Iconic Heavy Metal Band Judas Priest Headlines Fox in Oakland
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Outside of Birmingham's metal godfathers Black Sabbath, no band has influenced the sound and look of heavy metal more than Judas Priest. One could also make a strong arguement that no metal singer has set the bar higher than the band's iconic frontman Rob Halford. A charismatic stage presence who continues to unleash his searing wail on headbanging audiences the world over a half century into his career, Halford has rightly earned his nickname the Metal God.
While Priest's roots date back to 1969, the classic line-up of the group featuring singer Halford, guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, bassist Ian Hill and drummer John Hinch (the first in a long line of players to occupy the chair) didn't come together until just before Priest entered the studio to record its 1974 debut for Gull Records, Rocka Rolla.
Though the album leaned more on psychedelia, progressive rock and hard rock than metal, hard-hitting tunes like "Cheater" and "Never Satisfied" proved the group could deliver a heaviness equal to Sabbath and Deep Purple. Their sophomore album Sad Wings of Destiny had some of the same production issues that plagued the band's debut, but it marked a turn towards a style that would help define heavy metal.
The effort included some of Priest's earliest gems, including Halford's epic, operatic showcase "Victim of Changes" and the charging, twin lead guitar-fueled tracks "Tyrant," "The Ripper" and "Genocide" that proved to be the influential template the group would refine on future releases. Their major label debut Sin After Sin in 1977 continued to push faster tempos and darker subject matter with the galloping rockers "Let Us Prey/Call For the Priest," "Sinner" and "Dissident Aggressor" that pointed the way toward the sound of UK disciples Iron Maiden and even the rise of thrash metal in the '80s (Slayer would later cover "Dissident Aggressor" in tribute).
By the time the band released its seminal live album Unleashed in the East, members had embraced the leather and studs wardrobe that would codify metal fashion into the next decade while embracing a more pop-minded (yet still undeniably heavy) sound on songs like "Hell Bent For Leather." Priest had a commercial breakthrough in 1980 with British Steel, enjoying its first real taste of chart success and radio airplay with "Livin' After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law."
With that album and the platinum follow-up discs Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith, the quintet established itself as one of the most popular metal bands on the planet. The band's success would continue through the decade, though some longtime fans would be thrown by the group's new glam image and use of guitar synthesizers on Turbo in 1986. Ram it Down two years later continued the trend toward towards a more commercial sound, but the group rebounded with 1990's Painkiller, a recording that introduced more thrash elements and was hailed as Priest's heaviest effort in a decade.
The '90s would bring new challenges to the band, with members forced to appear in court for a civil suit that claimed backwards masked messages in the song "Better by You, Better than Me" (a cover of a Spooky Tooth song) led to the fatal suicide pact of two young metal fans in Spark, Nevada. The suit would be dismissed by the judge, but a far more seismic change for Judas Priest would be the departure of Halford in 1992.
The singer would record and tour with the thrash-oriented group Fight and the industrial project 2wo before his return to traditional metal with the eponymous band Halford in 2000, while Priest would find new singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, touring extensively and tracking a pair of studio albums. Still, any interview with Halford or members of Judas Priest inevitably turned to the question of a possible reunion. Fans finally got what they wanted in 2003 when the singer rejoined the group.
High-profile live performances like a co-headlining slot at Ozzfest the following year and a string of successful album releases beginning with Angel of Retribution in 2005 have reaffirmed Priest as one of the quintessential purveyors of metal. Even after the retirement of K.K. Downing in 2011 during the Epitaph World Tour (a jaunt that the band had suggested would be their final farewell), Priest has soldiered on with the addition of new guitarist Richie Faulkner. The fresh blood seemed to reinvigorate the group, who released their 17th album Redeemer of Souls to solid reviews in 2014.
Two years later, Priest teased that the band had begun work on it's next recording. Working with classic-era producer Tom Allom -- who engineered the first three Black Sabbath records and a 10-year stretch of Judas Priest efforts from Unleashed in the East to Ram It Down -- and modern metal production maven Andy Sneap (the former Sabbat guitarist who has helmed albums by Megadeth, Accept, Testament and Saxon among many others), Judas Priest put together nearly an hour of new material for it's latest opus, Firepower.
Hailed by some as the best Priest album in nearly 20 years, Firepower was finally issued in the spring of 2018 to great acclaim from metal fans. Bristling with an energy not heard since the band's classic Painkiller record, the album became Priest's highest charting album in the U.S. ever and its first record in the U.K. Top Ten in decades (since the release of British Steel in 1980).
When Priest first took to the road to promote the album, the band was faced with a new challenge after Tipton announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and that he would retire from full-time touring. Sneap stepped in to play second guitar with the band, with Tipton appearing during encores. The band planned to launch its 50th anniversary tour across Europe and North America in 2020, but the pandemic forced those plans to be postponed.
When the band was able to return to touring last year, it suffered a serious scare in late September when Faulkner suffered a ruptured aorta while performing onstage and had to be rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery. While the band had to postpone those fall dates (including their scheduled Bay Area appearance in Oakland), Faulkner has recovered and is back playing with the group.
For this sold-out, rescheduled concert at the Fox Theater in Oakland this Saturday, Priest will be joined by Northwestern progressive-metal favorites Queensrÿche. Founded in 1980 in Washington state, the band would release a string of acclaimed albums through the decade, including the landmark political concept album Operation: Mindcrime in 1988.
The band went on to even greater commercial success with their follow-up album Empire that was fueled by the MTV hits "Jet City Woman" and the Pink Floyd-style ballad "Silent Lucidity." The band has continued through the '90s and 2000s to now, but never matched that chart success while coping with a turnover in personnel including the acrimonious departure of lead singer Geoff Tate in 2012. The current version of the band with founding members Michael Wilton on guitar and Eddie Jackson on bass are joined by longtime singer Todd La Torre for a set of greatest hits to kick off the show.
Judas Priest and Queensrÿche
Saturday, March 12, 7:30 p.m. $59.50-$119.50
Fox Theater
