 And we are, we're live, live on The Metal Voice, a special edition Judas Priest North American tour edition. All the guys are here from the show in Montreal, Canada, but we're not only gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about- We missed a few here. I'm sorry? We, there was quite a few of us. Yes, there was. To say the least. I don't know, was there, who else? Be high, I saw me high, I was in a van. I was there with my cousin. Everybody I went to high school with. Everyone I went to high school to grew up with since the show was in LaValle. There was a lot of people. I didn't get a chance to say to hi to everybody. You know, but next time, you know. Everybody has served time with, was there? There you go. All right, on March the 4th, actually I go back a step. On September, 2021, Judas Priest was supposed to go on a North American tour with Sabaton. But wait a second, hold on, Richie Faulkner, you know, has this acute cardiac erratic problem and it, you know, 12 dates got canceled or something like that. So they had to reschedule it and go on tour with the Queens Rake, which is a great package that we all went to see, right? But hang on. But hang on, but hang on. Rob Halford gets sick close to the end or close to the Canadian tour dates. So things did turn out phenomenal. So let's just talk about it. Let's just talk about this North American tour with Queens Rake. And if anybody wants to comment on what they saw with Sabaton, go right ahead. And if anybody wants to talk about their city or leave a comment on what they saw and what they thought of the show, go right ahead. Alan Dixon, give us the high level. Judas Priest, well actually, let's start off with Queens Rake since they opened. You sure? You're good now? I'm good now. That's your final question. Queens Rake, you know. I don't want to start. I was sitting with you guys. I was in a different sector, but everybody around me were singing the songs to Queens Rake. It was a great set. Perrin and I spoke about it before even walking into the show, how it was looking forward to all the songs they were singing. I was there with stiff rod. He turned to me and go, are you gonna do the whole warning? Because it was like one song after another for the warning. It taught, I mean, the balls of the guy to open every show with Queen of the Rite. I mean, just to show you what he's able to do vocally. And again, they stuck to pretty much a great set list. I think they had one of the newer songs only from Todd Aira. The rest were from previous albums. And... I don't think they played one for Todd Aira. There was nothing to Todd Aira. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they kind of started like that on the tour, but then they didn't play one with Todd Aira. Yeah. All right, Stefan. What did you think of the opening act? I know what you told me in my ear. You told me in my ear. I know, remember, we were sitting next to you and you told me in your ear. I will say what I told Jimmy. I think I'll take back everything I said about the post Todd Latorre period. I used to think that Jeff Tates was Queen's Rite and it couldn't work without a singer, no matter how good Todd Latorre was. But then I see him on stage and on the first notes of Queen of the Rite, I said, okay, he is not an amateur. He is not a stand-in. This guy can sing. And the highest notes and the highest song from the first EP, I said, okay, I'm getting chills down my spine here. He is touching me. And immediately I could tell the difference between this guy and Jeff Tates. I mean, Jeff Tates was a great technical singer, but let's face it, he didn't have the greatest stage presence. He could not command an audience and he could not get people the same way. And Todd Latorre has the voice, has the charisma and has the stage presence to go to the extra mile in concert and that was the first thing that struck my mind, says, oh my God, he compensates for, and you're gonna find it's terrible, but as you know, Queen's Rite made it extremely, made it big as an album seller, but they were never a legendary live band. Todd Latorre convinced me that they could have gone much bigger had Jeff Tate been a better front man. Those are really big words, those are, ooh. Would you say better front man, are you talking to later years or right from the beginning? Well, I find, you know, I don't really care for Queen's Rite's later year material. You know, I'm an originalist as Americans would say and I just find that, you know, Jeff Tate was not the front man I thought he was when I saw at the tour. I know what you're saying, I know what you're saying. You know, and I've seen Jeff Tate with Queen's Rite very often, the very first show in Montreal in 1983, opening for Twisted Sister. And I've seen them over and over and with opening for Martley Crue in 1989. This was my first show since 1989, seen Queen's Rite and I was left