{"id":43310,"date":"2021-09-21T17:18:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T22:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=43310"},"modified":"2021-09-21T17:18:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T22:18:34","slug":"judas-priests-50th-anniversary-tour-finally-arrives-in-chicago-and-theyre-still-raising-the-bar-for-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=43310","title":{"rendered":"Judas Priest’s 50th Anniversary Tour Finally Arrives In Chicago And They’re Still Raising The Bar For Metal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David<\/p>\n

\u201cGood evening, Chicago\u2026the Priest is back!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeter words have never been spoken as Judas Priest\u2019s long-delayed 50th anniversary tour finally arrived in North America – and Monday\u2019s show at the Rosemont Theater continued to raise the bar for a band that delivers one of the most predictably excellent shows in all of rock and metal.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Fifty years would be a towering achievement for anyone\u2014but for a band, it\u2019s nearly unheard of. As such, Priest really has nothing left to prove to the faithful, though their performance suggested otherwise. Guitarist Richie \u201cFalcon\u201d Faulkner cuts the figure of the quintessential metal guitarist, and his chops are stronger than ever, trading leads with guitarist Andy Sneap through the epic, rarely played \u201cA Touch of Evil\u201d and skull crushing set closer \u201cPainkiller,\u201d while original bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis offer one of the tightest rhythm sections in hard rock.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Rob Halford. His vocal stylings are as impressive as ever, letting his trademark falsetto attack the crescendos of \u201cBlood Red Skies\u201d from 1988\u2019s Ram It Down<\/em> and the epic \u201cVictim of Changes,\u201d a live favorite for many decades. As has been the medicine on the last few Priest tours, the setlist was full of welcome surprises\u2014this particular tour has seen the live debut of opener \u201cOne Shot at Glory,\u201d a song whose time on the stage has been long overdue. Combine that with \u201cRocka Rolla\u201d (not played on tour since 1976), \u201cHell Patrol\u201d which hasn\u2019t been seen live since 2005), and some token classics, and you had a ninety-minute tour de force the likes of which no other band can deliver.<\/p>\n

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The metal community is known for being loyal and tightly knit, and as the night drew to a close with a call-and-response \u201cLiving After Midnight,\u201d Halford nodded, grinned, and threw horns as he stalked the stage back and forth. \u201cThe metal community is what gives us purpose,\u201d he noted at one point. \u201cTake care of each other.\u201d Wise words from an artist who has seen more years on the heavy metal stage than most others could ever hope to.<\/p>\n

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Dare we hope for 60 years? Hell yes we do.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Judas Priest – Rosemont Theater, Rosemont, IL, 9\/20\/21 – setlist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Battle Hymn (intro)<\/p>\n

One Shot at Glory<\/p>\n

Lightning Strike<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve Got Another Thing Comin\u2019<\/p>\n

Freewheel Burning<\/p>\n

Hell Patrol<\/p>\n

Turbo Lover<\/p>\n

The Sentinel<\/p>\n

A Touch of Evil<\/p>\n

Rocka Rolla<\/p>\n

Victim of Changes<\/p>\n

Desert Plains<\/p>\n

Blood Red Skies<\/p>\n

Invader<\/p>\n

Painkiller<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*encore*<\/p>\n

The Hellion\/Electric Eye<\/p>\n

Hellbent for Leather<\/p>\n

Breaking the Law<\/p>\n

Living After Midnight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher David \u201cGood evening, Chicago\u2026the Priest is back!\u201d Sweeter words have never been spoken as Judas Priest\u2019s long-delayed 50th anniversary tour finally arrived in North America – and Monday\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}