This "guy" with fancy pants, "nice boots", whip, aviators...wierd moves...is a LEGEND OF HEAVY METAL. Just named a Metal God, Mr. Rob Halford. Still rockin' at 70's old age!!
@OlettaLiano People always ask for that racket, when they have a whole back catalogue of superior material. It always seems to be the younger fans that rave about it !
Fun story: 1983, 17-year-old me was playing my guitar to this song along with the record. My mom happened to walk past just as Rob sang the line, "The engine roars between my thighs". My mom said, "Well, he's certainly full of himself!" I was all, "IT'S A MOTORCYCLE! HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIS MOTORCYCLE!"
@@chrissarina981 My first concert was Kiss with Judas Priest a couple of years before that! Took me a little while to jump in with both feet but I was sold after that!
I missed them for this tour I hope I get the chance to see them again, Rob Halford is the metal god for a reason and even at 70 he will still put all those kids now to shame
This is a song about the surveillance society, from 1982, if memory doesn't fail me... P.s. Don't ignore the recent Priest catalog, the last three albums are not groundbreaking, but for sheer quality, are some of the very best.
It's about surveillance cameras. Inspired by the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four As for their outfits. When they were looking for a new edgier look Rob Halford suggested they'd go to a shop that catered to the leather subculture and that's how the 70s gay scene forever influenced heavy metal as leather and studs and dressing as exaggerated caricatures of manly men is still the goto look for metal. Then we have the glam days where guys started borrowing from the 80s female ideals. But in a way it started with The Beatles rebelling by having long hair. Rock and Metal has a long history of challenging and rebelling against cultural expectations
Priest one of the very best of Metals bands of all time. Incredible shows and devout fans all withstanding the test of time. The 80’s were historic in talent, ingenuity, improvisation, respect to the past and the launch of multiple sub-genres of Rock for decades forward. Lucky to have seen JP multiple times. Always a great show!
Judas Priest performing 'Desert Plains' Live Vengeance '82 is one of their best performances! Clean high B naturals, excellent display of distortion, amazingly high reinforced falsetto screams, and an awesome, awesome ending. Plenty of reactors have done videos on Victim of Changes and Painkiller, but Desert Plains always gets overlooked. It is fucking excellent both lyrically and sonically.
US Festival 1983 at Glen Helen Park, San Bernardino on Metal Day. It was over 100 degrees and we didn’t care. It was awesome and will never be surpassed. Priest set the bar high for all that followed them.
Blood Red Skies is still my favorite. JP has lots of hits. I'll give you a few that aren't the most popular, but are great regardless: The Sentinel, Riding On the Wind, & Diamonds & Rust (cover). (Too many to list really).
First time I saw Priest in 10th grade in February’83 was the good ol days of general admission. I was front row with my right ear maybe a foot away from the tower of speakers. My ears rang for a week and a half
Hey Ken...Watch the live version of VICTM OF CHANGES MEMPHIS 1982..THE SCREAM FOR VENGEANCE TOUR and you'll definitely hear why Halford is a legend..Peace from the Northeast..
This song is about spy satellites. "Up here in space, I'm looking down on you", "Electric eye... in the sky... I keep the country clean..." BADASS SONG!!
The official Judas Priest - Painkiller Video (the black and white one, 70 million views, or the newer lyric video) gives you a much better impression of Rob Halfords incredible vocal abilities
A fabulous performance by not just Rob, but the band as a whole. They seem to be energized by the large crowd and seemingly playing relieved and happy.
Never heard Judas Priest and "Electric Eye" is the first song to react to ?... I APPROVE ! "Electric Eye" may not be everyone's first choice for best song... but the calibre of their music is so consistently high that "Electric Eye" is still a perfect song !... and perfectly indicative of their music... especially in the sweet spot of their career ! And the '83 US Festival was such an awesome performance !... You picked a great one here !
Rob Halford is well known as being able to go very high. He doesn't really flex it much in this particular song, but there are plenty where he does. Do more songs off Screaming for Vengeance, it's a great album. Maybe the title track or Devil's Child. I would say go with the album versions though. If you really want to see him live, there's a version of Victim of Changes they do at like that same concert that's superb. But yeah, do more Judas Priest. They are very under-represented in these kinds of videos. They're a cornerstone of Heavy Metal and with great innovated and influence, but they feel over looked to me these days.
I've seen them live in june last year and they still slap hard and extremely loud. I had trouble hearing for two days after the concert but it was so worth it...
If you want more of Rob Halfords, then listen to him perform a song called "Silent Screams" and you will be blown away.. again Rob Halford: Silent Scream. He is definitely one of the greatest metal vocalist along with DIO, Geoff Tate, Bruce Dickinson.
The Electric Eye is a reference to the Surveillance State. And this song was written in the early 80s. They saw back then what the world was coming to.
Probably not the best first Judas Priest song to show Rob's vocals the man has a killer falsetto. The singer is one of the only out gay men in metal ( not that we care, just FYI), out in 1991) Do Painkiller, then you will get it!!!
