Live Review: TESTAMENT/HEAVEN AND HELL/JUDAS PRIEST (8/15/08)

Where: MOHEGAN SUN, CONNECTICUT

When: August 15th, 2008

I started off my day with some kickball. In fact, not only was this your average company outing pick up game of kickball, but it was a bloodsport. A heated game with competition rangin g from the ages of 8 to 45. Yes, we all knew this was a fun game, but the air was thick with competition, and each team was vying for the win.

….Alright, I’m full of shit. It was a pleasant, friendly game of kickball in which the kids got special treatment and all that sort of shit that happens in every game of the sort, except for the moment when I almost trampled a co-worker’s son who was running down a base that I was covering. He made the base, but I creamed into him knocking his little ass to the ground with me scrambling to not step on him which in turn caused me to fall. No competition right? Yeesh.

So around 1:30pm I paid my respects to the co-workers and the family members, blah blah blah, but all that was going through my mind was that in 5 hours, I would be seeing three of the best bands on the planet live!

Does anyone want to read about the 4 hours it took me to drive down, and the Johnny Rocket hamburger I ate while waiting for the performance to begin? I have a Garmin, so there’s no interesting “getting lost” stories. No? Okay, I’ll just skip straight to my beer guzzling experience with the Connecticut warhorses I met named Vinny and Billy.

As I pulled into the Thames parking garage and got prepared, throwing on my vest o’ patches and signatures, I heard murmurings echoing across the way on the other side of the garage. I knew they were talking about my vest, so when I turned, I was greeted with adjulations for my jacket. I sent my thanks back their way, and immediately noticed the two gentlemen I had encountered, were guzzling down a 12? 24? 30? rack of Busch. I, of course, inquired about their motivations of the tried and true method of concert going…the art of pre gaming.

The guys just gave me a smile and asked if I wanted a beer. I, being a fan of fine malt beverages, jumped at the chance to drink with a couple of metal heads in the parking garage of the Mohegan Sun. Upon accepting my first and only beer, I was introduced to the two fellas. The first, a painfully stereotypical New England Italian by the name of Vinny, and his buddy, an equally blue collared peer by the name of Billy. I couldn’t help but thinking that these guys are the most stereotypical Priest fans you can get, but my misconceptions were quickly tossed out the window as I chatted with these guys. Vinny proceeded to tell me he had seen every band on the front of my jacket (which consists of the likes of Pantera, Exodus, Metallica, Megadeth, White Zombie, Ozzy and several others), and mentioned his interest in bands lik Lamb of God and Killswitch. The three of us talked about how shitty terrestrial radio was when promoting metal, and how awesome certain bands are live.

As I finished my beer, I graciously thanked the two guys for sharing, shook hands, and made my way to the shuttle awaiting my arrival, and as I made my way to the casino, I realized that Vinny and Billy were the real fucking deal. These were hard working boys, who put down hard earned money to support the bands they love. I’m not saying others aren’t the same way, but to meet and drink with a couple of guys who have been living and breathing metal through so many eras and scenes, its nice to see the faithful never losing faith.

TESTAMENT

I am a big fan of Testament, they are thrash legends and with this being my first time seeing them live, I was quite excited to see them play. Unfortunately, because of my seats, the soothing air conditioned air, and almost vacant arena when the band started playing, I can’t say I was thrilled with the experience. Did the band rip shit up? Absolutely! In fact, the sound quality for Testament (as well as the other bands) was superb and a definite drawing point for the facility. However, seeing a gritty thrash band live requires certain prerequisites:

1. You need to be mooshed together with a bunch of sweaty metalheads either in the pit or on the edge of it. Sitting in the upper deck of an air conditioned arena in a Casino just doesn’t make for a good thrash atmosphere.

2. You need rabid fans. People wandering around an arena holding ice cold beers looking for their seats with their sons and girlfriends in toe really aren’t the type to be coming to see Testament, hence the reason 90% of the concertgoers had yet to show up in any real capacity.

3. Testament CANNOT open for a bands that are known for having arena shows! Testament is a band made for the club scene, not arenas. Once Testament was done and Heaven & Hell started, the hairs on my back (which are becoming quite numerous now unfortunately) began to stand up in anticipation to hear such legendary rockers begin their aural and visual amazingness. How can lil ole Testament hold up under that kind of scrutiny?

Testament will always have a place in many a thrasher’s heart, but they will never achieve the legendary status of Black Sabbath or Judas Priest. With that said, I hope to one day experience Testament in their full grandeur.

