Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Spin Judas Priest at Municipal Auditorium 7/22/09
Posted by The Spin on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Slideshows: Judas Priest; Whitesnake.
Arriving to last night's Judas Priest show just after 7 p.m.--prime tailgating time--we were dismayed to find the lot adjacent to Municipal Auditorium virtually empty. It was neither heavy nor metal and while we weren't expecting a scene as uproarious as a Priest show a quarter-century ago, we did expect to see something. A little let down, we made our way over to the sympathetic old arena hellbent for leather and ready to rock.
Even when we make it to a show at a reasonable hour, some sort of force majeure will manage to impede us. In the case of this show, it was a will call mix-up that resulted in a 45-minute wait to get our tickets straightened out. While this snafu caused us to miss all of opener Pop Evil's set and about half of direct support act Whitesnake's, it did provide us the perfect people-watching opportunity. Of course the lionish manes of feathered locks and bygone fashion trends of '80s hair metal and mulleted pimple-faced heshers were in full effect--albeit now donned by 45-year-olds as opposed to 20-year-olds. We were delighted to see familiar faces from Grimey's staffers to William Tyler to Chris Crofton grinning with excitement as they mingled among the metalheads. Finally our tickets were delivered to us by none other than Mark Slaughter--no joke, he was working with the promoter--and we entered the arena alongside Kip Winger.
By the time we made it into the show room--which was far from sold out--Whitesnake's two guitar players were in the midst of a shredding duel that was being filmed by every camera phone in the house. This of course led into a song that ended with a drum solo, making Whitesnake's set feel like a Sunday afternoon stroll through Guitar Center. Lead singer David Coverdale gallivanted about the stage intoning like a Medieval Times host and matching false harmonics with his squealing howls. Realizing that there was no better time and place to party than this we decided it to start double-fisting tallboys and taking whiskey shots. By the time the band busted into their monster ballad "Here I Go Again," we were singing along to the choruses with all the un-ironic gusto we could muster.
After a brief intermission it was time for the main event--Judas Priest playing their classic British Steel in its entirety. At first, we were a little miffed that the show didn't start with Rob Halford's signature Harley-ridin' stage entrance but we got over that as soon as we heard how utterly flawless the band sounded. With nary a word uttered between songs, the band plowed through the record with a precision that matched the metal god status that precedes them. Halford--who opted for bedazzled denim as opposed to leather--ruled our ears with soaring vocals over deafening guitarmonies and thundering drums. As we took in the spectacle of flashing lights, thousands of fists in the air--most doing devil horns--and the iconic image of leather-clad guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton rocking side by side in unison, we quickly realized that the experience of seeing Judas Priest "hammer out some metal" at Municipal Auditorium was one that is essential to rock 'n' roll appreciation.
The British Steel performance was followed by an array of other classics such as "The Ripper" and "Victim of Changes," each sounding as heavy as the one before. The true highlight of the show came during the encore set when Halford--now clad head to toe in shiny studded leather--finally rode the Harley on stage and led the band through a merciless version of "Freewheel Burning" that was accompanied by a visual onslaught of laser lights. As we ended the night standing on folding chairs drunkenly shouting along to the closing choruses of "You've Got Another Thing Comin' " we felt confident that we'd "lived it up" in style.
Comments (14)
Showing 1-14 of 14
A few things...
Halford NEVER drives out at the beginning of the show on the Harley. That's always been saved for the encore.
I love Judas Priest, but playing EVERY song off the British Steel Album was a bit much. While the album was somewhat influential, it was not Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" or Boston's "Boston". While I personally "kind of" remembered every song, the crowd was BORED through half of the songs on the album. I believe that's one of the reasons that there were 1,500 people there instead of 4,000.
But they did sound great.
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1500 people, really? I bet 1,500 people in Muncipal looks downright depressing. I was convinced that going last night would only tarnish the great legacy from back in the day so I opted out.
Was it the right call?
Yeah, it's why I didn't go, I sorta wanted to see 'em again but not with that contrived play-a-whole-album schitck.
