Monday, September 20, 2021 will go down in history as a legendary evening for heavy metal in Chicago. Besides some 80s thrash band playing a surprise club show, roughly 10 miles away in the nearby suburb of Rosemont, Judas Priest celebrated their 50th anniversary with the set of a lifetime. Now even if you’re a casual reader of this site, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out my over the top, borderline unhealthy obsession with Priest. Hell, we’re named after their 1984 album! So when it FINALLY came time for them to play the Rosemont Theatre (this show was originally planned for last year), yours truly refused to sit anywhere other than first row.
After an hour plus of schmoozing in the lobby with friends and fellow fans alike, I made my way to my exclusive seat and was taken aback. I was touching the stage! The Metal Gods would be right in front of me in all their glory. At around 8:55 PM, Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” played over the speakers and the crowd began to singalong. In recent years, this has become Priest’s intro music, the same way Iron Maiden’s is “Doctor Doctor” by UFO. The house lights then went out and you could feel the electricity. A massive lighting rig in the shape of the Priest cross that dates back to Sad Wings of Destiny made its way from the top of the stage, beaming blind rays of light into the crowd.
Suddenly, the band took the stage with a ripping rendition of the Painkiller classic, “One Shot at Glory”. As Rob Halford flawlessly hit the top of his vocal range during the lyric, “I still heart the battle cry. The call goes on and on. I still see the banners fly. The battle’s always won.”, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “How is this man 70 years old?” It’s a near impossible task for people half his age to sing half as well. To be hitting every last shriek and scream perfectly at 70 years old isn’t just unnatural, but inhuman. Halford reminded us all why he is the Metal God, as he blazed through “Victim of Changes”, “Hell Patrol”, “Freewheel Burning”, “Painkiller”, and countless other vocal cord shredding hymns.
Besides Halford, the rest of the band were razor sharp as well. The guitar duo of Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap have shown much growth from the Firepower Tour. Upon Glenn Tipton’s retirement from touring due to Parkinson’s, there was much skepticism whether Priest could carry on live without the six string duo that put them on the map. Faulkner and Sneap proved last night that they could, faithfully playing those classic Tipton/Downing riffs and solos in unison. Holding it all down was the rhythm section of powerhouse drummer Scott Travis and founding bassist Ian Hill. Together, the band played with such precision that there was not a flaw to be heard.
I heard some in the crowd asking, “Why didn’t they play *insert classic song here*?” For Priest to honor every request, it would easily be a 5+ hour show. That said, I feel they did an excellent job touching on as many albums and eras as they could in the 2 hours they had. Practically no stone was left unturned. They went as far back as the title track of their 1974 debut, Rocka Rolla, all the way up to “Lightning Strike” from their latest album, Firepower (2018), and everywhere in between. This may be Priest’s 50th anniversary tour, but from the sights and sounds of last night’s show, they’re far from finished. One could even say they have “Fuel for Life”!
Setlist
- “One Shot at Glory”
- “Lightning Strike”
- “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”
- “Freewheel Burning”
- “Turbo Lover”
- “Hell Patrol”
- “The Sentinel”
- “A Touch of Evil”
- “Rocka Rolla”
- “Victim of Changes”
- “Desert Plains”
- “Blood Red Skies”
- “Invader”
- “Painkiller”
Encore
- “The Hellion / Electric Eye”
- “Hell Bent for Leather”
- “Breaking the Law”
- “Living After Midnight”
Was a pleasure to see every minute of it, my friend 🤘