Judas Priest and Steel Panther live at Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ on October 17th, 2014

Judas Priest-17

Photos by © Dhruv Kumar and © Robert Cavuoto

Gig Review Credit: Robert Cavuoto

From the stage of the Izod Center in New Jersey, Rob Halford told the crowd that they were playing tonight in front of 7,000 Metal Maniacs!

Loyal and diehard metal heads alike arrived in full forces tonight to experience the metal meltdown put forth by the mighty Priest for a 90 minute show. The set list spanned their many of their classic molten metal songs like “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” “Metal God” and “Victim of Changes” as well as four new songs off their newest CD;, Redeemer of Souls; “Dragonaut,” “Halls of Valhalla,” “March of the Dammed,” “Redeemer of Souls.”

Richie Faulkner, the newest addition to the Priest family, seems to have injected the band with a new found energy. The interaction and comradery between the members on stage was noticeably amped. Richie’s put on a stellar performance particularly his flawless solo at the end of “You Got Another Thing Coming.” Though he and Glenn Tipton’s playing styles are different, with Tipton more on the bass end and Faulkner more on the bottom-end, lends itself nicely to the overall stereo guitar effect to provide greater depth. Their styles marry well together to provide a seamless dual guitar assault.

Halford took command of the stage and worked the crowd from side-to-side along like I have never seen before. He dazzled us with his stellar belted screams as well as his elaborate wardrobe changes on every song, from spiked and studded black leather jackets, to denim jackets to every piece of metallic metal wear possible.

The high points of the show are when he comes out on his Harley Davidson for “Hell Bent of Leather.” Hats off to Priest for putting on one hell of a show! Clearly this is just the beginning of the new Priest.

Openers Steel Panther provided their zany comedic antics joined killer riff latent songs like “Pussywhipped,” “Just Like Tiger Woods,” and my favorite “Gloryhole”. Whether you view them as a parody or rock act, they are 100% pure entertainment. These guys truly know how to rock out to great songs while getting a laugh!