By Christopher David<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you ready for some Judas Priest-style heavy fucking metal<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n A question that every fan of classic hard rock and heavy metal loves to hear, and coming from the one and only Rob Halford\u2019s mouth, the answer was obvious on Friday night during Judas Priest\u2019s Chicagoland stop.<\/p>\n Taking the stage to new album opener \u201cFirepower,\u201d Halford led the quintet through a fiery ninety minutes of new tunes, fan favorites, and deep cuts sure to please the most diehard fans.\u00a0Firepower<\/em> continues Priest\u2019s more recent entrenchment into heavier (though no less accessible) rock – think 1990\u2019s Painkiller<\/em> as opposed to 1986\u2019s poppier, more polished Turbo<\/em> – and new songs \u201cLightning Strike\u201d and \u201cEvil Never Dies\u201d easily justified their place in the setlist (though obvious choice and single \u201cNo Surrender\u201d was missing from the night\u2019s festivities). \u201cSome Heads Are Gonna Roll,\u201d a choice cut from 1984\u2019s Defenders of the Faith<\/em>, was a highlight of the night, and if the first half of the set went deeper into the catalog, the night ended with a salvo of Priest\u2019s best known hits.<\/p>\n Halford\u2019s presence is larger than life\u2014as it always has been\u2014but the quality of his both his voice is astonishing at a point when many of his contemporaries have fallen by the wayside.<\/p>\n At 66, it\u2019s hard not to feel like he\u2019s just getting started, and guitarists Richie Faulkner (as much a rock star as a rock star gets) and Andy Sneap certainly support the notion that the band could continue as long as Halford wants it to. Much has been made of Glenn Tipton\u2019s absence (Sneap was brought in earlier this year after Tipton\u2019s acknowledge that he suffered from Parkinson\u2019s disease and would no longer be touring), though admittedly, from purely a spectator\u2019s point of view, the show has indeed gone on, and the band is no less powerful for it; Priest\u2019s legacy is larger than the band, at this point, a unique and enviable position for anyone, and though Tipton\u2019s presumed retirement raises questions about the band\u2019s future, Judas Priest\u2019s live show remains a masterclass in heavy metal.<\/p>\n