Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest - more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
Judas Priest
Hometown: Birmingham, United Kingdom
http://www.judaspriest.com
Judas Priest Concert Photos
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater(Selma, Texas)
Also:
Heaven and Hell,
Motörhead ,
Testament
"Don't worry honey. It will only take a couple minutes"...
Those words would come to haunt me.
I knew I was cutting it close but I had no choice. My flight was scheduled to land in Austin at 5:09pm, Motörhead was scheduled to hit the stage at the Verizon in Selma at 6:30 straight up. I had, by schedule, 81 minutes to make it to the venue where I was to be whisked to the stage via golf cart just in time to see Lemmy step on stage. It would be close but it could be done.
If everything went drop dead perfect.
In preparation for the race I had ditched my checked bag with a friend so I was traveling light. I had swapped seats on the flight to get closer to the front, in front of all the cranky kids on their way back from Orlando. I even stowed my carryon bag over the first row so I could grab it and run. But our flight was late, 20 minutes to take off, landing 6 minutes off schedule on the tarmac in Austin, and then we had to wait for another jet to taxi out before we pulled up to the gate. Bolting out the door with my bag, I practically sprinted through the airport, and just caught my shuttle to the off-site parking lot before it pulled out.
I was close. I could still make it.
Ronnie James Dio of Heaven and Hell - more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
Jumping off the bus when it reached my row, I ran to my truck, tossed in my bag, started it up and headed for the gate. I watched as the SUV in front of me paid and pulled through. It was now my turn.
And then time seemed to stop.
Before she even spoke the words I knew I was toast. I could literally hear the stopwatch in my brain go off and I would hear every second tick by. "My machine is out of receipts and I called the office for more. Don't worry honey. It will only take a couple of minutes." The machine which raised the arm to exit the park required a receipt ticket to be raised and no amount of bribery, cajoling, or threatening would move it til it got its roll of tickets.
Well it didn't take a couple of minutes. It took at least 10, and every couple of minutes she would glance over at me in the truck, sweating profusely, eyes burning fiercely, like a caged tiger wanting to burst out, and say reassuringly "Don't worry honey. It will only take a couple of minutes."
Though I still tried to race to the venue, before I had even reached San Marcos I knew I had blown my window of opportunity, and had backed off the accelerator. I could make up 5 or 6 minutes on the road, but as I pulled into my parking space in Selma it was 6:46. I missed shooting Motörhead by 16 minutes.
A parking lot ate my Motörhead gig.
Rob Halford and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest - more photos photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
I was depressed as I trudged up to the box office to get my passes, Lemmy's voice floating above the venue. I had a ticket I could go down and watch the rest of their set, but I wanted to save the experience for later so I contented myself with buying a few Motörhead t-shirts and listened to the rest of the set from the box office.
Things weren't all bad though. I still got to shoot Heaven & Hell and Judas Priest.
Heaven & Hell, essentially the version of Black Sabbath that recorded the albums Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules, sounded great as they played cuts off both albums as well as a few new songs. Tony Iomi and Geezer Butler rarely moving from the wings, frontman Ronnie James Dio was back and forth all over the stage, working the audience and providing the focus. At 66 years old, it's incredible that Dio's voice sounds so good and that he still has the energy to work the stage like he does. I have always been a big fan of Dio's, following his carrer all the way back to his Blackmore/Rainbow days and saw him on his first solo tour way way back in San Antonio at the old Hemisphere Arena.
What can I say about Judas Priest other than it's great to see them back. Even the "Nostradamus" cut sounded great live. My first Priest album was "Sad Wings Of Destiny" and I had the incredible experience of seeing them on the "Hell Bent For Leather" tour when I was a kid. I am a huge fan of their classic songs and there were plenty of those as they did essentially a greatest hits set from their almost 40 year career. It was great it see Halford, Tipton, Downing and Hill rip through their classics. With relative newcomer Scott Travis, he's only been with the band 19 years, on drums, the band ripped through their set ending with the motorcycle gag during the encore, which has become a Judas Priest trademark.
Though I was disappointed at missing Motörhead, I thoroughly enjoyed Priest and Heaven & Hell, and I replenished my supply of metal t-shirts. Not too bad for a Sunday.
Rob Halford and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest - more photos - photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer
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