Judas Priest/ Steel Panther

Steel Panther…entertaining, live…sure. Great players?...absolutely. Did they bring back catchy melodic hard rock/LA Sunset Strip influenced hair metal in the vein of Van Halen, Kiss, Ratt, Dokken, etc?...sure. But, after three albums (one other under the name Metal Shop/Skool) of ridiculous lewd and crude song titles and lyrics, the joke is over. At first, it was funny, and fun for a couple songs. But Panther have taken the exaggeration of the hair bands too far, instead showing respect for the great names, its just disrespectful. I mean just look at these song titles from tonight…’Pussywhipped’, ‘Gloryhole’, ‘Asian Hooker’, ‘Gold Digging Whore’, and ‘Party All Day (Fuck All Night)’ title alone is sooo middle school. Two of their best songs weren’t even played (and didn’t seem to be at all for this tour), ‘If You Really, Really Love Me’, and ‘Tomorrow Night’. Panther continue beating a dead horse with stupid titles and lyrics does nothing positive for the good, and great bands, who still to this day make music. Or, new young bands in this style who are trying to gain a fan base. You’d think Steel Panther would be smarter than that, to beat a dead horse? Guess not, because it wont be the Death to All but Metal, but the Steel Panther. And, with that said, bad choice of opener for Priest, just sayin. Should have given some attention to legitimate respectable band who needs the exposure in North America like Edguy, Hammerfall, Wolf, or say an overseas melodic hard rock band like Crazy Lixx or Crash Diet.

Judas Priest were seriously looking at retiring, just touring, after the Epitaph World Tour 2011–2012. But, with guitarist Richie Faulkner injecting some new energy into original members Rob Halford, guitarist Glenn Tipton, bassist Ian Hill, and longtime drummer Scott Travis, and a great response from fans at concerts, the Priest couldn’t let their fello heavy metal maniacs down. With a new album “Redeemer Of Souls’ out in 2014, and the 40th anniversary of “Defenders of the Faith”, the setlist changed a bit. Out are ‘Electric Eye’ and ‘Painkiller’, which is nice for a change. In are ‘Devil’s Child’ from “Screaming For Vengeance”, and three from (one of my favorite albums) “Defenders”; ‘Love Bite’, ‘Jawbreaker’, and show closer ‘Heavy Duty/’Defenders’. The stage production was similar to the Epitaph tour, a video screen behind the drum kit showing some graphic images like moving gears for ‘Turbo Lover’, scenes from the movie Nosferatu and cool blue lights chilled the air for ‘Love Bites’, and some firey effects for the ‘Halls of Valhalla’ which lives up to any number of Priest classics. At age 63 Halford still has the voice, maintains tone and hits plenty of the high notes, but, this is the most mobile and interactive with the audience I have ever seen Rob. Halford was in top form tonight, and regardless of grey hair Glenn and Ian still are grooving on stage. Can’t see Priest doing this live for much longer, but they can still deliver live, and the new album “Redeemer Of Souls” is solid and stands up to the classics “British Steel”, “Defenders”, “Painkiller”, “Hell Bent For Leather”, and “Sad Wings of Destiny”.