HEAVEN & HELL

Ever since I heard about this project, I have been itching for a chance to see these guys. I missed them on their first round of touring when they came to Montreal (back when I was living in Vermont), but this time around, I was hellbent on seeing these guys! Even if my admission had not been free, I would have gladly shelled out the 60 bucks (or more) to experience the only relevant Black Sabbath these days worth seeing live (I wouldn’t mind seeing Sabbath with Ozzy, but when the man has to read from a teleprompter, I just can’t imagine that being a very thrilling show).

The band began their set with the “The Mob Rules” and “Children of the Sea,” I immediately knew that this was going to be one of the best shows I had ever seen. I am a huge fan of Dio era Sabbath, so hearing two of the greatest heavy metal songs ever written was an experience I will never forget. For all of the numerous bands I have seen, I don’t think anything will compare to the moment when I finally got to experience Black Sabbath in the flesh. Incredible moment, bordering on a religious experience.

Despite my initial infatuation, I would have to say that the highlight of Heaven & Hell’s set was their song “I” from 1992’s Dehumanizer. On record, this song is a pretty good song, but not very memorable. However, live, I was performed with such passion and soul that it quickly rose to become their best performance of the evening. Tony Iommi was absolutely godly on this song, and I think, despite showing his age, Ronnie James Dio was in absolute premier form.

I also can’t leave Geezer Butler out of the loop. Despite all the advancements in bass playing since the 70’s, I don’t think I have ever heard an individual work a bass guitar like Geezer can. He and Iommi play their instruments with such grace and ease that it makes the rest of the world’s players look like amateurs. Ronnie introduced Tony to the crowd as “the best guitar player he had ever heard”, and at that moment in time, I’d say I would have had to agree.

This was a stellar performance, one with very few hiccups save for Dio not having the range he once had, which is completely unavoidable when you stride into your 60’s like he has. Heaven & Hell live should be an obligatory for any fan of metal to experience, you won’t be disappointed.

JUDAS PRIEST

Good fucking lord, I think I used up all of my happy words for Heaven & Hell, yet Judas Priest were the best band of the night! Many people will sit at their computers saying that Priest are washed up, overrated, and outdated with their leather clad performances. Well, until you’ve seen Priest live, you don’t have a fucking leg to stand on. I have seen Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Dio, Cannibal Corpse, Exodus and many other excellent, legendary acts known for having incredible live shows, but none of them have blown me out of the water to the degree that Judas Priest did on Friday night. Halford, unlike Dio, has not missed a beat vocally. In fact, being a fan of new music, he isn’t afraid to interject the occasional growl into classics to give them a bit more spice to the newer, casual fan who may not have experienced much of Judas Priest prior to this performance. And of course, who can forget KK Downing, Ian Hill and Glenn fucking Tipton, three of the most dynamic guitarists in all of metal. Maiden’s group of guitarists are incredible, but after seeing Priest’s chemistry and creativity, it’s hard to compare the two, at least in a live setting. Oh, and Scott Travis, the drum stick chucking skin pummeler of Judas Priest, was on par with the rest of the band, putting in an equally solid performance.

Opening up with “Nostradamus” off of their new album of the same name, I couldn’t believe how much it sounded like the record. I am a big fan of the song, and consider it to be one of the best songs of their career. Of course, the highlight of this song was Rob showing off his incredible vocal range. This song, and every song they performed that night from “Breaking the Law” to “The Green Manalishi” to “Between the Hammer and the Anvil” all sounded so much better live than on disk. Oddly enough, the weakest song of the night was “Painkiller,” which is normally one of my favorite songs. For some reason, the band seemed like they rushed through it without it receiving much care. But then again, the song is much faster and less melodic than many of their other tracks.

Once Priest ended, I won’t lie, I was emotionally and physically burnt out. After attending a cook out with my work, then driving from there to Connecticut straight for over 4 hours, and then seeing some of the best metal performances of my life…well, the day had for sure taken its toll on me.

Its funny though, while riding the shuttle back to the parking garage, I sat next to an old metalhead who had offered me a seat. As we rode along, we chatted about the concert, and I was genuinely surprised to hear that he thought Priest’s performance was definitely not the best he had seen. Apparently this guy has been going to Priest shows as often as he could for the last 20 years, and says Judas Priest is the only band he will go to see live time and time again. So for this guy to say that this was a subpar Priest performance, one in which could possibly the best live show I have ever seen, speaks volumes about how well Halford and gang has performed over the years. Much like this fellow, it’s safe to say that I will jump at the chance to see them live every chance I get, because who knows how much longer these legends, as well as Heaven & Hell, will be together.

Review by CODY