Yax
Ancient Mariner
More text added. I accidentally submitted the post while I was still watching the dvd/writing the review.
A review I wrote just now. Guess what band?
Filmed in HD.
I'm currently watching it and I'm writing this as it comes along. I'm pleasantly surprised this far: The audio is great. Clear and crispy and that applies both to the 5.1. track as well as the stereo. The show starts off with Rapid Fire. However, something severely unexpected happened: There were pretty much no stage lights. The rig had malfunctioned and starts working again at the end of the song. They had solved this pretty cleverly with black and white shots and some Steve Harris-ish editing. That's the best they could do with the situation. The editing on the rest of the concert is fortunately pretty clear of the Steve Harris syndrome.
The vocal performance is pretty good on this song - Not quite as good as the Jones Beach gig I have bootleged. The ending scream of Rapid Fire on that is perfect: Some kind of belting while on the DVD Rob does it grittier. Still a great performance. Great solo trade offs!
Metal Gods is next. That has to be one of the best performances of said song since the reunion. It's tight, and well edited, except for a short shot where Glenn pulls the wammy bar down when the audio tells you he clearly doesn't.The "Better be the slaves" scream is magnificent. He usually pulls that off well but I found this to be the best effort I've heard so far. Glenn brings out his old 70's Strat on this one. The Fender with the mirror scratchplate he used in the 80's and 70's as well as his classic red trousers. Rob has gone for an all Denim look so far with a leather shirt under as well as a mikestand and shades. A welcome change from his damn leather coats. KK and Ian are wearing their usual leather suits. Rob strolls around mid stage, hold the mikestand stompin the beat with his feet and his body, moving back and forth with the beat. He seems to be enjoying himself.
Next is Breaking the Law, right after Halford talks a bit to the crowd. They are following the usual British Steel European tracklist and playing the entire album live followed by some other songs. Classic concert favorite. Rob moves more to the sides of the stage on this one and lets the audience sing the chorus and then moves to the next side of the stage, slowly while singing during the verse. The shots are pretty up front during this song, or the concert in general but unlike Rising in the East they are using some "flying" shots where the camera flies over the stage.
Note: I really like how Rob sings the final chorus. It adds a certain timbre to the song.
Grinder.
This is a fairly small gig (with Nicko McBrain attending which you can tell from bootleg shots). There's not really yhat much to say about this song. It sounds like on the British Steel album pretty much, only tuned down half a step. One thing that I would've liked to see camera-wise is better camera shots on the drums. It's too few shots and angles for my taste (except when Scott does massive, long drum solos). I would've liked a camera aiemd right down on the drums from the lightning rig, like on Maiden's Rock in Rio. Sadly, there is none. The crowdshots are pretty up close since the gig was fairly small. This makes it seem like a bigger crowd. I suppose this is why the shots of the stage are so up close. It does get a bit more initmate though so it's not a bad thing.
United.
Fifths song, and still the British Steel backdrop. I guess this is going to stay there until the British Steel part of the concert is finished. The crowd seems to be into this song, clapping hands and stuff. It is and old concert favorite as well, although it hasn't been played since the early 80's (exception is 2004 and 2001). The lights works pretty well. They are very rhytmic and mostly red and yellow and red during the chorus.
You don't have to be old to be wise.
I love this song and this performance. Britsh Steel isn' that hard album to sing or play so no wonder it's pretty flawless. By this time Rob has stopped with the mikestand and holds the microphone in his hand , waving about with the free hand. KK is the usual wild-cat during his short but energetic solo, strutting up and down, facial expression like he's having a really good time ( Tongue). Pretty much no crowd shots on this one. Could be because it got a mild reception? Can't really tell but let's say there were more people standing still than horns in the air. I personally loved the song so I don't get it.
Living after Midnight
Rob walks around the stage all the time during this song and KK and Glenn are moving in synchronization with I an Hill standing in the background wielding his bass. Make no mistake, he isn't relaxing, he's pouring his heart and soul into it even if he doesn't run around like Steve. A nice surpirse was that Rob screamed the part "I'm gonna blow you) in his distorted falsetto. Worked pretty well, although fairly gritty. The lights seem to be fairly simple in this song and I didn't pay attention to them apart from the excess of them moving up. They do that all the fucking time. Variation please? FUCK, THERE THEY DID IT 10 TIMES AGAIN. Crowd participation part now. All the crowd are into it this time "LOUDER!!! LOUDER!! KEEP IT GOING BABY", Halford exclaims and then the guitars enter again. I just noticed that the lightning rig also has two big Priest crosses covered in small lights. Cool!
