On September 29, 2018, my brother and I were able to go see Judas Priest at Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, California. As huge metal fans at a nearly sold-out outdoor concert, the anticipation could not be more palpable. To our surprise, Judas Priest came on first. Decked out in metal gear and rocking relentlessly from song to song, the best performances remain entrenched in my memory. “Firepower” from their new album of the same name was very metal and showed that they had not lost their musical acumen at all. But even more rousing was “Another Thing Coming,” one of a series of bad-ass metal anthems sure to melt one of Hillary’s snowflakes. The signature song “Breaking the Law” brought the crowd to its feat, a gesture of rebelliousness and strength that rang through the auditorium. My other favorite was “Living After Midnight,” an atmospheric song that encapsulates my world view. I was enthralled with the band and the song set; unfortunately the stage visuals and sound were not quite as amazing as they could have been. The stage had too much fog on it, making the band somewhat difficult to see and almost impossible to photograph. The sound seemed a bit subdued in my opinion, not being properly deafening and with the lyrics to these and other excellent songs being a bit muffled. However, overall this was an amazing set, well worth the effort to go see and something that every metal-head can get into.
