Heavy Metal, Harley’s and Hellfire! Heavy Metal Legends Judas Priest, Saxon and Uriah Heep Tear Up The Stage at Wembley Arena on the Final UK Date of Their ‘Metal Masters’ Tour!!

Heavy Metal, Harley’s and Hellfire! Heavy Metal Legends Judas Priest, Saxon and Uriah Heep Tear Up The Stage at Wembley Arena on the Final UK Date of Their ‘Metal Masters’ Tour!!

Never a band to disappoint, when ‘Judas Priest’ decided to tour with their new album, ‘Invincible Shield’ they weren’t doing it alone, hell no!! Because tonight not only were Birmingham’s finest, the mighty Priest tearing up at the stage at the iconic Wembley Arena, but they were bringing along two other legendary bands for the ride! The amazing Saxon, fronted by the Earl of new wave heavy metal Biff Byford, a man with a voice that just doesn’t seem to age and heavy metal heroes Uriah Heep! Byford rang true to the age-old heavy metal law of once a headbanger, always a headbanger and the audience headbanged with him! When Byford announced that Saxon were to headline the prestigious ‘Stonedead Festival’, the audience exploded into excited applause and it wasn’t hard to see why!!

Saxon did a phenomenal job of warming up the crowd, so much so that when ‘Judas Priest’ hit the stage, the crowd were already a mass of headbanging rockers reliving their early heavy metal dream and creating new ones!

But even before Saxon took to the stage, Uriah Heep cooked up a storm where despite their early stage time, they played to an already packed venue full of excited headbangers! Despite the lack of stage lighting, they delivered a stellar seat of their much-loved tracks, the best of which was undoubtedly ‘Gypsy’ which went down an absolutely storm! Vocalist Bernie Shaw’s vocals in the much loved, ‘Free ‘n’ Easy’ were absolutely astounding!!

Judas Priest

Rob Halford has always been one hell of a frontman, a true original!! Notorious for his signature studs and leather, a style that has become synonymous with heavy metal the world over, but of course Halford did it first and better than anyone else and tonight was no exception for despite his advancing years, Halford looked like a man born to wear leather! You don’t get more heavy metal than this!! But looks aside, what blew me away was Halfords magnificent voice, it was crystal clear and so powerful as he belted out Priest Classics like ‘Breaking The Law’ and ‘Turbo Lover’, that if you closed your eyes, it was like you were back in 1979!! This was all the more impressive in a venue which normally sounds more like a tin box than a top-class music venue! And all this was made even better by Priests dramatic entrance onto the stage, where as the sound of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs ran out across the venue, and the guitar riffs filled the air, a huge tapestry fell to the ground and Halford dramatically stormed onto the stage as the atmosphere in the venue went apocalyptic! But even the roars of appreciation from the audience couldn’t drown out the vocals of the God of Metal and his four horsemen of the apocalypse!

Although this tour has been billed as to promote the new album, their die-hard fans weren’t about to be disappointed as their killer set was literally bursting with Priests classics such as, the mind-blowing ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’ which blew the audience away! Now whilst Priests classic material as expected went down an absolute storm, it’s undeniable just how strongly the tracks from their new album stood beside their classic material, especially their first track of the night, the outstanding, ‘Panic Attack’. An absolute killer of a track!! If you haven’t heard it, do it now!!

Other tracks like the title track off the album, ‘Invincible Shield’ and ‘Crown of Horns’ were like heavy metal magic! The kind of tracks you just know will become the new heavy metal classics! Could this be their best album to date? If tonight’s tantalising glimpse is anything to go by then it’s looking rather likely!!

Priests’ line-up was outstanding as always, with Rob Halford on lead vocals, Ian Hill on bass, Scott Travis on drums, Richie Faulkner on guitar and Andy Sneap on guitar. But a special mention has to go to axe-wielding maniac Faulkner, who was the epitome of what a rock guitarist should be as he detonated his flying V, a heavy metal crusader, he was a formidable force of rock!

The audience was heaving with rockers of all ages, not just the original fans, but youngsters, everyone, literally everyone in the auditorium was rockin’ out to the mighty Priest!! Their showmanship was absolutely mind-blowing!

During the encore, Priest welcomed Glenn Tipton onto the stage for the balls to wall ‘Metal Gods’ and their breathtaking finale of the night ‘Living After Midnight’! And if this wasn’t amazing enough, before launching into ‘Living After Midnight’, Halford left the stage and returned on a Harley Davidson with his signature cane clamped between his teeth much to the thrill of an already ecstatic crowd!!

When Priest left the stage at the end of the night there was a feeling that we’d all witnessed something unforgettable, the kind of night that will become part of heavy metal folklore, something that we’ll talk about for years to come!! Three legendary bands, one iconic venue and the kind of music that takes your breath away and makes you want to rock like no ones watching!

Photos and Review by Louise Phillips Music Photography

Judas Priest

Saxon

Uriah Heep