speechless, speechless. This was an incredible, very satisfying performance. And I think they've come a long way. They impressed me and this singer truly is phenomenal. And I can tell you guys with 100% confidence those are not track the vocals. I think he is doing those vocals at that range in that intensity and that's the real deal. Parrot? Well, first, I mean, look, I'm an early adopter to Queen's Rite, right? I've been a fan since the EP in mourning. I first saw them in 86 opening for Ozzy for Rage for Order, which was their second show here in Montreal. The 83 show I would have been 12 years old and 12 year old me was not going to be able to get into an 18 plus than you when they played this spectrum. So, and I did a quick tabulation. I've seen them nine times. So I saw them three times with Jeff Tate when Jeff Tate was Jeff Tate. I saw them three times on the Q2K tour, on the tribe tour and on the live evolution tour when they weren't kind of previously what they were. Saw them on Wine Crime 2 here in Montreal. And this is the second time I saw them with time. So I knew what I was getting, but I saw them when Todd first joined the band. And I guess the first thing I'll say is, you know, Todd was always good, but now that he's been in the band, you know, he's the new guy, but he's been in the band like almost a decade, right? Or eight years, whatever it might be. So they've really gelled as a unit. Todd's really gotten comfortable with the songs and not just a few of the songs like the entire catalog. And he's hitting a home run every night. And, you know, I know a lot of people who, you know, they're not the avid fans we are. They know the name Queen's Strike. They know the hits. They know the songs they like. They kind of know that Jeff Tate's not there anymore, but they don't know anything about Todd. And I got so many texts and people saying to me, wow, that new Queen's Strike singer, he really delivered. So similar to Steph's reaction. One thing I really loved is they got an hour, which is not a typical opening access. So they had an hour. 56 minutes. 56 minutes. But look, a lot of opening acts depending on your stature. 35 minutes, 45 minutes. If you're big, maybe you get 50. So to get almost an hour, 12 songs, almost full PA. It was kind of a nod of the hats to how important Queen's Strike is in the world of metal, I thought. And you guys alluded to the set list a little bit. You know, yeah, it would have been good, I think, for them to play one or two new songs. But I think they're smart enough to recognise it's not their audience. They're opening for Judas Priest. They're opening for an older audience. And the best way to get a response is to play songs that people are more or less familiar with. And for me, a longtime fan, you know, we got an EP song. We got a bunch of warning songs and deeper cuts from the warning. We got a couple of deeper cuts from Rage for Order. We got, you know, the important to mine crime tunes, which you wanna hear. We got some empire. So I think if you're a longtime fan of the band, you really got what you wanted. You got like almost a headline set. You got a pretty diverse set list that was really well executed. So, you know, if you think back to all the concerts you go to and say, hey, what are some of the best opening acts I've ever seen, you gotta put this up there as saying, they are one of the best opening acts that you've seen because, look, I'll do respect to Sabaton. I'm glad they're coming back and they're actually gonna be headlining the same building, a scaled down version. But I'm glad we got Queen's Strike and it really made the night like a full night for me. You know, like, you know, Maiden always brings kind of Raven Age or Lauren Harris or it feels like that's what we get these days. But I'm really glad that Priest brought, you know, a really great A Opening Act with them. Guy and Perrin, I just wanna say that this is probably the best package. Queen's Strike, Judas Priest. I usually can't stand the Opening Act. Like, so this was, to me, my favorite band. What am I, I actually like Queen's Strike better than Judas Priest. I know this guy is gonna hate my guts for this. I was a bigger Queen's Strike fan back in the day, much more so than Judas Priest. I know people aren't gonna like that because I'm wearing the Prague Metal kind of thing. And Jeff Tate's great. I've seen Jeff Tate live. He's a great singer, but I think Todd brings it to Stefan's point to another level. How do you sing the Whisper? I don't think, I'm not even sure if Jeff Tate's sang it that high for that long. You know what singers do? They sometimes, there's these high notes and what they do, they compensate, they use like a lower note when they're singing and their melody. And he didn't, he hit all the notes. He, you know, every scream was there. Great pitch for Monika and here. And the band was tight, super tight. It was just phenomenal