Concert Review: Judas Priest at ACL Live: metal legends maintain their power in epic set at the Moody Theater.

For metal fans in the state capital, this week was a special one. UK metal icons Judas Priest were in town to perform not one, but two sold-out nights in a row at the ACL Moody Theatre. And the anticipation at Tuesday’s show was palpable as fans awaited the band to take the stage.

After a punchy, well-received set by classic rockers Uriah Heep, the band emerged to the strains of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs before launching into Necromancer off last year’s critical and commercial hit album Firepower, with vocalist Rob Halford emerging in a purple lamé ensemble complete with top hat and a skull topped cane.

The opening track proved a harbinger for a band not worried about overly courting nostalgia to satiate their fanbase.

Indeed, any fans hoping for a greatest hits tour had another thing coming (pun intended). The band eschewed several classic tracks (including, surprisingly, Another Thing Coming) in exchange for deep cuts and more recent material.

This made second number Head Out To The Headway an exception to the rule, but it brought out devil horns in abundance with Halford prowling about the stage and crouching toward the audience every time he hit a clarion call high note.

But you’d find nary a fan who felt shortchanged, because this was a set by a band still at the peak of their powers, as evidenced on powerful contemporary numbers like Judas Rising and Halls of Valhalla.

In fact, when the group did delve into older terrain on songs like Starbreaker and Victim of Changes (both showstoppers)  it shows how the band has slowly morphed from ballsy hard rockers to intricately bruising metallers, and the band’s latest lineup were ably adept at crossing between all their varied stylistic shifts over the decades.

Richard Faulkner and touring guitarist Andy Sneap (subbing for guitarist Glenn Tipton who abstains from touring due to health issues) were in searing six-string fashion throughout, firing off incendiary riffs and solos on tracks like the aforementioned Changes, the moody hook-laden Spectre and strident No Surrender.

Halford was the star of the show however, the man of a 1000 leather jackets (I lost track of his costume changes), lending a camp presence that still remains wonderfully subversive.

His voice remains a potent instrument, and his ability to hit high notes at 67, isn’t just to be commended, it goes against nature. He was genetically engineered to be a metal god, putting many of his peers to shame.

After a pulverizing rendition of All Guns Blazing, the band returned for an encore which finally gave fans a deep dish of old school faves (Hell Bent For Leather, Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight), topped by Halford riding on stage in a motorcycle (a concert tradition). Embracing past, present and future, Judas Priest put metal bands half their age to same, and provided one of the most chill-inducing live sets I’ve witnessed in recent memory.

Set-list

Necromancer
Heading Out to the Highway
The Sentinel
Spectre
(Take These) Chains
Judas Rising
Out in the Cold
Traitors Gate
Starbreaker
Steeler
Halls of Valhalla
Prelude
Tyrant
No Surrender
Victim of Changes
All Guns Blazing

Encore:
Hell Bent for Leather
Breaking the Law
Living After Midnight