The Rage
Starts off with Ian Hill's bass solo as usual. I like the bass sound on this concert. Kinda twangy with a lot of string sound. I've been waiting for this song so I'm excited. I love this song, with the. And there goes the guitars! Ian Hill is headbanging as usual with Rob entering from the side of the stage. I guess he took a drink inbetween. Green lights now. Rob sings this one with passion. I can tell for sure. His face deep in concentration, eyes clsoed. Contrary to earlier performances of this song during the tour, the phrase "let us be left aloooooone" is sung in a slightly a thick supported chest voice instead of belted. Might be because Rob struggled with that every now and then so he chose to do it perfectly this way instead of just pulling it off 100% most of the times but not all. The crowd doesn't seem too much into it. I can understand it: It's a great track but not that great for crowd participation. It's understandable for sure that there aren't 8000 horns in the air. It's not that kind of song. Doesn't mean they didn't like it though. A lot of synchronized moves in this one, with KK, Glenn and Ian!. KK pulls off his solo perfectly with oassion as usual on his KxK gutiar - His signature white (used a red one in the beginning) V with scalloped frets and maple neck. I think they are around 3000£. Rob enters roaring after the solo, wildly yelling his ass off in chest voice right after pulling of a long, belted scream!! Ian Hill seems into this song especially and SCott is wild on the china cymbal. So far KK has played the most solos, or at least he's the one I've noticed. Could be because the ones Glenn has played has motly been his standard Living After Midnight and Metal Gods solos, played to death by this time.
Steeler
Fucking awesome song with thunderous drum work. Scott has stayed true to the drumming on the original album except some added bits and pieces here and there which he's totally entiteld to do. Seems to be some double bass on this one (not on the album!). The band's performance on this song is flawless and the video shots are a bit fast now. Not Steve Harris-ish though, thankfully. Rob stands still a lot on this one, holding his mikestand, leaning back and forth but he's currently dancing and prancing around in time with the music. Kind of fun to watch. KK's oloing now and Rob does his trademarked interaction with the soloists and moves to Glenn's side now that it's time for Glenn's wammy bar diving solo. To be honest, it was more of wammy bar diving than an actual solo. Another solo by him, more wammy bar, with a dancin Rob in the middle. Damn they had fun during this song! Great to see Rob so active.
End of British Steel: Rob exclaims: So there you have it metalheads, all of British Steel and then asks them if they want ot hear some more Priest music.
The Ripper. AWESOME SCREAM. Almsot as good as the one on Rising in the East (that scream was perfect). A lot of close camera shots here and the lights are standing still, changing between red and blue every now and then .Glenn nails his solo and Rob seems to stand a lot more by the drums than usual during this concert - Second time he's stoof there for a significant period of time, interacting with Scott and then walsk forward pulling off a huge distorted scream and then into the verse again. Now the cameras got interesting: Got some of those annoying multiple angles shots like in Rising in the East - the sceen isn't divided like in that dvd but instead they blended together several shots at the same time so they showed what every band member was doing (a few at the same time, not all at once). Could be considered kind of refreshing though if they only do it this one time. I don't like it in excess. Rob does "Never turn your back on the ripper" in falsetto and not belted like in RITE (Rising in the east) but the ending scream is pretty good.
Prophecy.
This one's not included on the live album I got bundled (bought the three disc edition) so I guess I'll have to rip the idea. Laser beams on this song, green ones during the intro (Dawn of Creation) and Nostradamus backdrop. And BAM, drums enters and guitars starts to chug. This song is good, I liked Nostradaus. And damn, there goes some annoying video effects. I don't like that! Reminds me of Satriani's latest dvd, which looked like a 7-yaer old had edited it in Windows Movie Maker with the sole goal to have as many effects as possible. Satch's latest dvd is horrible editingwise. Loads of white lights now and still those damn effects abd sine if tgsie fading transitions but no double shots. The band performance on this song is good though, better than on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Graspop broadcast. Not quite as good high notes as on the Tcouh of Evil live but better middle voice singing (excellent even, kinda different than other live versions. I approve). Rob got one of thsoe damn leather long coats on now but still wearing the leather shirt and jeans. And here comes more of those annoying faded dual shots. Looks like there are going to be more of those. I don't approve. Rob mimes during the chant parts (those parts that doesn't sound like Rob sings but some other guy or possibly Rob with some pitch changing effect on. Still miming though!) which looks ridiculous and more of those damn transitions. Okay, now they are in excess. Take this with a pinch of salt though, I just hate these kinds of effects. Rob yells "THE VOICE OF GOD" in a pretty cool way during the end. Good performance. Hope he looses the coat now.