experience. But it's no stress, right? Neither one of them are promoting an album. So it could be, like Perrin said, a greatest hits collection. And then they could feel to do whatever they wanted. They did do some deeper tracks, both bands. But you know, I've never, never, ever had a problem with Jeff Tate as a frontman. I think I've always enjoyed his performances and his rapport with the audience. I've always thought he'd done a good job, even in recent years. No, I agree with you that too. But I'm just saying that I was always a Queens Right fan before a Judas Priest fan. Not to say he didn't like the band. I just always liked them more. So to me, this is like my, the opening band, my favorite band, opening for another band I love. It's the best package. It's the greatest package you could ever have. And let me just say, a lot of people do the, you know, Stefan said he's a purist, right? A lot of people do the, oh, no DeGarmo, no Queens Right, no Tate, no Queens Right. Jimmy, you were posting a couple things from the show and within five or six comments, like always on the metal voice thread, someone was saying, sorry, that's not Queens Right. I mean, Jeff Tate, I mean Queens Right. And people need to understand the 28 year old Jeff Tate doesn't exist anymore. So your choices right now are the Todd Latore in his early 40s or Jeff Tate around 60. And at this point in their lives, the best singer for Queens Right, even though it's not the Queens Right you grew up on, is Todd. And he hits a home run. And let's also say he's a great person not just because we kind of chatted with him. He's so good with fans. He interacts with fans on social media. He'll take the hits and the criticism. He'll fight back. He'll take a picture with Orlando at the outside at 12 o'clock at night. Yeah, so like Todd's also doing, Todd's doing a lot of work to kind of like bring the band to the people a little bit also. So, you know, full marks, like honestly 10, you can't get better as an opening act. 10 on 10 as an opening act. Yeah, I agree. My only, the only change I would have made, I mean, yeah, they couldn't play everything, but their biggest hit ever commercial was, let's face it, silent acidity. And it's very hard to play a power ballad like this, especially when you're an opening act. But I would have played it had I been in the band. I would have played it because it's such a signature recognizable hit that I think they, I would have. I think it's to Perrin's point that, you know, you have one hour, this is not your headlining show. So you just wanna, you know, just hit everybody hard, right? You know, and do so that full, full on, you know what I mean? But I get what you're saying, Stefan. I like that song too. I'm a softy like you. I'm a softy. I like the song, but I like that song. Not that I like that song. It's not my favorite, but it would have been the song. Everybody. Oh, you know what I forgot to mention tonight is the last show in Hamilton, Ontario. If you have not bought your tickets, go out, buy your tickets, go see the show. This is the last show in the Queens. You got an hour and 45 minutes. That's right. It's not too late. I don't know where they're playing in Hamilton, where the Bulldogs play, right, Alan? I think that's what the center's called. Well, it's the former cops' policym. So it's now, it has a corporate name now. I don't know what the corporate name is. Okay. We're not mentioning corporate names on this show. Yeah, unless they pass, we're not mentioning them. Listen, Alan, I'm gonna just sort of toss us out there. We had lunch. We had lunch at the Savlaki bar, right? And I have a picture here. I'm gonna show everybody this picture. I'm gonna find it here. How down-to-earth these guys are. Okay, let me find it. That was before the show? Before the show, we had Savlaki. Had to have Savlaki, because Todd's wife is Greek. Or Laval, so I mean. In Laval, we had Savlaki at the Savlaki with Michael Wilton, the whip, and Todd Latori. And let me tell you guys, they were so nice, so down-to-earth, and so kind. I know, I know I'm blowing a lot of hot air here, but they were so, Alan, maybe you wanna just say something. