Judas Priest October 26, 2014 Charter Amphitheatre Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA Redeemer of Souls North American Tour 2014 Tradeable
1 Blu-Ray CBG / Silver Stallion Audience CBG Master Sony HDR-HC1 HD camcorder; NTSC, 16:9 PAR, 29.97 fps; 1440x1080 HD master tape transferred to harddrive via a firewire using a Sony HDR-HC1 HD camcorder; encoded to blu-ray HD MPEG2 in Sony Vegas Video Pro 13 at 30K max, 25K avg, 20K min; 16:9 PAR, NTSC. NTSC 16:9 98:39 min
Silver Stallion Yes Yes 1 1
Dragonaut
Metal Gods
Devil's Child
Victim Of Changes
Halls Of Valhalla
Love Bites
March Of The Damned
Turbo Lover
Redeemer Of Souls
Beyond The Realms Of Death
Jawbreaker
Breaking The Law
Hell Bent For Leather
Wo Wo Wo Yeah!
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Living After Midnight
Defenders Of The Faith
Taper Notes: This is a band that I have only filmed a few times because of unplanned circumstances but a band that I really like and wish I had done more of their shows. It has been a long quarter century since I saw this band too. Since I left the northeast, I have had very few times to actually see them. Judas Priest rarely comes through my area. And this time, they decided to play an amphitheatre that is really off the beaten path of the summer concert series that comes to major cities like Charlotte and Atlanta. So I am going to give it a go and decide to just get a ticket at the show because I wasn’t going to go if it was storming with rain. This place has no cover for the seated area or the lawn, of course. So I waited until the show day and drove down to the show. Out front, it was sparse. I mean, there was hardly anyone there. I am thinking, there is no way I am going to be able to stand and film this. I will be picked out immediately. Then while standing there, I was looking for a ticket from someone that had an extra and was thinking to pay $10 for one. Someone tells me a guy over there has a ticket, so I step towards the guy and ask if he has one extra and he hands me a ticket for free. He says, just take it. Cool. So now I am thinking how do I film this. I see some people carrying folding chairs into the venue and I am like, damn, I just took two folding chairs out of my truck bed like a day ago. But the warm up band, Steel Panther, hasn’t played yet. I look at security searching people on the walk in and they have metal detector paddles (has to be because it is a Metal band). So I decide on a different plan…I leave the venue, tell the parking girl that I forgot my medicine and she said to just come back to her and she would let me back in to park without recharging me $10 to park again. Cool. So I drive home, which is about 20 minutes, get one of my folding chairs, and drive back to the venue.
I plan to sit on the lawn in the chair and put the camcorder in my lap and film. I walk up to the gates with the chair and think I am going to me metal detector searched but all the security guys are gone. One entrance is open and Steel Panther is finishing up their set. There are all kinds of four letter words coming out of the PA and it was funny because the two ticket takers are old ladies in their 70’s or 80’s. It was like the singer was cussing in front of his own grandma. I told them, geez, this guy has a real foul mouth, huh? And they say, it has been like this the whole show and frown. Ha. They don’t search me and I am in. So I go to a spot on the lawn and there must be 50-100 people total on the lawn. Heck, there were as many people on the lawn as there were at my Super Bowl Party! Most of the seats are full with people inside the seated area, but no one is on the lawn. I check out the camera sitting in the chair and putting it in my lap, but you can’t get a good line of sight to the stage without the people standing on the floor obstructing you somewhat. That stinks. So I am thinking, what am I going to do. If I go up higher in the lawn, I will be all by myself and there are some cops and security guys wallking around up there...so I had to stay where I was down close to the stage. Then, I just think, just go for it. When the show intro comes on, I just stand up all by myself on the lawn and start filming. I had the camcorder to my face the whole time. There was no one around me. I was wide out in the open. The band was great and the sound was great in the open air. Rob Halford’s voice was great. The crowd was packed on the floor but no one was on the lawn. It made for an interesting dynamic. It was almost like the noise was up front and they were playing for me alone, like in my garage. There was no noise around me. There was no one around me. Twice a guy that was changing out trash bags in trash cans walked right by me and looked at me and did nothing. I ended up getting the whole show. Sometimes shows go like that, where everything is perfect, and sometimes they are one problem after another. This was one of those nights where it all just became easy. I still was nervous so wide open, but it went off without a hitch. So, Enjoy the Priest as they pull into Simpsonville at 1am, Rollin’. CBG5150 Posted to DIME 2017-02-20.