Hell Patrol.
Yes. Rob changed clothes all right. Looks horrible! Some weird shimmering coat with fabrics hanging. Awful. Rob is moving back and forth, synced with the rest. Kind of like KK does with his guiar although less cool. Good scream right before the dual harmonies with a pounding bass backing them up. This song is slightly better than the Graspop one too (Thankfully because Rob wasn't in shape during that gig. It was the 4th gig or so on the 2008 tour and it showed). Great falsetto scream during "ripping our hearts". No crowd showing during this song at all except the front row shoed during one shot. A lot of crowd shots right after though but pretty up front and showing the sides. No back shots at all so far.
Victim of Changes. Fantastic performance of this song. Excellent. Loads of lights and everybody moves around on stage during the classic riff. Rob enters from the side and gins the opeing line and pulls off a good scream, wearing one of those awful coats (...). The camera is focosuing on Rob, KK and Gleen pretty much throughout, showing Scott during the occasional fill. Rob walks back and forth. No standing still. I guess he bettered himself on that account after massive criticism from fans. He does seem to stroll around aimessly though. No 3 minute-long-three-note-solo by glenn this thime though but just a short passage. Good. A lot of flashing white lights. Too much (right when Rob enters and sings) but it stops when the solos starts. Pretty good camerawork, better than on RITE. Rob enters from the side again (after a long instrumental section), singing the "once she was mine" parts with a lot of timbre. A lot and now switched to ehad voiec for a second to go back to a timbred chest. Then the distorted guitars enters again and a massive crowd noise - Could be edited because the front row doesn't look that wild - There's some participation alright, but not that overly massive. Great Victim of Changes scream. Long and huge. Glenn starts soloing. Pretty effortlessly and he has removed his leather jacket by now. Awesome scream by Rob yet again (No! no! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and the song finishes soon after (with a few more screams).
The crowd chants "Priest, priest!" while the backdrop changes to a mix between the AoR loko, the american flag as well as the british flag. Rob enters on the motorcycle.
Time for Hell Bent for Leather. Naah, kidding.
Freewheel Burning
Rob is sitting on the motorcycle during this song. Switching between distorted falsetto and chest/head. Works pretty well. Not as good as the rubo concert of course, that performance was perfect (flawless transitions between the different ranges) but very good nevertheless. on par with the Jones Beach boot. Rob is wearing a leather cap and KK and Gleen struts around the stage, playing the song without mistakes. Again, some dual bass drum added. Green lasers again. works okay, blended with white lights. Dual solos now. The good thing with this concert is that the solo shots have always been very up close so you can see everything the guitarist is doing. A lot of the crowd are taking pcitures with their damn cell phones though. Doens't look as cool a 8000 horns in the air. The falsetto is too weak durign the "victory" part. It's not distorted and you have to do that or reinforce to make it sound good or both. he does neither this time. Thumbs down on that. Lots of lasers at the end and Glenn shreds Some sweeping and stuff. he acts pretty similarly to when playing Hell Bent for Leather.
Diamonds and Rust
Not that acoustic version but the electric. Really good performance. This hasn't been played like this in like 25 years. Silver coat now and pretty good footage of Scott's drumming. Finally. Glenn plays some tasty licks every now and then. Slow and tasty. Scott plays some double bass drum. I would've preferred a single drum even though it's only for short persiods of time. Rob stands next to the motorcycle on this ne. He could've moved a round a but I think. Two songs in a row. At the end of the songs KK highgfives some in the crowd and we get some big crowdshots for the first time, Looks like a fairly big crowd actually. Around 8000-9000
Rob talks a bit more now, asking if the crowd's been having as good time as he has and then starts talking about how much he loves the fans etc etc how they are doing everything for them and then starts his usual "oh oh oh yeeeah" crowd thing for a long time before You've Got Another Thing Coming kicks in.
