Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Galleries: Judas Priest, Uriah Heep
I spent last Thursday revisiting my youth at the Mohegan Sun Area, when long time metal rockers Judas Priest and Uriah Heep came by on Priest’s Firepower Tour. The first time I saw Judas Priest was waaaay back in 1984 for Defenders of the Faith.
Not saying I’m old or anything, but my t-shirt was as old as most people there. Even so, I wasn’t the only long time fan. While waiting in line to enter the show, I met a Uriah Heep fan. She first saw them in 1975 as a 15 year old girl. Combined, these two bands have about 100 years of stage time.
In fact, in the middle of the show, Uriah Heep was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History. I didn’t know anything about this organization so I looked up their sponsors online. Check it out. Ben and Jerry’s? We should have a contest to come up with the most metal ice cream flavor. My entry: Sad Wings of Strawberry.
Uriah Heep kicked off the show and were awesomely energetic. I always love to see a band with this much history having a blast on stage. Bernie Shaw’s voice is still going strong, hitting the high notes with ease. They put on a great set and ended with Easy Livin’, one of my favorite tracks of theirs.
Judas Priest came up next, and as I said before, we go way back. They only played 3 tracks from the new album: No Surrender, Traitors Gate, and Necromancer. However, that’s to be expected given their amazing backlog of music.
Back during the Defenders of the Faith Tour, I remember Rob coming out on a motorcycle, riding on the paw of the mechanical cat, or whatever the f that thing was back then. He pulled a similar move last week, coming out on a pretty sweet bike. Does he get to ride those between shows? I hope so.
At one point he called bassist and original band member Ian Hill up on stage to take a bow. I thought that was a nice touch.
They closed the show with a string of true classics: Hell Bent for Leather, Breaking the Law, and Living After Midnight. A perfect ending. Go check these guys out when they swing by your town.