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| Judas Priest - Epitaph 2013 |
It’s the
end of the line for Judas Priest, or so they say. Their days of grinding it out
for long stretches on the road are reportedly over. No more massive,
globe-trotting tours, like the 50-week “Epitaph World Tour,” which started in
the summer of 2011 and lasted well into 2012.
Having reached a certain age, as
most of the men of Priest have, the hours spent traveling and then performing
for hours on end can be extremely hard on the body – even if on “Epitaph,” the
blazing new live DVD from Priest, they seem just as full of piss and vinegar as
they were in their youth.
No gold
watches were handed out at this retirement party, as “Epitaph” – available on
DVD and Blu-ray – captures in breathtaking fashion Priest’s final concert from
that worldwide death march, a 23-song slog through their mountainous catalog at
London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo on May 26, 2012 that scorches the earth they have trod for years. Well
aware of the historical significance of this show, Priest takes off on a cattle
drive across a set list that includes a song from every one of their 14 studio albums
and they attack them all with equal intensity and fervor.
Amid
shooting plumes of smoke and fire, with a stage awash in vivid, colorful lighting and
backed by a wide projection screen, Priest goes for broke, aggressively charging
into killer classics like “Painkiller,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” and “Electric
Eye” with utter abandon. Working in tandem with exuberant new guitarist Richie
Faulkner, whose volcanic shredding make for simply scintillating entertainment, Glenn Tipton’s staggering riffs and searing leads are positively rabid, as “Night Crawler” – from the Painkiller LP – and “Never Satisfied,”
off 1974’s Rocka Rolla, growl with
primal menace. That magnificent wail of Rob Halford’s shows no sign of wear, as
he nails the famous scream at the end of “Beyond the Realms of Death,” from Stained Class, with deadly accuracy. And
with the crowd in a lather, Priest races through “Turbo Lover,” exhorting an
energized fan base to fill the venue with their full-throated roar – as they do
on “Breaking the Law,” where Halford turns over the vocals to the people and lets
them have their day.
Punishingly
heavy, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)” and the bulldozing “Prophesy” – the mammoth centerpiece of 2008’s Nostradamus – still
surge with unrelenting power long after the band expends a great deal of energy
plowing through Painkiller’s “Battle
Hymn” and British Steel’s “Rapid Fire” and “Metal Gods” at the start of the
evening. Priest is tireless, and although K.K. Downing is missed, Faulkner’s
vibrancy is incredibly infectious. And when Halford, stalking the stage with purpose and looking every bit the Metal God he purports to be, brings the Harley onstage for “Hell
Bent for Leather,” as is the custom with Priest, the place predictably goes
ballistic, making it all the more sad that this may be it for them as a touring
beast.
What a spectacular
sendoff “Epitaph” is, though, exciting from beginning to end and amazingly
filmed. Shot from a seemingly endless variety of angles and edited sharply, the
visuals are stunning, making the pace of the two-hour show somehow faster and
more thrilling than it ought to be, thanks to Alex Walker’s smart, dynamic direction. It’s not a stretch to say this might be one
of the finest live concert movies ever, as evidenced by a willingness to actually have it shown in movie theaters.
At the
fiery conclusion of the show closer “Living after Midnight,” Halford waves
goodbye, and it’s a wistful moment. Faulkner, on the other hand, raises his
guitar in triumph, as the band persuades Halford to come back for one last bow.
Nobody wants it to end, but it must. For one night, however, they raged against
the dying of the light and beat it back.
– Peter
Lindblad
