CRR Concert Review - Judas Priest with Saxon and Black Star Riders Live in Tulsa, Ok

Judas Priest with Saxon and Black Star Riders Live in Tulsa, Ok

Judas Priest with Saxon and Black Star Riders
BOK Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma
April 26, 2018

By Jeb Wright
Photo by Brad Buell

Judas Priest in 2018 is Richie Faulkner, Rob Halford, Scott Travis, Glenn Tipton and Ian Hill.

Tipton can't perform with the band most nights due to his battle with Parkinson's disease, so guitarist Andy Sneap fills in on primarily rhythm guitar on this tour. The band is touring in support of their critically and commercially successful new album Firepower.

Before the mighty metal gods took the stage on this night, however, fans were treated to two other bands, Black Star Riders and Saxon.

Black Star Riders may be the best band making original classic hard rock on the road today—other than Judas Priest, of course. BSR began life as Thin Lizzy...believe it or not! They are led by Lizzy's guitarist Scott Gorham. Three albums into their own catalog, BSR has transformed from a quasi-Lizzy tribute into their own band. They have done so with grace, power, and prosperity. They still pay homage to Lizzy by keeping the band's signature sound as a main part of their sound.

On this night, their short set even saw one Thin Lizzy classic trotted out, “Jailbreak.” The rest of the set were all Black Star Rider songs and they nailed them. The band opened up with the title track to their first album “All Hell Breaks Loose” and right away it was apparent that this band was going to tear it up. “Heavy Fire” was another killer tune but the last two songs in their small set were really amazing...they saved the best for last. “Kingdom of the Lost” and “Bound for Glory” would have been huge hit songs had the year of their release been 1975.

This is real rock performed by killer musicians. The Irish rocker influence, combined with the twin leads between Gorham and Damon Johnson prove this band is one to watch out for...and listen to.

If you have not checked out Black Star Riders then do so today. Ricky Warwick as lead vocalist is powerful, sounds a lot like Phil Lynott but is not afraid to be himself. He has good skills as a front man as well.

Next up was Saxon—the band that America never really ever accepted.

Saxon is very British in both look and sound—but so are Priest.

The difference in success in the USA comes down to songwriting ability and marketing. Priest won over America while Saxon did not. If fact, this slot on the Priest tour is probably the best run of gigs in the USA since they opened for Motley Crue in the 1980s.

The true metal heads in the crowd were drooling over the Saxon tunes they came to hear. “Power and Glory,” “Motorcycle Man,” “Denim and Lather” and “Wheels of Steel” filled the arena with Spinal Tap-esque music and the Saxon faithful cheered loudly while the rest of us made it up to the Priest merchandise stand to peruse t-shirts and maybe stop for a hot dog and a cold one.

For what they are...they did well. One has to respect their tenacity, and their belief in their music.

Once Saxon left the stage, the arena began to fill up.

The road crew raised a large red banner with that Priest looking cross thing that first appeared on Sad Winds of Destiny. It was cool looking. Then...it accidentally fell down. The crowd snickered as the crew scrambled to get it back in place before the start of the set. They did...and when the lights went down the crowd rose to their fleet singing along with Black Sabbath's “War Pigs.” Then...the curtain came down, this time for real, and Judas Priest took the stage.

Before talking about one second of music, let's address the elephant in the room.

This lineup of Judas Priest does not have KK Downing or Glenn Tipton performing (Glenn does play a few songs as his health allows). Andy Sneap, a co-producer of Firepower is sitting in for the band. He rips a few solos but mainly is there to just add guitar...firepower, if you will. He has short hair, looks out of place with the rest of the band...but he does his job admirably. He stays somewhat out of the spotlight and..ahem..delivers the goods.

As a rabid Priest fan...it is what it is.

Before talking about the concert performance I need to state two other things as well.

Rob Halford is singing better than he has since Defenders of the Faith. Yeah...I know that is a huge statement, but it is true. The Metal God is somehow defying age.

The other comment that must be made concerns guitarist Richie Faulkner. The blonde-haired six-string axe-slinger won over the Priest faithful when he replaced KK Downing...this was amazing in its own right. On this album and tour, however, Richie has proven himself to be a rock star and an amazing musician. Faulkner took the overwhelming majority of the guitar solos for the classic tunes and pulled them off with ease. Considering that these songs saw Downing and Tipton switching back and forth on the songs makes this fact a huge statement.

Richie and Rob simply stole the fucking show...that is until the encore. I’ll get to that in moment…

The main set list left out two songs that are synonymous with Priest but contained so much cool stuff they were barely missed. Neither “Heading Out to the Highway” or “Victim of Changes” were performed. That said...we got some deep cuts. “Grinder,” “Running Wild” and Saints in Hell” all were played. Old school Priest fans like me were grinning hearing these songs once again. The biggest old school moments were “Sinner” and “The Ripper.” Halford kicked them both in the ass! “Bloodstone” from Screaming for Vengeance was a pleasant surprise as well.

Priest fans stayed put during “Firepower,” “Evil Never Dies” and “Lightening Strike” This is a solid album and the new tunes fit live very well.

The crowd was most into the classics, of course. “Freewheel Buring,” “Turbo Lover,” “The Hellion/Electric Eye,” “You've Got Another Thing Comin'” and “Hell Bent for Leather” were all bashed out excellently. “Painkiller” went over well with the younger (40-45 years old) Priest fans, while us old farts would have preferred other songs than that and “Heads are Gonna roll.”

At the end of the day the set played was solid as hell.

Not let’s get to the encore…

When the band left the stage everyone knew the three classic tunes from British Steel were going to show up in the encore. That was no surprise. There was an excellent surprise given to the crowd coming, however, that we didn’t realize at the time.

Before the rest of the band came back out one member took the stage by himself. Yes...it was Glenn Tipton. The crowd already on their feet gave a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. Tipton was emotionally impacted by their response. Soon Halford and gang joined him and “Metal Gods” fired up.

The encore finished with “Breakin' the Law” and “Living After Midnight.” The latter saw Tipton take the solo which was really cool. Halford hugged him after the final song and the band lined up to take a bow.

Rob closed the show by saying, as only he can say, “We are JUDAS FUCKING PRIEST!”

Classic Rock Revisited gives all of our love and support to Mr. Tipton, a true pioneer, and all around fine fellow. His importance to Judas Priest and heavy metal music in general, can't be overstated. Glenn making an appearance was special. One wonders if this is the last time we will see the man playing with the band.

This show felt a bit different with neither original Priest guitarist on stage, but they made up for it with sheer power. Richie was incredible and Halford amazing. The other guys were good too. The set list was unique and the new tunes rocked. The band is firing on all engines on the Firepower tour. They are also still rocking new tunes that deserve to be played.

All in all...Priest & Friends showed up...stepped it up…pumped it out…and kicked Tulsa’s rock ‘n’ roll ass!

This is a must-see tour.

http://judaspriest.com/