You've Got Another Thing Coming
The crowd sings the beginning of the verse. First time I have heard that. Standard performance of that song as usual. I mean, it's like Run to the Hills. How much is there to say about it? Well, the crowd liked it, that's for sure. It's a hit song. The camera shifts angles quite fast. Still no Steve Harris and a couple of nice sreams by Rob. The band enjoyed themselves for sure and some really nice fills by Scott. KK played his red KxK and Glenn his white custom Hamer - His own design. KK still had his leather jacket on, same one as therest of the gig. No shame in that because it's a pretty damn awesome jacket. I also like his Priest cross necklace. I'm thinking of getting one like that made for myself. Been thinking about it for a year now. I will get one sooner or later.
All in all, this is a very good performance. Not the best from the tour, as far as bootlegs tells but above average. There were gigs that were more well attended but you have to take a lot of other stuff into consideration when you record a dvd: How much the band likes the venue, the acoustics, how easy it well be to film etc etc. The total running itme is 1:28 so it's a pretty short concert. I think they should've played one or two songs more because this set is shorter than their usual headliner set (like in 2008 etc). Some really gret dsitorted falsetto scraems during the concert but not as many belted screams and in Rite - Or at least less timbre but some wer really really great. I approve. I also generally approve of the editing although I hated those damn transitions. Good that they were only on a couple of tracks. I liked the close up shots a lot so I don't care about the lack of crowd shots. I guess there's a reason why they didn't have as many as usual. Maybe the crowd was rather tame. I also think they covered the lightnign problems during Rapid Fire up pretty well. The lighting was okay during the rest of the show although there were realtievely few lights to play around with.
Important: The audio is much, much better than on Rising in the East which was pretty bad, with one guitar mixed way lower than the other etc etc etc. The setlist was excellent although short and I approve of this dvd. The extra concent is a British Steel documentary - From the "classic albums" series. I haven't wacthed it so I don't know if there's any extra content.
Anyways, time for a rating. I rate this dvd 8/10.
Edit: The extra content is not the Classic album dvd but a newly recorded interview session, stretching 30 minutes.
A review I wrote just now. Guess what band?
Filmed in HD.
I'm currently watching it and I'm writing this as it comes along. I'm pleasantly surprised this far: The audio is great. Clear and crispy and that applies both to the 5.1. track as well as the stereo. The show starts off with Rapid Fire. However, something severely unexpected happened: There were pretty much no stage lights. The rig had malfunctioned and starts working again at the end of the song. They had solved this pretty cleverly with black and white shots and some Steve Harris-ish editing. That's the best they could do with the situation. The editing on the rest of the concert is fortunately pretty clear of the Steve Harris syndrome.
The vocal performance is pretty good on this song - Not quite as good as the Jones Beach gig I have bootleged. The ending scream of Rapid Fire on that is perfect: Some kind of belting while on the DVD Rob does it grittier. Still a great performance. Great solo trade offs!
Metal Gods is next. That has to be one of the best performances of said song since the reunion. It's tight, and well edited, except for a short shot where Glenn pulls the wammy bar down when the audio tells you he clearly doesn't.The "Better be the slaves" scream is magnificent. He usually pulls that off well but I found this to be the best effort I've heard so far. Glenn brings out his old 70's Strat on this one. The Fender with the mirror scratchplate he used in the 80's and 70's as well as his classic red trousers. Rob has gone for an all Denim look so far with a leather shirt under as well as a mikestand and shades. A welcome change from his damn leather coats. KK and Ian are wearing their usual leather suits. Rob strolls around mid stage, hold the mikestand stompin the beat with his feet and his body, moving back and forth with the beat. He seems to be enjoying himself.
Next is Breaking the Law, right after Halford talks a bit to the crowd. They are following the usual British Steel European tracklist and playing the entire album live followed by some other songs. Classic concert favorite. Rob moves more to the sides of the stage on this one and lets the audience sing the chorus and then moves to the next side of the stage, slowly while singing during the verse. The shots are pretty up front during this song, or the concert in general but unlike Rising in the East they are using some "flying" shots where the camera flies over the stage.
Note: I really like how Rob sings the final chorus. It adds a certain timbre to the song.
