Check out Eddie Trunk's review of the Metal Masters Tour when it hit NJ!
8/11/08: Caught the Metal Masters tour at PNC in NJ this past Saturday night. As I've said since this tour was announced, I think it's the package of the Summer, and to me it lived up to it's billing. I missed Testament as they went on at 5:30 and only play a half hour, but I did see them already on this tour and they sounded great. Also had the chance to hang with all the guys for a bit after they played and they said things are going well with a better turn out to see them on weekend dates since they go on so early on this tour. Motorhead played for almost an hour. What can you say about this band? They are as consistent as any group I have ever seen. Always loud, always no nonsense heavy, and in your face. Lemmy is simply amazing and it was so cool to see so many young kids in Motorhead shirts bangin to Ace Of Spades and other classics. H&H was up next. Really cool looking stage set. The band did a 75 minute set with equal parts of all three of the Dio albums. Highlights were Sign Of The Southern Cross, Mob Rules, Children Of The Sea and of course Heaven & Hell. Ronnie James Dio was as inredible as ever! I was sitting first row and watched some on stage, and he is just dead on and has lost nothing! The band as a whole has really come together since the reunion a couple years ago. You can see everything is really clicking, they are all getting along, and they are all excited about the new music they are working on. Expect that out sometime next year. The crowd was upset when the show ended since the band didn't do Neon Knights. It was planned as the encore however it was cut due to time issues. Both Sabbath and Priest are working on adjusting their set in the early part of this tour to make sure they don't run overtime (very costly!). H&H were simply great. My only issue would be that I would much rather have an extra song or two in the set then a guitar or drum solo spot. Even though those solos were cool, rather have more songs in a shorter set especially. Finally Priest took the stage. Place was packed and there was a great buzz in the place. After seeing a little taste of Priest at my party I was pumped for the full show! The guys in Priest were nice enough to leave me front row tickets, which I found out was a blessing and a curse! Great to have nothing in front of you but the bands, but the sound was painfully loud, even with plugs. I watched half of H&H and Priest from this spot, the rest from the sound board. Priest crushed. They opened with Prophecy from the new CD, which was the only track they featured from the new album (I was hoping for Death as well, but again, time is an issue). Other highlights were Dissident Aggressor, Devils Child, Metal Gods, Angel, and Hell Bent For Leather. Also, for years Priest has looked over Defenders Of The Faith. That has been corrected this time around with Rock Hard Ride Free and Eat Me Alive included. To be honest, not the songs I would have picked from that CD, but still great to hear live. Its so tough for Priest with 35 years of music to do an hour and a half set, but they sounded awesome and they truly are one of the defining bands in the history of metal. To see them and H&H on the same night is a rare treat, not to mention to hear Dio and Halford sing back to back! I spoke to all the guys briefly at some point in the night and had a good hour or so chat with my dear friend Mr Dio about music and football to close the night.
The Priest guys told me they had a blast playing my party and being that close to a crowd has inspired them to maybe do some more special club shows at some point. Be sure to take a look at all the photos and video on my site from the party, more are coming. Also the roast video which was featured on the screens is up now for you to check out. Thanks to all the bands that did that for me. Good thing I have a thick skin! Geez, you'd think I was 500 pounds from that thing!! It really is funny and I thank them for all the nice comments at the end.
Also ran into the guys from Anvil backstage. They were hanging in Lemmy's dressing room and told me about the new documentary film on them making the rounds. Incredible bands, incredible night for metal. Be sure to get to this tour if you can! it's only about 15 shows long. I hope to make one more before it wraps.
ET
