I gotta say, if that’s the last time I ever get to see Priest live, they left a pretty good impression.  On their Epitaph tour, they played for a solid two-and-a-half hours, covering every album from Rocka Rolla to Nostradamus–except for the Ripper Owens stuff, which is no big loss.  Of course, some records got more coverage than others *cough*British Steel*cough* but I think they made the most of their allotted time, knowing that the venue wouldn’t let them play past 11 even if they had more juice in the tank.

Now, I can understand the need for “Turbo Lover,” even if I was one of the few who wasn’t singing along, but did anybody really come there thinking “Man, I hope they play ‘Blood Red Skies’ offa Ram it Down tonite!”?  On the other hand, “The Ripper,” “Sinner” and “Exciter” were all missing in action, and the fact that “The Sentinel” was the only cut culled from Defenders of the Faith was a little disappointing, to say nothing of Halford’s revised chorus on said number.  That said, “Victim of Changes,” “Beyond the Realms of Death” and “Never Satisfied” were all welcome additions to the set, and it was cool to hear such unusual suspects as “Night Crawler” and “Starbreaker,” as well.  I was slightly bemused that Halford would praise the virtues of the band’s debut before launching into the lone cut from Rocka Rolla, though.  Last time I checked, Priest still didn’t own the rights to that album, and they aren’t even receiving royalties from it.  (Personally, I own a 1993 CD reissue on the ever-reputable Repertoire label that was licensed from Gull, not the band itself.)

The stage setup was equally immaculate, a chain-adorned platform with props like tridents and disco balls, and a video screen showing past album covers as well as some specific animated backdrops for certain tunes, such as an evil eyeball on “Electric Eye”.  Most impressive was the laser show, seemingly on loan from The Pink Floyd Experience.  Not many bands use lasers anymore–but they should, cuz laser beams are freakin’ sweet!

I actually made it to the venue shortly after six, which is when the gig actually started, as stated on the ticket, and was thus disappointed that the floors weren’t general admission, though I knew this ahead of time.  Had that been the case, however, there’s no way there woulda been 22 rows of people in front of me!  Alas, the view from FLR L 23 wasn’t that bad.  This crappy camera-phone shot hardly does it justice…

(On that note, I should mention that half the current members of Thin Lizzy weren’t even old enough to drink when Jailbreak came out in ’76. And that’s all I gotsta say about that…)