Grinder.
This is a fairly small gig (with Nicko McBrain attending which you can tell from bootleg shots). There's not really yhat much to say about this song. It sounds like on the British Steel album pretty much, only tuned down half a step. One thing that I would've liked to see camera-wise is better camera shots on the drums. It's too few shots and angles for my taste (except when Scott does massive, long drum solos). I would've liked a camera aiemd right down on the drums from the lightning rig, like on Maiden's Rock in Rio. Sadly, there is none. The crowdshots are pretty up close since the gig was fairly small. This makes it seem like a bigger crowd. I suppose this is why the shots of the stage are so up close. It does get a bit more initmate though so it's not a bad thing.
United.
Fifths song, and still the British Steel backdrop. I guess this is going to stay there until the British Steel part of the concert is finished. The crowd seems to be into this song, clapping hands and stuff. It is and old concert favorite as well, although it hasn't been played since the early 80's (exception is 2004 and 2001). The lights works pretty well. They are very rhytmic and mostly red and yellow and red during the chorus.
You don't have to be old to be wise.
I love this song and this performance. Britsh Steel isn' that hard album to sing or play so no wonder it's pretty flawless. By this time Rob has stopped with the mikestand and holds the microphone in his hand , waving about with the free hand. KK is the usual wild-cat during his short but energetic solo, strutting up and down, facial expression like he's having a really good time ( Tongue). Pretty much no crowd shots on this one. Could be because it got a mild reception? Can't really tell but let's say there were more people standing still than horns in the air. I personally loved the song so I don't get it.
Living after Midnight
Rob walks around the stage all the time during this song and KK and Glenn are moving in synchronization with I an Hill standing in the background wielding his bass. Make no mistake, he isn't relaxing, he's pouring his heart and soul into it even if he doesn't run around like Steve. A nice surpirse was that Rob screamed the part "I'm gonna blow you) in his distorted falsetto. Worked pretty well, although fairly gritty. The lights seem to be fairly simple in this song and I didn't pay attention to them apart from the excess of them moving up. They do that all the fucking time. Variation please? FUCK, THERE THEY DID IT 10 TIMES AGAIN. Crowd participation part now. All the crowd are into it this time "LOUDER!!! LOUDER!! KEEP IT GOING BABY", Halford exclaims and then the guitars enter again. I just noticed that the lightning rig also has two big Priest crosses covered in small lights. Cool!
The Rage
Starts off with Ian Hill's bass solo as usual. I like the bass sound on this concert. Kinda twangy with a lot of string sound. I've been waiting for this song so I'm excited. I love this song, with the. And there goes the guitars! Ian Hill is headbanging as usual with Rob entering from the side of the stage. I guess he took a drink inbetween. Green lights now. Rob sings this one with passion. I can tell for sure. His face deep in concentration, eyes clsoed. Contrary to earlier performances of this song during the tour, the phrase "let us be left aloooooone" is sung in a slightly a thick supported chest voice instead of belted. Might be because Rob struggled with that every now and then so he chose to do it perfectly this way instead of just pulling it off 100% most of the times but not all. The crowd doesn't seem too much into it. I can understand it: It's a great track but not that great for crowd participation. It's understandable for sure that there aren't 8000 horns in the air. It's not that kind of song. Doesn't mean they didn't like it though. A lot of synchronized moves in this one, with KK, Glenn and Ian!. KK pulls off his solo perfectly with oassion as usual on his KxK gutiar - His signature white (used a red one in the beginning) V with scalloped frets and maple neck. I think they are around 3000£. Rob enters roaring after the solo, wildly yelling his ass off in chest voice right after pulling of a long, belted scream!! Ian Hill seems into this song especially and SCott is wild on the china cymbal. So far KK has played the most solos, or at least he's the one I've noticed. Could be because the ones Glenn has played has motly been his standard Living After Midnight and Metal Gods solos, played to death by this time.
Steeler
Fucking awesome song with thunderous drum work. Scott has stayed true to the drumming on the original album except some added bits and pieces here and there which he's totally entiteld to do. Seems to be some double bass on this one (not on the album!). The band's performance on this song is flawless and the video shots are a bit fast now. Not Steve Harris-ish though, thankfully. Rob stands still a lot on this one, holding his mikestand, leaning back and forth but he's currently dancing and prancing around in time with the music. Kind of fun to watch. KK's oloing now and Rob does his trademarked interaction with the soloists and moves to Glenn's side now that it's time for Glenn's wammy bar diving solo. To be honest, it was more of wammy bar diving than an actual solo. Another solo by him, more wammy bar, with a dancin Rob in the middle. Damn they had fun during this song! Great to see Rob so active.