I saw them in concert in the 80s and remember an interview where he said in the early career it was a don’t ask don’t tell type of attitude. He said he didn’t want to push his sexuality to the front of the bands success or failure. Let the metal and music be a unified theme.
The least surprising coming out of all time... Rob Halford: "So, I've got to tell all the fans... I'm gay." The fans: "Yeah Rob... We know. We've always known. It's cool. You rock."
I've seen priest live three times and after every concert my ears would be ringing for 3 days I've Stood Beside those Marshalls at a concert I was like 3 ft away and I'm pretty sure the speakers were real I could feel the air pressure change around me they were so loud❤
4:02 Yes, the Marshalls are real but only a couple of them per musician are actually hooked and mic'ed (here apparently the second and the 6th (starting from the left). In this particular concert, the Marshall heads do not seem to be working, only the 4 speakers cabinets are live and probably connected to Marshall heads backstage. All the other are there just for the look.
I'm quite surprised you haven't done any more Priest. The official Painkiller video vocals will likely blow you away, and any live video from the Fuel For Life tour will show you the band at the height of their musical, vocal, and performance levels. There's tons of other videos to check out, including Victim Of Changes from this same concert, and many others that have been mentioned in previous comments.
At this time the Marshalls would more than likely still be loaded with speakers. Early PAs at rock concerts were often only carrying the signal for vocals and the 100 watt Marshall’s purpose was to fill arenas and festivals with enough volume for the guitars to be heard. Slayer in particular would eventually do away with full stacks and only have the lower cabs. As many as 6 lower cabs on each side of the stage. Kerry, Jeff, and later Gary would run multiple amp heads in these cabinets. Head 1 into cab 1 and 3 - Head 2 into cab 2 and 4 etc. Tube amps, even duplicates of the same model can sound different enough that a guitar player might find it advantageous to blend multiple amps for a fuller sound. In the studio this can actually be even more elaborate. To achieve a unique guitar tone that takes advantage of the differing voices of say a Peavey 5150 with a Marshall JCM 800 to highlight the best part of the heads in a way they compliment each other. This blending can either done with both (or more) amps mic’ed up and played at once for a more rock sound. In a different technique more Modern styles of metal the rhythm guitars might be recorded several times through the same or different amps. The slight differences in playing on each take stacked on each other in the mix can make the guitars sound thicker which is the goal. James Hetfield famously would record four tracks on all rhythm parts for Metallica.
To my knowledge; having lots of amps actually had a purpose before better PA systems, which could handle full mixes, were a thing. Once you could mic up any amp rig and pump it through the sound system, there was no need for all the amps to push the guitar sound to the back of the venue. But the stage looks way cooler with a bunch of amps so there'd be all sorts of false cabs and such (like you mentioned) to help fill the estestic on stage. It's rock n roll xD
Yeah baby. 1982. I saw this tour in Toronto Canada. My ears rang for two weeks afterward. They are super loud and it was an indoor show. Rob Halfords pipes are completely clean. This is a little ditty about electronic surveillance.
New to the channel but loving your metal reactions. Thougth I should suggest 'Judas Priest - Painkiller'. You asked about other suggestions of Judas Priest so that would be the best imo. Keep up the good work bro. \m/
This was at the '83 US Festival in Glen Helen Regional Park. I was there and Priest was pretty damn good. at the time it was biggest attended festival in history. It's been estimated that there were around 375,000 ppl there that day and I believe it. it was just an ocean of ppl as far as the eye could see. amazing festival in the brutal heat. lol
The wall of speaker cabinets was a 70's thing. Audio equipment was lacking so it was a wall of sound. By this time there was one, possibly two cabinets used. All you need to do is look where the mic is positioned to spot the real cabinet(s). Today, many put the actual cabinets behind the stage because of monitor improvements and everything other than the drums are fake. It really depends on the player these day and how loud they wish the stage to be. Drums are loud, so many don't put anything else on stage.
I was at US FESTIVAL 83 in Devore ca..(San Bernardino) Badass Awsome concert Scorpions kicked ass Van Halen shredded "Eddie"..seeing this brought back some memories😎 unless you were there you wouldn't get it..
Fry scream happens when his voice is fried after touring too many cities. His scream is usually very clean and clear and really quite a bit higher. Maybe he's holding back to protect his voice because doing that every night is rough. Watch the video for Sinner.
The 1983 US Festival at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino, CA. It was May and it was hot. Really hot. It was the Heavy Metal day. There were about 300,000 of us that day. Did I mention that it was hot? Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Triumph, Scorpions, Judas Priest (I’m sure I’m forgetting bands) and headlined by SoCal’s own Van Halen. Good times.
