Gig: Judas Priest @ BEC 10/9/08

Written on the 16th of September 2008 by Gav

Put it down to bad promotion, expensive tickets, or the late withdrawal of the mighty Cavalera Conspiracy – whatever the case, it was an awkward feeling walking into an eerily quiet BEC to see half the stadium curtained off. Whoever picked Dead Letter Circus as openers either hadn’t heard their music before or has one sick sense of humour. Brilliant sure, but heavy metal they ain’t, and didn’t the crowd let them know it. You could hear a pin drop between songs, and then the heckling began. The Brisbane four-piece gave it back to the crowd – frontman Kim Benzie at one stage suggesting an impromptu mullet competition – and despite their unsuitability, the band sounded huge through the BEC sound system and their performance suggested they will be more than at home on the big stage when their time comes.

Melbourne five-piece Electric Mary were a much more appropriate support. Their Aussie pub rock – complete with lengthy guitar and drum solos – went down a treat with the crowd and no doubt won them plenty of new fans.

The suitably epic ‘Dawn of Creation’ intro from Priest’s newly released ‘Nostradamus’ opus sounded monstrous, as did Tipton and Downing’s opening riffs to ‘Prophecy’. ‘Death’ was the only other cut to be aired from said album; the rest of the night saw the band attempt to span as many choice cuts from their 35 year history as possible. It was embarrassing watching one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time playing their first-ever Australian show with Rob ‘Metal God’ Halford to such a tiny crowd. Fortunately this didn’t keep the band from pulling out all the stops. Halford hammed it up with numerous costume changes and his trademark stage-stomping moves, even pulling out the Harley for encore standout ‘Hell Bent for Leather’. Australian metalheads have been spoilt in 2008, with Iron Maiden’s recent tour still fresh in our minds. The only problem with this is it set a very high standard, and one that Priest couldn’t quite match. Tipton, Downing and Ian ‘Concrete Feet’ Hill are some of the finest players to ever pick up an axe, but compared to Harris, Smith, Murray and Gers, their stage presence is somewhat lacking.

Halford is (understandably) showing signs of ageing. Whereas Dickinson was a ball of constant energy, his voice in perfect pitch, the ‘Metal God’ often appeared lost for breath and his performance was heavily processed and noticeably aided by a backing tape. Scott Travis was also slightly off his game, dropping many attempted stick twirls – at one point he had to get up off his throne to retrieve more sticks after running out – but more than made up for it with his pummeling of the kit during ‘Painkiller’.  Despite these minor complaints, classics such as ‘Metal Gods’, ‘Breaking the Law’, ‘Electric Eye’ and ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’ were lapped up by the small but passionate crowd of young and old fans. ‘Living After Midnight’ was a noticeable omission, but kind of apt considering the slightly weary version of Priest on display – plus, most of the crowd (and the band) were probably tucked into bed well before 12 (Gav).