: METAL GODS

Stardate 4750.8

Plays a short 2:30 minute collage of bad video and sound :D

Two words: Freaking Awesome! For instant action, click the Priest Logo for a short 2:30 minute collage of little video clips. Low quality, and the sound is brutal, but you can see a bit of what went on, even the Harley coming out! It is about 10MB so be patient :) Remember, nothign fancy either...

The concert as a whole was outstanding. I would guess at about 6500 in the 'Dome but they were loud and roudy as hell. I took 125 pictures and short vids (approx 10 to 15 seconds only) but of course, most pictures were blurry and the videos weren't great. The show was simply too loud for the puny little microphone on my digital camera. However, you can get an approximation of what it was like perhaps :D

The concert began on time and Anthrax was out first. They played for an hour and their set was awesome. Scott Ian must have a very thick neck. He stomped around headbanging for almost the entire show. Sounded great though. I really like "Medusa" and "I am the Law". Their stage was a lot smaller than when Priest came out. Their set list is as follows:

Among the Living
Got the Time
Caught in a Mosh
Madhouse
Antisocial
NFL
Indians
Medusa
I am the Law

I know, I know... CALL FOR THE PRIEST!

The lights went down, and a huge eye slowly lit up behind the stage. A red beam shot out, dancing wildly about the crowd. The opening riff of "The Hellion" blared out of the banks of speakers, and KK, Glenn and Ian came onstage. They jumped right into "Electric Eye" and right on cue, out of the center of the eye came Rob. It was really cool!

They went right into "Metal Gods" and "Riding on the Wind" before hitting on "A Touch of Evil" from the Painkiller album. Rob nailed the high end in that song especially, and though he wasn't as animated as before, he could still belt out some screams like you wouldn't believe!

Then the backdrop switched to the Angel of Retribution, and with Rob up behind the drums, flames licking the darkness before him, the band played "Judas Rising" off the new album. Scott Travis was amazing. I spent a lot of time watching him, and he NEVER missed a beat. The double bass lines were blistering and I would love to see him play with his other band, Racer X. The next song was "Revolution", also from the new album, and Rob walked both gangways, waving the "Revolution" flags and placing them at each end. It was kind of neat but that is really the only song on the new album I am not super fond of.

They played "I'm a Rocker" from the Ram It Down album and then the classic "Breaking the Law". After that though, the acoustic guitars came out, and I was expecting "Angel" but it was an amazing rendition of "Diamonds and Rust". This was one of the highlights for me I think. Super cool job there, and the "performance" from Scott Travis was great!

When that was over, they played "Worth Fighting For" from the new album which was also really good. The biggest highlight came after that though, when a gigantic disco ball lit up above the stage, and KK started the first chords of "Beyond the Realms of Death". They nailed the song, and Glenn's solo in the middle was freaking awesome live. This was my absolute favorite part of the show.

"Turbo Lover" was next, followed by the new "Hellrider". This was also a highlight for me, and features some pretty damn fast bass drumming from Scott Travis. "Hellrider" is probably my favorite song on the new album, so it was awesome to see and hear it live. After this, they did the classic "Victim of Changes" from the Sad Wings of Destiny album. Another great moment in the concert as well. More brilliant drumming from Scott Travis, and in the middle of this one, Glenn did a long bit with the crowd before finishing the song off. After that, one of my favorite songs began with more killer drumming, "Painkiller". Definately another highlight of the show.

After "Painkiller", the band left but within minutes, the snarl of the Harley could be heard, and out rode Rob before the first chords of "Hell Bent for Leather" hit us. Make sure to watch the video clips I have to see the Harley come out. Rob looked like a metal Angel in all his glitter, and they continued on with "Living After Midnight" and finally "You've Got Another Thing Comin". The whole set was probably 2 hours long, and made a hell of a show.

The only thing I missed that they didn't play was "Exciter" and something from Defenders of the Faith. I thought it was a bit odd that they didn't play "The Sentinal" or "Freewheel Burning".

Scott Travis had some cool strobe lights on his drums, that would set off when he played certain things. It was really mesmerising from where we were sitting. He is easily my favorite drummer.

The crowd was really good too. Very loud, and apart from the drunk guy just down from us that screams in half of my video clips, it was great! It felt strange seeing so many young folks there as well as the expected rockers from old. I was impressed to see such enthusiasm at any rate.