There are countless songs where he produces those screams. This one is not very impressive. Check out Victim of Changes, Sinner, Devils Child or Desert Plains from Live Vengeance 82 in Memphis. There is honestly no one that sounds like Rob And the crazy thing is that he can do those insane screams on their current tour at age 70. 🤯
Wow...I wore this album out playing it so much. It is my favorite Priest album...by far! And it is an awesome driving album; I played this over and over when I drove across country in the Fall of '82. You can play the whole album, but at least try: Devil's Child__Fever__Bloodstone__Pain and Pleasure__(Take These) Chains. ←Some will notice I suggested those many would never. First time I saw them Live was on my 21st B-Day at the US Festival '83 in San Berdoo...the very same concert you are watching in this video. Was a really good concert with really good bands.
Talking about their costumes, it's about 70's and 80's gay aesthetic. Rob Halford is a recognized gay and introduced this aesthetic to the band as a result of his hobbies
Yes, Rob is gay, & yes, he created the leather & chains heavy metal aesthetic. I think most fans had no idea he was gay in 1982, when this song was released - certainly I didn't when I got to know the band as a young teen in the mid-80s. But those close to him knew, including his band mates, but they accepted him. When he came out publicly in 1998, my perception is that very few fans cared at all - certainly I didn't, because I loved him for his art, not for his sexual orientation, about which I'm indifferent. "Electric Eye" is an excellent song, & this is an excellent performance, but, as many other commenters have pointed out, it is not one of the more impressive Judas Priest songs vocally. If you randomly drew Judas Priest song titles out of a hat, you'd get a more vocally challenging song about 95% of the time. Numerous commenters are recommending "Painkiller". That's probably Rob's most extreme vocal performance, & it's certainly impressive. However, it's also alienating for the uninitiated & not very representative of the Judas Priest catalog or of Rob's influence on the genre. I'd recommend something earlier, like "Run of the Mill", "Dreamer Deceiver", "Victim of Changes", "Beyond the Realms of Death", "Rock Forever", "The Rage", "Desert Plains", "Fever", "Night Comes Down", "Out in the Cold", "Blood Red Skies". That's one song from every album before they split up when Rob came out, except for Sad Wings of Destiny because I couldn't choose between "Dreamer Deceiver" & "Victim of Changes". BTW, the Marshalls are real - ask anyone who's seen them live.
Rob Halford is known for his high notes and how he does it depends on the song, so many great tracks hard to find a bad song in their lineup. yes definitely need more priest!
I prefer the "Live from the 'Fuel for Life' Tour" version of this song from the "Priest... Live!" concert video. That entire concert is killer. Check out videos from that film: "Out In the Cold," "Love Bites," "The Sentinel," "Electric Eye," "Turbo Lover," "Desert Plains," "The Green Manalishi" are great showcases of Rob's range. All these "Live from the 'Fuel for Life' Tour" videos are available on YT from the band's official channel.
Saw Priest and Maiden on the Screaming/Number tour. O.M.G. - one of the best double-bills ever. Also got to see Halford at The Whiskey in the early 90's. Metal God indeed.
Mr. Ken, this is by far not 'vintage Priest;' this is early 80s, post British Steel, Arena Rock Priest. At this point, their sound had been greatly watered-down from a more Prog-Rock to Arena Rock. If you want to see what Rob Halford can, actually, do, check-out Victim of Changes from their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1975. Regarding their outfits, yes, it's standard 80s silliness, agreed; however, Rob's isn't, because he is a gay leatherman (he came-out in 1998). I didn't know that until years later when I moved to Toronto, and met other gay metal-head types (I, myself, am bisexual). I'm 50 and grew-up in small town Ontario. So, I didn't have the exposure to such things as my friends who grew-up in Toronto did. Having been in places like The Black Eagle, I can can assure you it's standard gay leathermen attire. Yes, it's a bit over-the-top with all the shiny shit; but, at base, that's the look. Knowing what I know, now, I'm surprised I missed it (as did most straight folk). As for his 'moves,' he's not faking it: Halford's a raging Queen; he always has been. I know, he's got all that leather, steel, and chains; but I don't think Freddie Mercury ever wore as big a tiara as Halford has. Any rate, a great review, Mr. Ken. Best! J
It's true this isn't early proggy Priest but a more mainstream, streamlined version of their 70s sound. Anyway, I think most of you kind of overrate the 'watered-down' part of it. This is not far from what well respected classic heavy metal bands like Saxon, Accept or even Dio or Ozzy themselves where doing. Lots of early 80s metal was pretty much like that, even proggy bands like Maiden had their more arenarock-like moments by then (Running Free, as an example). I don't see people complaining about how Wheels of Steel, Breaker or Blizzard of Ozz are watered-down 70s metal.
I saw them on the Painkiller tour and it was the loudest night of my life. And I've seen so many live bands. Rob Halford's range is shown on Painkiller and Touch of Evil. Electric Eye doesn't show his range
But It's time for another Nightwish song. It's been a while 😉Please check out 'the poet and the pendulum' official live video from 2015. It's a masterpiece. And the lyrics are so powerful!
