I saw them in Birmingham. They were shit. The Scorpions blew them off stage. Halford shuffled around the stage like a depressed zombie, and spent one entires song sitting on a bike and staring at the handlebars. It was obvious: he didn't want to be there. A hometown gig with possibly the biggest currently-active metal band to come out of Birmingham, but he didn't want to be there. I saw Halford solo when he supported Iron Maiden, and it's like two different people - no fire or enthusiasm from him this time round. As for the rest of them, all the guitar solos sounded like a dial-up modem, and though to their credit, the others seemed to be trying a little bit harder than Baldy, they could hardly make up for him.
Don't get me wrong, I went crazy for "Painkiller" and enjoyed "Breaking The Law" but I was sorely disappointed overall, and I got the impression that most of the rest of the crowd were too. A lot of people left before the end. The people in the seating stayed on their arses most of the night. Compared to the Scorpions, who kept it electric for the whole set and had the entire arena singing along for "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Rock You Like A Hurricane" and fistfuls of other classic metal tunes...Priest didn't even come close.
To recap: Priest sucked balls, but it was worth it to see the Scorpions.
