Priest Feast - 21st February Wembley Arena

So here we are - two days later, ears just about stopped ringing from Thursday night to the first Priest Feast. Sadly no ice creams of the same name on sale (marketing ploy missed there) but a three band heavyweight bill of Testament, Megadeth and Judas Priest.Back of the venue curtained off and with some of the other dates on the tour moved to smaller venues, this is not too bad a turn out.

First up - Testament. The backdrop over the amps was bigger than the whole one they had up in Oxford. Played for 40 mins with Over The Wall, Souls Of Black, DNR, More Than Meets The Eye, The Formation Of Damnation and the Godly Practice What You Preach all played. To hear PWYP played twice in 2 nights - well it doesn''t get a lot better.

Megadeth I haven't seen in years and was looking forward to it. A large clock counting down the 1 hour set time was distracting.With James Lomenzo (ex White Lion on bass)and Chris Broderick(geetar)being the latest incarnation of the band. They managed to play 12 songs in their set. Dave Mustaine looked well and played more lead geetar than I could remember. An early Wake Up Dead was excellent and benefiting from a great sound. Half way through they appeared to flick a switch and go from great to fab. In My Darkest Hour started it and then went through Symphony Of Destruction (what a riff), Skin Of My Teeth, Hangar 18, Peace Sells and an encore of Holy Wars. They got a fantastic response which was thoroughly deserved. Broderick is a great geetarist just needs a little better stage presence.Very, very good.

So onto Priest. I had read some poor reviews saying Rob Halford was using a stick, didn't move and sounded terrible. They came on to Prophecy off of the new Nostadamus epic. Sound's loud and clear and Rob pops up at the back in a bacofoil jacket(one of about 20 he changes into over the 100 minute set)like a heavy metal toaster. Synchronised head banging from KK Downing, Glenn Tipton and Ian Hill, with Scott Travis knocking the crap out of his kit all was well. They played Metal Gods, Eat Me Alive, Between The Hammer And The Anvil, Devils Child, Breaking The Law, Hell Patrol, Death(again off the new cd with Rob coming out on a throne and walking round with a stick - it was part of the show you idiots!!), Dissident Aggressor, Angel(off the last cd and the only slowy on the night and very good)The Hellion/Electric Eye(strange to see it in the middle and not at the start) Rock Hard Rock Free, Sinner and Painkiller. They came back for Hell Bent For Leather with Rob on his Harley making an appearance,Green Manilishi(love it)and ended with You Got Another Thing Coming. Stories of their demise are greatly exaggerated. Rob sounded better and moved more than the last tour 3 years ago and all the band were superb. Playing a very different set makes you realise how many great songs they have in their armoury and how long they have been around. So... value for money and a great night out.

America has had these 3 band bills for a while and it is good we in the UK are now seeing it too. 10/10 ME

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