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Judas Priest in Portland

Live Show Reviews / Music News / June 26, 2019

Judas Priest and Uriah Heep came to town rocking harder than a lot of guys out there that are half their age. With an audience that spannned multiple generations packed into Portland’s Moda Center, it was a night that many won’t soon forget.

Uriah Heep got the righteous privilege of getting the crowd going, opening their set with Grazed by Heaven off their 2018 album “Living the Dream”. After all was said and done, Uriah Heep played a solid 11 tracks closing with their 1972 classic Easy Livin’. Between sets, the arena rep and I were chatting and she said to me “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a legit’ guitar solo, live”. It’s easy to forget that a lot of the crap music that’s pushed out the masses now doesn’t celebrate the guitar as it should. I asked her what she thought. “It was incredible”, she replied. Well, yeah. You’re welcome.

Then, it was time for the show to really begin. The atmosphere in the arena was electric. Judas Priest, afterall, had such a strong influence on today’s heavy metal it’s no wonder that young and old were all present to pay homage to this band. The P.A. began playing War Pigs transitioning right into Necromancer. The band all made their way to the stage and the onslaught began. It wasn’t until several measures into Necromancer that Mr. Rob Halford sauntered out though. His arrival, draped in purple, with a wicked Tim Burton-esque hat and cane was a perfect, subtle way of saying “I’m here, bitches.” It was then that these British metal gods went into full auto-pilot. In an almost robotic performance, they played through song after song. It wasn’t until after Halls of Valhalla that Mr. Halford said “How’s everybody doin?” But, can we really hold that against them? They went on to play nearly 20 songs and these guys aren’t spring chickens, right? My only regret is that they didn’t play Painkiller because that drum intro is simply unreal.