Review Summary: Judas Priest rides into Denver, CO for their first performance there during their 'British Steel' tour and Deliver The Goods! This is JP playing right at the point when "heavy metal" and Judas Priest were about to become huge stars, and the band was Hell
This concert by the mighty Judas Priest was performed and recorded at the The Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO, 6/25/80. Judas Priest had just released the 'British Steel' album in April of 1980 and were once again touring the great expanse of North America. This concert is the bands first ever performance in Colorado and they make sure it is a special night for the sold-out audience.
This cd captures Judas Priest on a night when they were "on" as they say in the 'biz. The audio quality of this cd is really excellent; yes, there is some minor audio fluctuations in the very beginning but this occurs during the echo portions of Rob's vocals when he is singing "The Ripper" and "Running Wild". The audio dips slightly during "Living After Midnight" but is brought to equilibrium halfway through.
The show opens with the famous "thunder" intro to "Metal Gods"; interestingly, this sound recorded for the album was actually a large door in Ringo Starr's house being slammed, with reverb and compression added! The band then rips NOT into "Metal Gods" but "Hell Bent For Leather"! This puts the Denver crowd on notice that this is going to be a wild night! The band continues with "The Ripper" and "Running Wild".
Rob then introduces their new single at the time "Living After Midnight" and Glenn exhorts the rabid audience to "come on!" As I said before, the audio fluctuates between Glenn's vocals/guitar and Rob's vocals, this does get fixed though and the rest of the song is fine.
The audio and band really get into synch with the final 3/4's of the concert. The renditions of "The Sinner" and "Beyond The Realms Of Death" are great but the real winners here are the new songs off of 'British Steel'; "You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise"; "Grinder" and especially "Steeler" really rock. Getting to hear the band perform "Steeler" live is a real treat because they rarely play this song live! Amazingly, JP manages to up the energy even more with a fantastic back-to-back performance of "Genocide" and "Tyrant"! The 'explosions' heard at the end of "Tyrant" occured when Rob came on stage with a faux machine gun and pretended to spray the audience with bullets! This was later deemed to "extreme" by the press and authorities so Rob had to get rid of the "machine gun" - FOR SHAME! JP closes the night out with the Peter Green penned "Green Manalishi". Rob profusely thanks the cheering Denver crowd and promises to return again.
Wow - what a GREAT show! Yes, the begining of the cd has some minor audio flucuation but this really is minor and in NO WAY ruins the listening experience. Who cares anyway? Being able to listen to a live show from JP in 1980 is VERY rare! Criminally, there just is not alot from this period that was recorded so the minor audio problems really do not matter. This is Judas Priest, Live, 1980, British Steel tour, machine guns, leather, spikes and "hogs" -
Marching in the streets
Dragging iron feet
Laser beaming hearts
Ripping men apart
"You know that clanking in the very last section that's supposed to be metallic robot gods marching along? Well, we recorded that at Tittenhurst Park, and the sound is actually someone banging a tray of cutlery on the kitchen table!"- Glenn Tipton, Metal Works liner note, 1983