There were far more than 1,500 there. There were probably somewere in the neighborhood of 5 or 6,000. The venue holds 10 or 11,000. Also, British Steel isn't even 40 minutes long, I wasn't bored at all and I'm pretty far from being a what you'd call a super-fan.
Municipal Holds about 4000 people. As of late last week they had sold about 1900 pre-sale tickets. They marked tickets down to $17.50 if you bought 4 or more late last week in an effort to get more people out. I would guess there were about 2700 people there. I am what one would call a Judas Priest super fan. Song for song British Steel is a solid record and while it's not my favorite record by Judas Priest they threw in plenty of great songs. Freewheel Burning, Diamonds and Rust, Victim of Changes, and You've got another thing coming.
Not like it's the best source but according to Wikipedia Municipal Audiorium's capacity is 9,432.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Municipal_Auditorium
This Show Rocked!!! The Venue and Security SUCK!!Front row, I could tell the bands were let down by poor attendance,But they did not let up a bit!!! THOSE WHO KEPT THE FAITH and showed up will tell you it was worth every penny.Im from out of state and let me just say that you must be too old to rock, So put your TV on CMT and enjoy?!?!?!
AWESOME SHOW
Would sell out in ALABAMA/ROLL TIDE
"Whitesnake's two guitar players were in the midst of a shredding duel that was being filmed by every camera phone in the house. This of course led into a song that ended with a drum solo, making Whitesnake's set feel like a Sunday afternoon stroll through Guitar Center."
I almost fell out of my chair.
There were about 5,500 people at the show. Priest were in rare form and sounded excellent. Nashville has become a DEAD spot on rock tours due to shitty promoters.
At least we who went got to see the show. I thought that Popevil sounded great. Bought their CD and had it signed. I have been to many concerts at Municipal in the past. Remember seeing Priest when it was standing room only. I talked to 3 different people, and not one of them were even from Nashville. What does that tell you. Crappy promoters. The people who went are just die hard rockers that stay connected via the internet and ticketmaster update emails.
It didn't seem to me like the show was poorly promoted, the promoter took out plenty of ads as well as did buy 2 get 2 free ticket deals. We all know, at this point, that Nashville is a hard place to sell out a rock show, especially one for a band who aren't terribly relevant at the moment.
In my opinion I think that the promoter could have benefited by advertising the show out in the counties and outlying areas, as that's where a lot of Priest's fans are. But for all I know they could have indeed been doing that. As far as a show that draws 5,500 people is concerned I think that Municipal was the right venue. War Memorial would've been too small and Sommet would've been too big. There were certainly enough people there to make it feel like an arena rock show.
In Los Angeles Priest are playing the the 6,189 capacity Gibson Amphitheatre (f/k/a Universal Amphitheatre) So I assume that if they plan on drawing 6,000 in a market more than 10x the size of Middle-Tennessee that 5,500 here really isn't a bad showing for us Nashvillians. Most cities do not have venues that are in the 5 to 7,000 capacity range, forcing bands to play in larger venues than what they can fill. Most of the dates on Priest's itinerary are in Sheds and I don't know how well the shows are doing but I doubt Nashville was a glaring anomaly.
Crowd looked to be of a pretty good size to me. A lot more that I figured would make it out on a Wednesday night. I mean if the crowd was as sparse as dude said, I was sure bumping into a lot of "nobodies" because the halls were congested.
Those of you who were "afraid" to go because the crowd might be too small and it would hurt your feelings; get over it, you guys are the problem. Go turn in your "cool" cards and stand in line for the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montannah shows since they sell out.
I am not saying the show wasn't promoted well but when you are sitting in a bar (from out of town), the bartender (a local) asks why we are here, we tell them, and the bartender replies "Judas Priest is playing in town....where, tonite.....really?"; a little more could have been done to promote the show locally. A group of 10 travelled from Huntsville, AL. We only found out because we are fans. I never heard one advertisement for it.
Whe I looked back though from my 2nd row seats, there were a lot more filled seats than empty ones.
just saying..........
Judas Priest kicked ass, the crowd was great- it was a good time all around. A great night of HEAVY METAL for the true in Nashville! Thankfully there were very few meat head frat boy types at this gig, where as that's ALL there were at the AC/DC show a few months ago.
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