So...I bought a ticket for $35 on Stubhub (less than face value).
I missed the opening band (The Temperance Movement) because (a) getting to the venue where they were playing (FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA) was a gigantic clusterfuck, and (b) I didn't care about the opnener.
I really enjoyed the Priest set. The set list is fantastic. They included four songs off the new album. I only bought the album about ten days ago, so I'm not real familiar with it, but they played my early favorite, "Rising from Ruins." The rest of the set was "classic" material (2 songs each from
British Steel, HBfL and
Vengeance and 1 song each from
Defenders,
Painkiller,
Point of Entry,
Sin after Sin and
Turbo).
No Glenn and no K.K. was a little odd -- especially since Richie seemed to be doing an intentional imitation of K.K. (although he did a good job at it). Richie handled probably 90% of the lead guitar work, and Andy Sneap was very much a sideman (kinda like Ian Hill
).
Rob is still Rob, but.... I really think he seriously needs to think about wrapping things up (at least as far as touring goes). Not only does he have difficulty with a lot of the iconic screaming, he moves around like a 67 year old man. With a lot of other bands, rewriting vocal melodies is fine, but the operatic style is the essence of who Rob Halford is. He also plays a bit of a character on stage. He could pull it off in the 80s and 90s, but I'm not so sure about it now.
I wouldn't go as far as to say it was "sad," but I do feel like it could become sad if they continue much longer, and I'm doubtful that I would go see them again.
It being a "school night," I did not stick around for Deep Purple. I was, however, able to hear the opening song ("Highway Star") pretty clearly on my way out to the car, and it sounded pretty good. The vocals were the part I could hear least well, but it sounded like Gillan was singing pretty well. After seeing the rest of the set list, I'm glad I didn't stick around.