End of British Steel: Rob exclaims: So there you have it metalheads, all of British Steel and then asks them if they want ot hear some more Priest music.
The Ripper. AWESOME SCREAM. Almsot as good as the one on Rising in the East (that scream was perfect). A lot of close camera shots here and the lights are standing still, changing between red and blue every now and then .Glenn nails his solo and Rob seems to stand a lot more by the drums than usual during this concert - Second time he's stoof there for a significant period of time, interacting with Scott and then walsk forward pulling off a huge distorted scream and then into the verse again. Now the cameras got interesting: Got some of those annoying multiple angles shots like in Rising in the East - the sceen isn't divided like in that dvd but instead they blended together several shots at the same time so they showed what every band member was doing (a few at the same time, not all at once). Could be considered kind of refreshing though if they only do it this one time. I don't like it in excess. Rob does "Never turn your back on the ripper" in falsetto and not belted like in RITE (Rising in the east) but the ending scream is pretty good.
Prophecy.
This one's not included on the live album I got bundled (bought the three disc edition) so I guess I'll have to rip the idea. Laser beams on this song, green ones during the intro (Dawn of Creation) and Nostradamus backdrop. And BAM, drums enters and guitars starts to chug. This song is good, I liked Nostradaus. And damn, there goes some annoying video effects. I don't like that! Reminds me of Satriani's latest dvd, which looked like a 7-yaer old had edited it in Windows Movie Maker with the sole goal to have as many effects as possible. Satch's latest dvd is horrible editingwise. Loads of white lights now and still those damn effects abd sine if tgsie fading transitions but no double shots. The band performance on this song is good though, better than on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Graspop broadcast. Not quite as good high notes as on the Tcouh of Evil live but better middle voice singing (excellent even, kinda different than other live versions. I approve). Rob got one of thsoe damn leather long coats on now but still wearing the leather shirt and jeans. And here comes more of those annoying faded dual shots. Looks like there are going to be more of those. I don't approve. Rob mimes during the chant parts (those parts that doesn't sound like Rob sings but some other guy or possibly Rob with some pitch changing effect on. Still miming though!) which looks ridiculous and more of those damn transitions. Okay, now they are in excess. Take this with a pinch of salt though, I just hate these kinds of effects. Rob yells "THE VOICE OF GOD" in a pretty cool way during the end. Good performance. Hope he looses the coat now.
Hell Patrol.
Yes. Rob changed clothes all right. Looks horrible! Some weird shimmering coat with fabrics hanging. Awful. Rob is moving back and forth, synced with the rest. Kind of like KK does with his guiar although less cool. Good scream right before the dual harmonies with a pounding bass backing them up. This song is slightly better than the Graspop one too (Thankfully because Rob wasn't in shape during that gig. It was the 4th gig or so on the 2008 tour and it showed). Great falsetto scream during "ripping our hearts". No crowd showing during this song at all except the front row shoed during one shot. A lot of crowd shots right after though but pretty up front and showing the sides. No back shots at all so far.
Victim of Changes. Fantastic performance of this song. Excellent. Loads of lights and everybody moves around on stage during the classic riff. Rob enters from the side and gins the opeing line and pulls off a good scream, wearing one of those awful coats (...). The camera is focosuing on Rob, KK and Gleen pretty much throughout, showing Scott during the occasional fill. Rob walks back and forth. No standing still. I guess he bettered himself on that account after massive criticism from fans. He does seem to stroll around aimessly though. No 3 minute-long-three-note-solo by glenn this thime though but just a short passage. Good. A lot of flashing white lights. Too much (right when Rob enters and sings) but it stops when the solos starts. Pretty good camerawork, better than on RITE. Rob enters from the side again (after a long instrumental section), singing the "once she was mine" parts with a lot of timbre. A lot and now switched to ehad voiec for a second to go back to a timbred chest. Then the distorted guitars enters again and a massive crowd noise - Could be edited because the front row doesn't look that wild - There's some participation alright, but not that overly massive. Great Victim of Changes scream. Long and huge. Glenn starts soloing. Pretty effortlessly and he has removed his leather jacket by now. Awesome scream by Rob yet again (No! no! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and the song finishes soon after (with a few more screams).
