|
At the end of the month last August one of the heaviest tours of the millennium descended upon the valleys of san bernardino. The Metal Masters Tour boasted 4 of the best and baddest metal legends from years past.
Its not everyday that you can see your favorite metal gods all in one night, but that is exactly what took place August 30th at the San Manuel Amphitheater. Straight off their past headlining tour supporting their latest full release "Formation of Damnation" The Thrash metal gods from the Bay Area, "Testament" opened up the night. I was a little disappointed in the fact that Testament only played for 45 min, but I guess they will make up for the lack of stage time on their full headlining tour next year. Either way, Testament is a band that is not to be missed!
A quick equipment change passes and the next lords of rock took the stage. With a dark cowboy hat draped slightly over his face and the mic raised up and aimed directly at his throat, Mr Motorhead himself set the crowd ablaze! With a distinctive growl and a raging hybrid of southern rock on speed, Motorhead terrorized the crowed for about an hour, before having to close their set with the fan favorite "Ace of Spades" Not bad for a technically "supporting spot" on the tour. Having rocked the earth for over 30 years Lemmy and his band of merry men have proved their warrior status and earned their place in the Valhallah of Rock and Roll. Motorhead are currently rocking the East Coast right now, and will be continuing their world domination in europe through the rest of the year, their latest album "Motorizer" is out now at fine record stores everywhere.
Waiting for the sunlight to fully subside, the stage crew scurried around behind the curtain setting up the extravagant lighting and backgrounds that encompasses "Heaven and Hell" In all honesty this was the band that I was the least happy to see. Now don't take that the wrong way, I am a DIE HARD DIO fan, and Heaven and Hell is a phenomenal band, but this would have been the 4th time I had seen them live in less than 2 years, and there's only so many times you can hear "Neon Lights" However, even though I had seen Dio, Iommi, Appice, and Butler play 3 times before, they still managed to put on a Kick ass show, and engaged the audience for the full 90 min. As much as I enjoy watching this foursome rock the stage, I long for the day that Ronnie James tours with "DIO" again. Lets have some "Holy Diver" Dio, no more "Neon Lights"!
Finally the moment we have all been waiting for has arrived, back from the grave and armed with a fresh new wardrobe, the true Masters of Metal and Pioneers of the early day Heavy Metal sound, "Judas Priest" exploded on the stage with the title track to their new 2 disc concept album "Nostradamus" With the glowing red eyes of a 15th century french prophet scouring the stage, and the wailing guitars of KK Downing, and Glen Tipton, Rob Halford sat atop his platform in a shimmering cloak that liberace would be ashamed to wear, transitioning seamlessly from baratone to tenor.
After an introductory song the leather bound quartet quickly slipped into a diverse array of old classics including such fan favorites as "Breaking The Law" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin". Pounding the crowd with harrowing bass tones and screeching guitars, and the occasional Rob Halford riding a Harley while wrapped in an American Flag. The British gods of Metal continued to rage on for around 2 hours and proved to the people of Southern California that they are the definitive answer, and the original seed of the Heavy Metal family tree. Judas Priest will be sharing their Rock with Japan in September, but should be back on tour sometime in the year 2009! If for some reason you ended up missing this tour, (which if you did you should really re-evaluate your life priorities), you better make sure that you catch them in 09! For more information visit www.judaspriest.com and be sure to go out and pick up a copy of "Nostradamus" out now in stores Everywhere!
Click on thumbnails below.
|
