Tag: Detroit rock 'n' roll

Heavy metal gods Judas Priest stopped at Pine Knob Music Theater Thursday on their co-headling tour with Alice Cooper. While Cooper closed the show, Priest was the highlight, with a set full of leather and speed.

It’s probably a given that Priest will play “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” “Hell Bent for Leather,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.” These are the popular “radio-friendly” tracks that longtime bassist Ian Hill said, in our 2022 interview, helped bring heavy metal to a wider audience who may not have paid attention to it before.

When I spoke with Hill in 2022 and told him my favorite Priest song was Sin After Sin’s harrowing “Raw Deal”, he seemed surprised and then chuckled lightly. That should have been a sign that I was born much too late to ever hear that song live. They haven’t played it since 1977, but a girl can dream.

On the way in, a man waving a massive MAGA flag with a Charlie Kirk sign stood on the corner of Bob Seger Drive, leading into Pine Knob. It has always been strange to me when extremists and bigots are also Judas Priest fans, as if Rob Halford is not a gay leather daddy. “Raw Deal” is about cruising in a gay bar and was a coming out of sorts for Halford. In his autobiography, Confess, he mentions that many Priest lyrics are veiled ways of him talking about cocks (hot rods are not just motorcycles, y’all). 

Back inside the venue, Halford reminded us that heavy metal is for everyone. It’s about “heavy metal brothers and sisters coming together to celebrate rock ’n’ roll,” he said.

The night was filled with tracks from Painkiller — five out of the 14-song set were from the speed-fueled 1990 album. Beyond the title track, there were songs I wasn’t expecting to hear like “Night Crawler,” “A Touch of Evil,” and “All Guns Blazing.” Priest also played a deep cut from Point of Entry, “Solar Angels,” which hasn’t been part of their setlist since 2005. 

Down in the seated area, half of the audience seemed either bored, underwhelmed, or they just didn’t know the songs. Maybe it’s that the crowd down there was a bit older, and the young headbangers are on the lawn. 

Halford dedicated “Giants in the Sky,” from their 2024 effort Invincible Shield, to heavy metal and rock musicians who have passed away. A banner with Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy, Jill Janus, Neil Peart, Randy Rhoads, Freddie Mercury, Chris Cornell, and others was displayed behind the band during the song. It felt incomplete without Ozzy Osbourne, but the Prince of Darkness got a solo tribute with just his photo near the end of the song.

The set closed with “Painkiller,” followed by encores of “Hell Bent for Leather” and “Living After Midnight,” played well before midnight, just before 9 p.m. As expected, Halford rode in on a motorcycle for “Hell Bent For Leather,” further proving why he will forever be the metal god. It felt like a travesty to end the night without hearing “Victim of Changes,” but at least I have memories of them playing it in 2014 at the Fox Theatre.

I thought the crowd was waiting for “Painkiller” to lose their shit (like me), but it turns out they were waiting for Alice Cooper. The entire ground floor came to life when Cooper emerged from a giant tome. I’m not a Cooper fan, but an energetic and lightning fast Nita Strauss on guitar was amazing to watch.

With my “Painkiller” adrenaline waning, I left about halfway through Cooper’s set during “Hey Stoopid.” Turning off Bob Seger Drive, I caught a glimpse of MAGA man, still posted at the corner, but more interested in his phone than waving his obnoxious flag. I guess he got bored too.

The co-headling tour will continue on to Cincinnati and wrap up in Houston on October 26 with support from Corrosion of Conformity.

Related