Scorpions (GER) / Judas Priest (UK)
04/02/05
Brabanthallen, 's Hertogenbosch (NL)
Scorpions set list: Coming Home / Bad Boys Running Wild / The Zoo / Love
'em Or Leave 'em / Animal Magnetism / Wind of Change / Loving You Sunday Morning
/ Tease Me, Please Me / Blackout / ??? / Big City Nights // Dynamite / Rock
You Like a Hurricane
Judas Priest set list: Hellion / Electric Eye / Metal Gods / Riding on the
Wind / The Ripper / Touch of Evil / Judas Rising / Revolution / Hot Rockin'
/ Breaking the Law / I'm a Rocker / Diamonds and Rust / Deal with the Devil
/ Beyond the Realms of Death / Turbo Lover / Hellrider / Victim of Changes
/ Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) / Painkiller // Hell Bent for
Leather / Livin' After Midnight / You've Got Another Thing Coming
Denim, leather & athletics.
Oh my God. I saw German hard rock legends the Scorpions and
British metal gods Judas Priest on one and the same night. 
If
you'd told me a dozen years ago that I'd eventually do this, I probably would've
smacked you on the lip and shoved a Black Flag CD up your ass. But hey, I'm
older now, and it seems I've come to terms with my testosterone levels. I've
learned to appreciate (good) hard rock and metal, regardless of age and trends
and if you're gonna explore the history of said genres, you're bound to be
confronted with at least Judas Priest - Scorpions have quite another legacy,
or so it seems. It must be a bummer to be German. While both bands peaked
commercially in the eighties (well, the Scorpions' "Wind of Change" was a
huge hit in 1990, I give you that) and made a kind of comeback in 2004 and
2005, respectively, many hardcore fans will tell you that they delivered their
best work in the '70's: the Scorpions when they still had Uli Jon Roth and
Michael Schenker among their ranks, Judas Priest before they became all poppy
and glossy and explicitly homo-erotic. It's no surprise therefore, that the
Germans picked songs from the Rudolph Schenker/Matthias Jabs-years and offered
a kind of "Greatest Hits"-package, including only one (or maybe two, since
there was one song I didn't recognize) song from 2004's Unbreakable.
The result of this stress on the 1980-1984 material, was also that most of
the set was basically shamelessly commercial hard rock. Although, I'm not
even sure whether you should call it "hard rock" anymore: sure, Rudolph wears
leather pants, uses a nifty Flying V and him and Pabst are skilled fret-wankers
if they want to, but they're hardly offensive these days. Especially songs
from their 1984 classic Love at First Sting were enthusiastically received
by the audience: "Coming Home," "Bad Boys Running Wild," "Big City Nights"
and - unavoidably - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (should be in my list of "Funniest
Song Titles"); they're a bit simplistic and, well, dumb, but they also
do the job, I have to admit. There's nothing revolutionary, emotionally affecting
or even spontaneous about these songs, but they were created by a band that
realized what it was good at. The sound was average at best (not enough guitar
muscle, of course), yet the band seemed to enjoy themselves and especially
vocalist Klaus Meine (short, hat, gymnastics) was in peak form, hitting ALL
the notes right (yes, even the ones you don't wanna hear), inviting the audience
to sing along to band classics like "Tease me, Please Me," "Bad Boys Running
Wild" and "Blackout" (which sounded excellent). Some of the songs sounded
a bit too slick and polished for my taste ("the older the song, the better
it is" was a rule that worked quite well) and an instrumental like "Animal
Magnetism" was fluffy enough to inspire me to get a few more drinks, but overall,
I never dared to imagine I'd actually think it was quite okay. I still got
a problem with most Germans, though.
It's weird to stand among a few thousand Dutch people, and
especially if they're hard rock fanatics. I must've seen at least 1,500 metal
T-shirts and while AC/DC, Motörhead and Iron Maiden seem to be doing good
business, nobody has merchandise sellers like Judas Priest. 
Crazy-coloured
eagles, razors and wicked fonts. The Priest is all about bombast and bad taste,
and they want you to know it. If it had been a "mute experience", if I could
somehow turn the sound off, I probably would've been rolling all over the
floor, laughing because of the cartoonish extravagance that was unfolding
in front of my eyes, but again… it's a matter of context. Rob Halford's leather
shtick has been parodied, copied and ridiculed to death, but somehow, it's
become a part of the show to such a degree that you wouldn't wanna miss it
for all the money in the world (or a big portion of it, at least). Unlike
the Scorpions before them, Judas Priest also dug in their early years and
played songs from 11 of their albums (nothing from the records on which Halford
was replaced by Tim Owens), released between 1976 and 2005. Even though their
'80's albums are often marred by too much image and studio trickery instead
of a song-oriented approach, it's hard to overrate the impact of this band
on metal history. They were hugely indebted to Black Sabbath (and, to a lesser
degree, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin), but they somehow managed to turn metal
into something leaner, slicker and more aggressive. Their second album, Sad
Wings of Destiny, still stands as a classic in 70's hard rock and I'd
even go as far as to call it one of the first "modern" metal albums, right
before the NWOBHM-bands would further outline the genre's history.
The two songs that the band picked from the album, "The Ripper" and the immortal
"Victim of Changes," were also among the highlights of the evening, theatrical
pieces of self-indulgent metal that just didn't age. Of course, Halford's
piercing falsetto shrieks and the twin guitar-attack of Tipton and Downing
aren't of this era anymore, but when it's done this convincingly, I
ain't complaining. A few times, Halford's vocal histrionics were augmented
by echoing effects and he sung a few parts in a lower register, but for the
most part his vocals were spot-on and pretty amazing. As during the Scorpions'
set, the sound wasn't entirely satisfying, although it became quite good about
halfway Priest's set. Several picks from their 80's albums ("Hot Rockin',"
"Turbo Lover," "Livin' After Midnight") have never been or will never become
favorites at Peters' Place, but some of these cuts… well, they're just irresistible.
Who never felt like a superbad mutha while listening to "Breaking the
Law"? Other highlights besides the Sad Wings-songs were surprisingly
pleasing versions of Joan Baez' "Diamonds and Rust" and Peter Green's "Green
Manalishi", as well as the acoustic/electric doom-fest of "Beyond the Realms
of Death" (the only song they played from their best album - 1978's Stained
Class), a pretty heavy "Painkiller" and the masturbatory "Metal Gods."
They also played four new songs from the recently released 16th album Angel
of Retribution which didn't sound like they'd become personal favorites,
although they worked rather well on stage. The guitar team worked their asses
off, bass player Ian Hill banged for what he was worth, the drummer threw
his sticks in the air and sometimes even caught 'em back, and Halford walked
around like a robot, leaned on his stick, walked up and down the stairs, waved
flags, played air guitar (and a mean one at that!), disappeared and reappeared
wearing slightly different coats and… yes, rode onto the stage with a motorcycle
to begin the encores with "Hell Bent for Leather." Heavy metal gone completely
out of bounds, and I enjoyed every single second of it. Well almost, as the
song (or "act") was followed by the unnecessary addition of "Livin' After
Midnight" and "You've Got Another Thing Coming." Still, it was a nice performance
with quite a few excellent moments. Are Judas Priest still relevant today?
No, probably not. Their innovative days are over, but it's good to see one
of the most important and colourful bands in metal history give their all,
just for old time's sake.
* WWWWHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE * (glass breaks)
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