The crowd chants "Priest, priest!" while the backdrop changes to a mix between the AoR loko, the american flag as well as the british flag. Rob enters on the motorcycle.
Time for Hell Bent for Leather. Naah, kidding.
Freewheel Burning
Rob is sitting on the motorcycle during this song. Switching between distorted falsetto and chest/head. Works pretty well. Not as good as the rubo concert of course, that performance was perfect (flawless transitions between the different ranges) but very good nevertheless. on par with the Jones Beach boot. Rob is wearing a leather cap and KK and Gleen struts around the stage, playing the song without mistakes. Again, some dual bass drum added. Green lasers again. works okay, blended with white lights. Dual solos now. The good thing with this concert is that the solo shots have always been very up close so you can see everything the guitarist is doing. A lot of the crowd are taking pcitures with their damn cell phones though. Doens't look as cool a 8000 horns in the air. The falsetto is too weak durign the "victory" part. It's not distorted and you have to do that or reinforce to make it sound good or both. he does neither this time. Thumbs down on that. Lots of lasers at the end and Glenn shreds Some sweeping and stuff. he acts pretty similarly to when playing Hell Bent for Leather.
Diamonds and Rust
Not that acoustic version but the electric. Really good performance. This hasn't been played like this in like 25 years. Silver coat now and pretty good footage of Scott's drumming. Finally. Glenn plays some tasty licks every now and then. Slow and tasty. Scott plays some double bass drum. I would've preferred a single drum even though it's only for short persiods of time. Rob stands next to the motorcycle on this ne. He could've moved a round a but I think. Two songs in a row. At the end of the songs KK highgfives some in the crowd and we get some big crowdshots for the first time, Looks like a fairly big crowd actually. Around 8000-9000
Rob talks a bit more now, asking if the crowd's been having as good time as he has and then starts talking about how much he loves the fans etc etc how they are doing everything for them and then starts his usual "oh oh oh yeeeah" crowd thing for a long time before You've Got Another Thing Coming kicks in.
You've Got Another Thing Coming
The crowd sings the beginning of the verse. First time I have heard that. Standard performance of that song as usual. I mean, it's like Run to the Hills. How much is there to say about it? Well, the crowd liked it, that's for sure. It's a hit song. The camera shifts angles quite fast. Still no Steve Harris and a couple of nice sreams by Rob. The band enjoyed themselves for sure and some really nice fills by Scott. KK played his red KxK and Glenn his white custom Hamer - His own design. KK still had his leather jacket on, same one as therest of the gig. No shame in that because it's a pretty damn awesome jacket. I also like his Priest cross necklace. I'm thinking of getting one like that made for myself. Been thinking about it for a year now. I will get one sooner or later.
All in all, this is a very good performance. Not the best from the tour, as far as bootlegs tells but above average. There were gigs that were more well attended but you have to take a lot of other stuff into consideration when you record a dvd: How much the band likes the venue, the acoustics, how easy it well be to film etc etc. The total running itme is 1:28 so it's a pretty short concert. I think they should've played one or two songs more because this set is shorter than their usual headliner set (like in 2008 etc). Some really gret dsitorted falsetto scraems during the concert but not as many belted screams and in Rite - Or at least less timbre but some wer really really great. I approve. I also generally approve of the editing although I hated those damn transitions. Good that they were only on a couple of tracks. I liked the close up shots a lot so I don't care about the lack of crowd shots. I guess there's a reason why they didn't have as many as usual. Maybe the crowd was rather tame. I also think they covered the lightnign problems during Rapid Fire up pretty well. The lighting was okay during the rest of the show although there were realtievely few lights to play around with.
Important: The audio is much, much better than on Rising in the East which was pretty bad, with one guitar mixed way lower than the other etc etc etc. The setlist was excellent although short and I approve of this dvd. The extra concent is a British Steel documentary - From the "classic albums" series. I haven't wacthed it so I don't know if there's any extra content.
Anyways, time for a rating. I rate this dvd 8/10.
Edit: The extra content is not the Classic album dvd but a newly recorded interview session, stretching 30 minutes.