Concert Review
Halford - Live At The Rave
Milwaukee, WI, October 12, 2000
Reviewer and Picture Maker: Jesse
Halford Live: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Bad (always goes first)
The opening band was totally useless. I didn't care to catch their
name, but I can tell you that they were of your basic mallcore variety. C'mon
Rob, you've "resurrected" yourself from the pits of industrial
music hell and you're back to where you belong!!! Why not get a REAL
(Nevermore) METAL (Nevermore) band (Nevermore) to open (Nevermore) the
freakin' show (Nevermore)???!!!
Next on the list. The mix was muddled and sort of
sucked!!! The guitars were buried somewhere in the back o' the mix
and Rob's vocals weren't that far out front either!!! Now if the mix
is GOOD, I don't mind blowing my eardrums to kingdom freakin' come, but
this mix wasn't really worth the damage to my hearing. Maybe I'm
getting old, but I'm seriously thinkin' about some custom ear plugs...
Oh, I almost forgot, Rob skipped the insane, vocal opening
to the title track, RESURRECTION!!! They just started from the
guitar beginning of that particular song, which happened to be the first
song of the night (surprise, surprise). I guess that's okay, but I
had imagined him singing that part from behind the stage (with the lights
out) AND THEN the guitars come crashing in, along with the lights, band
arrival, etc. Rob, if you're reading this (one can wish, can't
they?), take my advice and include the opening vocal part...PLEASE!!!
The Ugly
The ugly award goes to one very drunk asshole who almost ruined the night
for me!!! Why didn't I leave his space? Well, for starters, I
was right up front and wasn't about to give up MY SPACE!!! And
another thing, I wanted to be near the guy, 'cause I was seriously
contemplating beating him senseless. Why? He spilled his beer
over some poor girl's head and then continued on to grope her as he
drunkenly apologized. He also kept repeating these weird, spastic
movements that were totally unnecessary. Basically, his actions went
far beyond what one might call "fan appreciation." Why
didn't I become involved? Here are a few of the reasons why:
First and foremost, I DID NOT WANT TO BE KICKED OUT OF THE
VENUE!!! I HAD WAITED ALL MY LIFE TO SEE THIS MAN AND I WASN'T GONNA
LET "DRUNK FUCK" RUIN IT FOR ME (although he tainted it...a
little bit).
For awhile, I thought he might be mentally disabled and
maybe he wasn't completely aware of the impact his actions had upon
others. Although this may have been the case, I discounted it after
awhile. Why? 'Cause, nut-job or not, he was out of fucking
line!!!
The girl who was the recipient of the beer spill and
repeated groping had a boyfriend right by her side. I'm sorry, but
anyone does that to my girlfriend and his ass is gonna be on the fucking
floor (and my ass is gonna be escorted to the door!!!). I'm not
trying to be a hardass!!! This is just a normal protective reaction
I and many other males of the species have when their girlfriends are
fucked with. So here I was, waiting for the boyfriend to take some
action and...NOTHING!!! However, by not doing anything about it, he
basically łallowed˛ the drunk guy to grope his girlfriend. What a
schmuck!!!
I wasn't about to run to authority and verbally
tattle-tale on this fuck, but I and countless others motioned to security
and pointed this guy out!!! Security didn't do jack shit, except to
give the guy warnings. What kind of security was this??? I'm afraid
this seems to be the case all over the freakin' place. And you know
what? When a guy like me decides to do something about it, he ends
up getting tossed out along with the fucking loser who started the whole
thing in the first place. I wasn't gonna be that guy...not tonight,
but it's ripping me apart thinking about it and what I might have done
(and probably should have done).
Note: I like havin' a drink as much as the next guy, but I
know my limits. Out of control drunks REALLY get my blood boiling!!!
Sorry for the language.
The Good
I was about five feet from Rob all night and I took tons
of pics!!! EvilG (THANKS MAN!!!) managed to get me a photo pass and two
free tix!!! Talk about the perks of the job!!! (Editor's
comment: No problem Jesse, we should consider ourselves VERY lucky for
this honor 'cause apparently a lot of people have been turned down for
press privileges!) Most importantly, Rob and band played
some CLASSIC Priest and that's a pretty AMAZING thing!!! Here's the
set list:
THE SHOW
Resurrection
Made in Hell
Locked and Loaded
Into the Pit
Nailed to the Gun
Stained Class (AWESOME!!!)
Jawbreaker
Running Wild
Slow Down
Savior
Hellion/Electric Eye
Riding on the Wind
Genocide
ENCORES
Metal Gods
Tyrant
Pretty KICK ASS set list, huh? To pick the best from
the PRIEST catalog is a pretty subjective task. However, I think Rob
did a pretty fantastic job of picking some timeless cuts!!! I could
have done without the FIGHT stuff, but it was alright. They got a
dwarf (a roadie) to get up and sing, INTO THE PIT and he sang the shit out
of it!!! As far as the RESURRECTION material goes, I think the new
songs transferred really well into a live setting. I mean the crowd
REALLY got into 'em!!! Sometimes you will notice a hush fall over a
crowd when new material is brought out, but this was not the case here.
Rob, I think, has some fantastic new material to work with and one
can only hope that he adds to it in the future!!! One GLARING
omission to the set list was SILENT SCREAMS. Talk about
side-stepping a freakin' HUGE song!!! I mean, that was one of the
cuts that blew my head off the first time I listened to the new album!!!
Oh well, Halford is off to Europe, then Japan and then right back to
the good ol' U.S.A. I shall be there and nothing can stop me!!!
Oh and one more thing, drunk guy, if you're out there, I'll be
lookin' for you...
Halford Pics
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