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I mean, of course you have Todd, a guest on the show lots of time. We always joke around with him. It's nice to finally meet him. And then, you know, Michael came along as a bonus and just a super, you know, pretty reserved, pretty quiet kind of guy, but easy to talk to and interested in different subjects. And Jesus, just a pleasure to get to have lunch with both of them. Yeah, yeah, and we, because we did a promo, right? We wanted to push the tour, so that's what we were doing it for. And it's so nice that they did that. All right, last question on Queen's Day, and we'll move to Judas Priest. And somebody was asking, can they jump on? Can they jump on and do a call with us? Maybe, I don't know. Let's see if we got time. Gayer tickets for Ontario. Now, would you have liked to hear, Alan, would you have liked to hear an original on the Todd era? All right, so I mean, there was one song I just couldn't place. I thought that was from the Todd era. But now that we've told you. I think it goes back to what you guys were saying earlier. You know, with only 56 minutes, and we're joking because that's what Michael said. We got 56 minutes, show up there at 7.30 on the Todd. And we looked at our watch where they were finished, and it was 56 minutes, the second. So I think that's, you know, they had to stick with that kind of great set list. And like I said, everybody around us, they were singing all the words, and it was so, it was a, you know, the top song, so as far as I'm concerned. Baron, would you have liked to hear at least one track? Yeah, I think as much as I love all the old songs, I think they should have played maybe a song from their last album, The Verdict. Because I mean, even though they're not supporting it anymore, and there's a new album coming in some point this year, I think it's just, it lends credibility to the Todd era of the band. And I think they were giving us so many treats in the set list, that if you kind of opened with Queen of the Reich, did warning, and then did a new song, and then got back to the classics, people wouldn't have known it, but I don't think they would have minded it, and maybe would have created some awareness around what the band is doing now. Like some people might have been asking, you know, what is that? What album it's on? So if I were them, I would have done one newer song, and as a supporter of this era of the band, I wish they would have. Okay, I don't know what I would have cut. I don't know what I would have cut. Would you like to hear at least one song, or maybe it just wasn't the time and wasn't the right place? It wasn't the right place. People there were there to see Judas Priest, and don't forget tickets went on sale, waiting for Queen's Reich was announced on the bill. So given that they had to play in front of a Judas Priest audience, even though they're within the same metal family, they didn't have much of a choice, but to play safe with a safe set list. So I can certainly understand why they didn't take a chance playing newer material that fewer people would have known. Alan, do you think sitting in, you're in the orchestra, which is like the ground, do you think people were there just loved Queen's Reich just as much as they liked Judas Priest? Like what was the, I know people are on their feet there too. They're standing. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, from what I witnessed, some of the younger fans, maybe less, but overall I think, yeah, it was a perfect double bill like you said, because from the reaction that I witnessed, everybody was equally in tune with Queen's Reich as they were with Judas Priest, so. All right, anything else anybody wanna add? As we move to Judas Priest? We can move to Judas Priest. I was with, well, I just wanna say, I was with Steph Rodney, he had never seen Todd live before playing with Queen's Reich and he just looked at me throughout the whole set, like, wow, do you listen to that tone? Listen to him hit those notes. I mean, he was quite an arm and he was quite impressed that, you know, for somebody who's watching him for the first time, it's very impressive. I would say that because Queen's Reich was opening, they got a lot more fans. They sort of attracted a lot of fans that they didn't have before and they also brought in a lot of fans too, right? That maybe Judas Priest didn't have before. That's the mood I was getting, because there were some fanatics, man. I saw, because I was looking down at you guys, Alan, in that area and they're just pumping their fists and standing and just singing the songs, take all the flame area, we're singing it. You can see them sing along with the words, you know? Well, look at the merch too. Like, I always, when I go to shows, I like to see who's buying what merch. And Queen's Reich had only two shirt selections. You're wearing one, I'm wearing one. They sold a lot of merch. I saw lots of Queen's Reich shirts and also beyond these, I saw a lot of old Queen's Reich shirts at the show. So they definitely kind of had an audience there, but I think they also won some people who maybe they had lost and they won them back. And that's a good point there, you know? Only in a lie, and this is to Alan's. Alan, when he first saw Todd, he was, Jimmy, I can't believe it, man. He won him over, seeing him live, opening for the Scorpions. Remember that, Alan? You just, once you see him live, the band live, not only Todd, but the whole band live, they really give justice to the legacy of the band plus they're this sort of a continuation of the band and it's legit. No, Jimmy, let me see. Because