-Jar-
05-31-2005, 01:05 PM
I saw Judas Priest and Queensryche last night on the first date of their summer tour in Cleveland. This was the first time I'd seen either band.
Queensryche did quite a few older numbers, even going back to the first ep ("Queen of the Reich/Night Rider"), a few from WARNING ("En-force","Take Hold of the Flame" and "NM156"), a few from RAGE FOR ORDER ("The Whisper," "Neue Regal," and "Screaming In Digital") and one each from MINDCRIME and EMPIRE (though, not "Jet City Woman" or "Silent Lucidity" interestingly).. Also they did a few newer songs that I didn't know. It was a nice set overall.. Goeff's voice seemed pretty good, but not great, he had some canned backing vocals so it sounded like he was singing with himself at times. The sound was a nice, but the drums were muddy, but they always sound muddy at Blossom.
Priest came out, as predicted, with "The Hellion/Electric Eye" then into "Metal Gods" then back to "Riding On the Wind" .. nice opening to a decent set, but not outstanding. The good thing was, I was back on the lawn so you can't really tell that they're a bunch of older dudes. There were times I could almost imagine it was 1984 instead of 2005. But, there were all these new songs they played. Now, I'm not against a band pushing new material, but at this point in the game, they've got to know that the new album is NOT why people are there to see the band. Iron Maiden knew it, they played ONE song off the new album on their last tour.. It's not like it was back in 1984, when EVERYONE knew EVERY WORD to the new album because they all bought it the day it came out. So you *wanted* to hear the new stuff. I don't think a lot of people wanted to hear the new stuff last night. Plus there were other odd choices.. "I'm a Rocker" and "Turbo Lover" ?? Why on earth did they played those when they could have been playing "Desert Plains" and "Jawbreaker" ?? Not one song off DEFENDERS. To their credit they did great versions of "Beyond the Realms of Death," "Exciter" and "Victim of Changes" and a cool "unplugged" version of "Diamonds and Rust".. the individual playing was great, awesome solos, but the overall sound was a little congested.. Of course, they closed with "Living after Midnight" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" with the whole sing-along thing. Very predictable. Rob is in great voice, but, I don't know, he looked a little bored. Hopefully his voice will hold up, but you could tell there were times he was holding back, though he did hit the big screams when he needed to. The guy probably has a lot of singing to do this summer. The mix was muddy, as it was with Queensryche.. couldn't really avoid that. I was not paying $35+ to sit in the pavillion to get a little better sound.
Overall, I'm glad I went, but wasn't blown away. Of course, I'm 35 and not 15.. that probably made a big difference.
-jar
Queensryche did quite a few older numbers, even going back to the first ep ("Queen of the Reich/Night Rider"), a few from WARNING ("En-force","Take Hold of the Flame" and "NM156"), a few from RAGE FOR ORDER ("The Whisper," "Neue Regal," and "Screaming In Digital") and one each from MINDCRIME and EMPIRE (though, not "Jet City Woman" or "Silent Lucidity" interestingly).. Also they did a few newer songs that I didn't know. It was a nice set overall.. Goeff's voice seemed pretty good, but not great, he had some canned backing vocals so it sounded like he was singing with himself at times. The sound was a nice, but the drums were muddy, but they always sound muddy at Blossom.
Priest came out, as predicted, with "The Hellion/Electric Eye" then into "Metal Gods" then back to "Riding On the Wind" .. nice opening to a decent set, but not outstanding. The good thing was, I was back on the lawn so you can't really tell that they're a bunch of older dudes. There were times I could almost imagine it was 1984 instead of 2005. But, there were all these new songs they played. Now, I'm not against a band pushing new material, but at this point in the game, they've got to know that the new album is NOT why people are there to see the band. Iron Maiden knew it, they played ONE song off the new album on their last tour.. It's not like it was back in 1984, when EVERYONE knew EVERY WORD to the new album because they all bought it the day it came out. So you *wanted* to hear the new stuff. I don't think a lot of people wanted to hear the new stuff last night. Plus there were other odd choices.. "I'm a Rocker" and "Turbo Lover" ?? Why on earth did they played those when they could have been playing "Desert Plains" and "Jawbreaker" ?? Not one song off DEFENDERS. To their credit they did great versions of "Beyond the Realms of Death," "Exciter" and "Victim of Changes" and a cool "unplugged" version of "Diamonds and Rust".. the individual playing was great, awesome solos, but the overall sound was a little congested.. Of course, they closed with "Living after Midnight" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" with the whole sing-along thing. Very predictable. Rob is in great voice, but, I don't know, he looked a little bored. Hopefully his voice will hold up, but you could tell there were times he was holding back, though he did hit the big screams when he needed to. The guy probably has a lot of singing to do this summer. The mix was muddy, as it was with Queensryche.. couldn't really avoid that. I was not paying $35+ to sit in the pavillion to get a little better sound.
Overall, I'm glad I went, but wasn't blown away. Of course, I'm 35 and not 15.. that probably made a big difference.
-jar