Review: Judas Priest, Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Words and photos by Dave Lawrence

HEAVY Metal royalty in the form of Judas Priest were the latest band to take the stage at Scarborough Open Air Theatre last night.

Birmingham’s metal gods were here to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their classic Painkiller album. They also performed material from their fine 2024 release Invincible Shield and threw in an abundance of classic tracks from their extensive career.

The band delivered a bone crushing performance that those who witnessed it will cherish for a long time.

Before the band arrived on stage the PA played War Pigs, the band’s regular tribute to the hugely influential Black Sabbath.

Halford and bassist Ian Hill are the only two original band members still touring but guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap do great jobs and drummer Scott Travis can hardly be considered a newcomer having joined in 1990.

Halford, wearing a heavily studded black leather frock coat paced the stage as they band launched into a killer version of All Guns Blazing. Resembling a metal priest with his shaven head, nose ring, extravagant beard and shades he moved close to each guitarist make spell casting gestures as they shredded away on their instruments.

Hell Patrol followed and had the audience going wild much to Halford’s delight as he yelled to his acolytes, “Hello metal maniacs, your priest is back!”

The band didn’t take their foot off the throttle although Halford removed his shades and swapped jackets regularly before leading the band through an awesome version of one of their signature songs, Another Thing Coming.

A couple of fan favourites, Breaking the Law from 1980’s British Steel album and Freewheel Burning came early in the set and the band showed they had plenty in reserve by performing Solar Angels a song from the early eighties.

The stage set, light show and screens were spectacular, and the sound was punishingly loud with the twin guitars cutting through Hill’s bass and Travis’s double kick bass drumming.

Introducing Giants in the Sky, Halford paid tribute to the late Ozzy Osborne saying “It’s been a tough 24 hours. But Ozzy would want us to be out together, enjoying ourselves and having a good time. We Love you Ozzy”.

During the song – a tribute to musicians now gone – the screen displayed images of the likes of Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy, Freddie Mercury, Taylor Hawkins and Christine McVie finishing on two gigantic images of Ozzy.

During Hell Bent for Leather we got the smoke, the thunderous revving, and yes, we got Halford arriving on stage astride a Harley Davidson wearing a leather cap with a riding crop clenched between his teeth.

Wrapping up a superb performance the metal gods returned to the British Steel album and Living After Midnight.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons opened the show. Campbell was Motorhead’s guitarist from 1984 until Lemmy’s death in 2015 when Campbell set up the new band which features his three sons, Todd, Dane and Tyla. Their set warmed us up nicely, particularly their takes on the Motorhead songs Going to Brazil and Ace of Spades.