Priest lay down the law
Midlands heavy metal legends Judas Priest rolled back the rock of ages as they took the three-day Download Festival by storm, writes Ian Harvey.
Judas Priest,
Download Festival, Donington Park
Midlands heavy metal legends Judas Priest rolled back the rock of ages as they took the three-day Download Festival by storm.
Veterans of the very first Monsters of Rock festival at Donington way back in 1980, the band drew from a back-catalogue spanning nearly four decades, right up to their new album Nostradamus, which is released today.
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On an opening day weighted firmly in favour of older, traditional rock bands, Priest saw off the challenge thrown down by the newer groups at Download, kicking off the set with Prophesy from the new album before sending the fans wild with the double punch of Metal Gods, from the classic British Steel album and then Eat Me Alive.
The hair may be greyer, and in singer Rob Halford's case non-existent, but Priest show no sign of slowing down or easing back.
Halford arrived on the stage dressed as the 16th century seer Nostradamus, wearing a full-length hooded silver cloak, his voice ascending from a roar to a shriek as KK Downing, who lives near Bridgnorth, and Glenn Tipton delivered their famous twin guitar attack, with bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis laying down a thunderous rhythm.
They went on to deliver a set that married some of the the heaviest riffs known to man, in Painkiller and Hammer and Anvil, to classic, rabble-rousing, singalong anthems in Breaking The Law, Hell Bent For Leather and You've Got Another Thing Coming.
Downing was all guitar hero shapes while Tipton preferred a less flamboyant approach, letting his fingers do the talking, as Halford strode around the stage, looking more animated and relaxed than he did on the band's last tour to promote their reunion album Angel Of Retribution.
Halford told the crowd: "We've been making metal for over three decades now, and next year is a bit of an anniversary. The name Judas Priest first came about in 1969, so that will be 40 years!"
It was a performance that many fans hailed as the best of the day as the sun started to set on Donington before an astonishing performance by first-day headliners Kiss.
In full make-up and with a set loaded with pyrotechnics, fire-breathing and rocket-firing guitars, the American glam rockers recreated their 1975 Kiss Alive set, before rounding off with a best-of-the-rest package that included I Was Made For Loving You, Love Gun - where guitarist Paul Stanley flew on a high-wire above the crowd - and Detroit Rock City.
Earlier in the day the Midlands was further represented at Download by Birmingham band Hostile and Stone Gods, the band formerly known as The Darkness, who are now fronted by Lichfield's Richie Edwards.
Some 60,000 fans attended the three-day festival, which featured 100 bands spread across three stages. Two rock fans even got married at the event.
Saturday and Sunday night headliners were The Offspring and Lost Prophets, and there were performances from bands including Motorhead, Within Temptation, Bullet For My Valentine and Black Stone Cherry, who are back in the Midlands again this week, supporting Whitesnake and Def Leppard at the NEC on Wednesday.
Download is a celebration of metal in its many guises, and styles ranged from the meat and potatoes rock of Saxon and Airbourne, through the death metal grunts of Amon Amarth and the groove infused, experimental rock of Incubus.
The second day saw former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley deliver a set on the second stage that featured no less than six songs his old band had performed the night before, but this time with Frehley's New York cabbie drawl and some literally red hot guitar work as his Les Paul belched smoke.
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By Ian Harvey
