Juda Priest Brought the Heat to Saint Louis with Sold Out Show Sunday

May 8, 2024 Sean Derrick

–by Greg Artime

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and Metal Gods, Judas Priest rolled into town Sunday as the purveyors of Heavy Metal, showcasing why they have been near the top of the metal world for parts of six decades.

In town on their “Invincible Shield 2024 Tour” the mighty Priest ae celebrating their 50th anniversary, and they sounded amazing. There was no phoning it in like some bands like to do by leaning on a catalog-only show, not having new material for years. No, in fact, Judas Priest just released their 19th studio album Invincible Shield to rave reviews.

The album took a while to record due to the pandemic and restriction with that and restrictions while they were on the road after the pandemic. The entire album was recorded in many locations. But the result was a solid and fresh new music, several tracks were featured in the setlist.

In fact, they kicked off the show with the lead track from the album in “Panic Attack”, quite fitting for an opener, if you ask me. They quickly followed up with their anthem “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, which they usually save for near the end.

They dug back into their catalog with “Victim of Changes” from their 1976 sophomore album Sad Wings of Destiny, “Sinner” from 1977’s Sin After Sin, and “Saints in Hell” from 1978’s Stained Class.

Vocalist Rob Halford’s voice was a strong as ever, scorching through song after piercing song with vibrant agility. Guitarist Richie Faulkner was showing no signs of his near-death experience on stage in 2021 from a ruptures aorta that resulted in emergency heart surgery. He was running around onstage, shredding the axe like he always does, and making killer rockstar poses for us photographers.

The nearly 2-hour set had fans on their feet the entire time, soaking it up and flashing the devil horn with enthusiasm. Priest’s set was so hot that Mother Nature turned on her sprinklers to try to douse the heat during the encore, but there was no dousing the mighty Priest this night.

Swedish metal band Sabaton opened with an intense set. When they first came out my thoughts were they were trying to be IKEA-land’s version of the Village People, but with shredding power, a pink Hello Kity guitar, lots of goofing around, joking with the crowd… This band was having fun and shredding for their 60-minute set.