Metal Religion

A hot August evening at SDSU Open Air Theater for a night of hard rock and metal.  First up was the band Pop Evil from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who played a solid set of rock to the sparse crowd as they slowly filed in. The mix was uncomfortably loud with low end sound painfully pulsing through your body. Someone needed to tell the boys at the mixing board that a loud mix is not necessarily a good mix. The band was grateful for the opportunity to play for the San Diego crowd  and thanked them before leaving the stage.

Whitesnake 2009

As the night went on the show got better.

Next up was Whitesnake fronted by original lead singer David Coverdale. Guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach, bassist Uriah Duffy, drummer Chris Frazier and keyboardist Timothy Drury completed the band.

Although their mix was better the drums seemed muffled and the guitars distorted.  Coverdale’s vocals were not out front like they should have been and he struggled at times to sing the great songs he recorded back in his prime. Aldrich and Beach performed over indulgent solo’s that seemed out of place for average non-iconic guitarists, I believe Coverdale needed the break. But he is a great front man and the set was filled with crowd pleasing hits from the past as well as a few songs from their 2008  release “Good to be Bad”

The home of Heavy Metal.

After the Whitesnake set the crew hung a large cloth mural to hide the stage as it was being set up for the next band. The mural was an image of a dirty polluted industrial city with a sign that read “Welcome to the home of British Steel” it could only be Birmingham, England. During this intermission as the crowd was milling about talking amongst themselves or to someone they recognized from across the aisle typical songs by the The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Def Leppard played over the PA without much fanfare. Then all of a sudden a hi-hat count and the power chords to ‘War Pigs” blasted out of the speakers, the crowd became one. Taking over the vocals for Ozzy we all sang “Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses” it was as if we were at a Black Sabbath concert. Then 3/4 of the way through the song…lights out, the curtain dropped and it was on!

These guys know how to ROCK!

K.K. Downing and Rob Halford of Judas Priest

Judas Priest was on stage and it was loud, good loud, the mix was AWESOME!  As Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing cranked out the opening riff to “Rapid Fire” their guitars could only be described as sounding “Metal”. Rob Halford center stage dressed in studded leather from head to toe covered with a denim vest  and in full throat belted out the lyrics “Pounding the world like a battering ram”  that’s what it felt like was coming from the stage, a metal battering ram. Drummer Scott Travis had a drum mix that was perfect. Bassist Ian Hill in his corner, stage right was rock solid. The boys roared through “Rapid Fire” and “Metal Gods” before Halford spoke to the crowd announcing that they would play the entire “British Steel” album to commemorate the 30th anniversary of it’s release before asking the crowd Breaking the what? Breaking the WHAT? BREAKING THE LAW!. After finishing “British Steel” they played songs from their extensive catalog of incredible metal albums including a song from the new concept album “Nostradamus“. After a subtle goodbye the band left the stage leaving the crowd asking for more. A couple minutes latter the roar of a Harley Davidson could be heard from stage left. As Halford rode on stage the crowd went wild, the band broke into “Freewheel Burnin’” as Halford sat upon the bike and sang. They closed with “You’ve got another thing comin’” and left the stage only to return arm in arm to bow and thank the gratified crowd for a great night of metal “Metal Religion”. I only wish the show could have been longer.

British Steel 30th Anniversary Tour 2009 Set List