Jolly Good Shew, Metal Masters!

The program at Crickett was Testament, Motorhead, Heaven and Hell, and finally, Judas Priest. We arrived too late for Testament, but the end of their set sounded OK from outside.

Here's the New Times' review of the event. I agree with the review, except that I was able to make out the words in Lemmy Kilmister's singing, and I didn't notice any mullets. The storm was cool, even if it did put 80 or so distribution circuits in the dark, making the drive home a bit interesting (what with pieces of trees blown up on the overpasses and into the tunnel, and what with my cable drop support having been ripped out of the side of my house, along with a bit of siding). Thanks for driving Chris!

Judas Priest's latest album, Nostradamus, is a big disappointment to me. My review is that Nostradamus is uninspired, overwrought and a purely commercial endeavor with way too much long, boring filler (sorry Priest, but come on). It's a good thing I didn't hear Nostradamus until after the tickets were on order, or I might have skipped the show. It would have been a real shame to miss this one. I think Halford is relying on electronics a bit, but what the hell, he sounded great. I can't quarrel with the New Times' reviewer's characterization of Halford's voice as "impeccable", matching the rest of the band.

The event hardly sucked at all! Motorhead was a fine surprise, what with my only recently having bought their two most recent albums (Kiss of Death and Motorizer) in order to familiarize myself with them. They clearly met the standards of Heaven and Hell and Priest, and I regret not having paid attention to them a long time ago. Motorhead is a welcome addition to my headphones.

Heaven and Hell were also well up to speed, as was to be expected. What else can I say?

We sat right behind the sound board, where it was entertaining to watch the guys playing the lights (until they had to cover up with plastic sheeting against rain from the storm whipping through the covered arena, that is). I think playing the lights would be a lot of fun.

I think the reason the New Times' reviewer couldn't make out Lemmy Kilmister's words, while I could, might have been because I'm trying to take care of what remains of my hearing. I experimented with a couple of different types of ear plugs, both alone and in conjunction with my hearing aids. Volume was deafening while I changed configurations, but aside from physical discomfort from the damned things, one of the types of ear plugs did a nice job for me.

I guess I'll just have to do this again some day.