Judas Priest & Steel Panther, Redeemer of Souls tour hits Corpus Christi, Texas

Judas Priest
November 2, 2014
Concrete Street Amphitheater- Corpus Christi, TX

           Daylight savings made the sky grow darker, every walk of life was present that evening at the Concrete Street Amphitheater. The smell of leather hung thick in the air as passersby’s made their way to the main stage. Magenta lights illuminated the stage as fog quickly wisped across in vortex type of circles. The lights dimmed and Steel Panther began playing. Now, if you’re born in 1977 (even mid 80’s) like me, you grow up to “Hair Metal” & “Bubblegum Rock” bands like Mötley Crüe & Poison, Dokken; Cinderella; RATT; and dare I say Guns N’ Roses? As time goes by, our (people in general) piquancy for music changes. We tend to flow with what mainstream media forces down our throats. Everyone witnessed the shift in genres in 1991 with bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam & Nirvana. Hair Metal bands began to slowly fade away into the black void as they refuse to change with the time. Grunge, Punk, & Alternative music began taking over and few 80’s Alternative rock bands made the transition well like; Pixies; Sonic Youth; Breeders & Meat Puppets. Even fewer Hair metal bands crossed over and had a few hits in the early 90’s like Guns N’ Roses smash double CD Use Your Illusion 1 & 2… I, like many followed the change & pretty much lived it with our plaid shirts and holey/patched jeans, dreadlocks, goatees & Hacky-sacks. So now imagine how apprehensive I was when I learned Steel Panther was a modern day Hair Metal band… My aforementioned feelings couldn’t have been more wrong. The members of Steel Panther came out dawned in leopard print tights, leather vests & long flowing hair that you’d only see on Nexxus Shampoo Commercials. Steel Panther opened up with Party All Day (Fuck All Night) and instantly it felt like I stepped into a wormhole for 1987. The band rocked their Party Anthem like no other band could, and though the lyrics were hilariously funny, the music was spot on & well composed. Frontman Michael Starr owned the stage like it was nobody’s business; dashing JHW_9257stage left & stage right as he sung the lyrics to Party all day (Fuck All Night)

“When I was only three My mama said to me “Don’t go screwin’ a skanky ho, Or you’re gonna get VD” When I was seventeen I boned a kooky bitch A couple days later, my balls swelled up And my crotch began to itch” The crowd loved every bit of it, no one could hold back their laughter as the band continued playing this humorous, gut-busting hit. Directly after guitarist Satchel & frontman, Starr trolled the crowd about getting VD’s “You know what I’m talking about don’t you Mam” as Starr points to a woman in the crowd. The band went on to play Pussywhipped & dedicated it to all the men in the audience who brought their wife along with them as he sings the lyrics “We’re all getting so tired of this game, The sickness you’ve contracted has a name “Pussywhipped” Your balls don’t have a chance, Pussywhipped! Your girlfriend wears the pants” Again the crowd was left laughing so hard tears were streaming down their face. As the song ended Satchel, FoXX & Starr began to engage the crowd in more conversations of a very adult nature, trolling members of the audience and their self as we all laughed in amazement. Sharing stories of their first experience in a Ménage à trois at the age of 9; so on and so forth, insulting each other with very clever come-backs, retorts & Mama jokes as they introduced themselves to the audience… All the while FoXX stays in the background looking pretty, and making sure of it as he holds up a compact mirror bejeweled in stones barring his initials L.F. putting on Lip Gloss. After the band introduced  themselves, they continued their set ending it with Gloryhole. Gloryhole starts off hard and very reminiscent of the Glam Metal era full of Rob Halford type of vocal range from Michael Starr. Describing the Gloryhole as “You never know whats on the other side is it a Boy, or a Girl or Hermaphrodite”… The music slows down slightly and changes up a bit in the middle, sounding quite like a beautiful love song, then you realize and ask yourself “What did I just hear and why did it sound so pretty?” Steel Panther, put on one hell of a show, rocking the crowd like no other. Though the band is centered on more adult oriented material this band is surely one you don’t want to miss… I was left completely surprised and is another instance why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… In this case a band, Steel Panther… Don’t miss them!

A curtain came down over the stage as the stage hands dismembered the set piece by piece. Time flew by pretty quick. Pretty soon you hear Black Sabbath’s War Pigs playing loud over the stacks, as the audience sung along with Ozzy Osborne’s voice. The sound of crashing thunder, through the curtain you see a flash of light resembling a lightning bolt. The curtain came up and there he stood, decked out in an all-black leather trench-coat, pants & boots… The Man, the Myth; the Legend… Rob Halford of Judas Priest, larger than life and in front of my lens.

Judas Priest formed in Birmingham, England in 1969. Known for the wide operatic vocal range, and being one of the first metal bands to modernize the twin-guitar sound; Judas Priest is also known for Introducing the S&M Leather look into heavy metal. To date the Grammy award winning band has sold well over 45 million records worldwide. Judas Priest is cited as being the most influential force behind many famous Heavy Metal bands to date. Mtv has ranked them as the 2nd greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest played a 16 song set on November 2nd, 2014, in Corpus Christi, Texas… A plethora of hits both old and new, including Turbo Lover; Breaking the Law; You’ve Got Another Thing Coming & Victims of Change… Starting off their set with Dragonaut; the 1st track off Judas JHW_9656Priest’s brand new 17th studio album, Redeemer of Souls. Guitarist Richie Faulkner describes Dragonaut as “A big heavy truck of a song.” & “Just a rip-roaring ride from start to finish, unmistakably Judas Priest”. The song starts off with that twin-guitar sound that has helps to distinguish Judas Priest from the others. Right off the bat Halfords vocal range punches you in the face as he sings: “Fire in the sky paralyzed with fear you know you’re gonna die Dragonaut is near” After Dragonaut, Judas Priest played Metal Gods, 2nd track off the bands 6th studio album British Steel. British Steel produced 5 hit singles & has been certified Gold, Silver & Platinum in Sweden, UK & the USA. Of Judas Priests 8th studio album, Screaming for Vengeance; the band played Devil’s Child. Screaming for Vengeance garnered 3 singles including You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’; (Take these) Chains & Electric Eye, selling over 5 million copies worldwide and went double platinum.

Judas Priest kicked ass all night long sounding better than ever before throwing hits down like Victim of Changes; Halls of Valhalla, Love Bites, March of the Damned; Turbo Lover & the title-track single Redeemer of Souls. Rob Halford’s voce kept kicking teeth in hit after hit, relentlessly with Beyond the Realms of Death; Jaw Breaker & hit single that quickly became their signature hit, Breaking the Law. Breaking the Law was often sung by the Mtv cartoon misfits Bevis & Butthead. The crowd sang along with Halford word-for-word as if they wrote it themselves. Feeling every inch of the song, the crowd could have very easily done Halford’s job for him. Directly after, Judas Priest played Hell Bent for Leather & continued on driving the audience wild with You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ & Living After Midnight, Bringing the house down with Defenders of the Earth and ended the night with Beginning of the End as the curtains came down on the band. The audience in attendance went wild giving Rob Halford & Judas Priest a standing ovation as the band had knocked Corpus Christ, Texas & the Concrete Street Amphitheater dead yet again. Never a disappointment when seeing Judas Priest live. Make sure this tour is marked down on your calendars for a city near you as it is a not miss show. Judas Priest, Redeemer of Souls is on it’s way!

Review by: Jared Wingate 

Judas Priest

Steel Panther