we keep mentioning Todd and Whip. You know, Mike Stone is in the band now as a second guitar player and Mike is a very kind of laid back kind of presence, but he's so good and it's not easy. He's in the DeGarmo role and Kelly Gray was in the band for a while and Parker Lundgren was in the band for a while and Mike Stone's been in and out, but he's such a great musician, laid back guy and he does such an amazing job. And Casey Grillo, this is his first tour with them on drums, filling Scott Rockenfield's shoes which is not easy. And I think he's a long time acquaintance and partner of Todd's and Casey Grillo does an amazing job as well. So it's not just a Todd show, it's not just a Todd show, they've become a really cohesive unit. And you know, Eddie Jackson and backing vocals and the overall sound with Queensrack was great. The other thing you brought up, Jim, I think with the demographic that was there, you guys take it from your point of view, but if Sabaton had opened it would have been a, I would think that they would attract a younger crowd and I saw a guy's outrage, the crowd was more or less outrage. I said, yes, there was some younger people there obviously, but I think overall it was an older crowd that was there which was a win-win because like everybody's agreeing here, Queensrack was a great band back in the day and we all wanted to see them again. So they're still a great band, but I think if Sabaton was there, the older crowd might not have known as much about that band as they did Queensrack. So I think it worked out in priest's favor this time around it. But they do agree. Jackie Long says it's the best. Todd brought life back to the band and when you think about it, he's had three albums going on four and it's not, it's Todd bringing the energy to the other players and giving them that sort, it's a dynamic that feeds back and forth with, you know, with Michael Wilton, right? It just, everybody in the band, it's that whole energy. It just, it just sparks something there, you know? And you think of the last five albums with Jeff Tate, you know, Alan, we've done the reviews. I mean, you know, they weren't the greatest. And I know Steph Ann stopped listening to the band after 1984 or something, 85? No, no, I stopped after 1990. I sort of, look, I have a hard time. You know, I'm an old geezer in the sense that that music that I listened to from 1980 to 1990 is so identified with moods, with life, with certain life events. And after that, life changes and it becomes a bit harder to, for me anyway, to sort of try to duplicate the feeling I got out of this music in the 80s and transfer it to, you know, 2022. But bands who do it right, they have me standing up on my seat. They have me buying their record still. Queens Right, my opinion, they've run out of ideas and nothing they do can match what they did in the earlier days. In concert, I'm willing to take new tracks but I have a harder time assimilating. And I think that's why I was really looking forward to see Sabaton opening. And it's, you know, I was supposed, as you know, I was supposed to go with my daughter who's really into Sabaton. And, you know, they're the younger generation. They wanna hear Sabaton and Judas Priest was sort of like, oh, let's see what Dad Rock is all about. With Queens Right, you had two Dad Rock bands. With Sabaton, you would have had a millennial band and a Dad Rock band and that would have worked fine. But either way, I was extremely happy. I have my tickets for Sabaton this fall anyway. So it doesn't matter, I'm still gonna go see Sabaton. But the original goal of this bill was to get two generation of music metal fans. And I think had Sabaton remained on the lineup, that show could have been sold out. But you gotta say this, Stefan, and I could show you pictures of the crowd with Judas Priest and Queens Right. And tell me if this is true or not, this was like their biggest gig for the biggest place they played. It was almost sold out. And I'll show the pictures. I'll show a picture here to prove it to everybody. I would say what, 7,000, 8,000? Yeah, they did, according to the Journal de Quebec, they did 6,000 in Quebec City the night before and they probably had about six or 7,000 in Laval. So, and just for reference, the American shows are mostly playing theaters. Like they played the Fox Theater in Oakland in the Bay Area where I used to live. And that place holds 2,800. So they sold it out, 2,800. But in a lot of US cities, they were playing theaters. They were selling out the theaters, but it's only in Canada, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, and Hamilton today, where they're playing arenas. And okay, yes, it's scaled down arena, but six or 7,000 in arena is still better than 2,800 in a theater. So they did some pretty big numbers here compared to the rest of the world. That's what I'm saying, and that's my point. Like maybe Sabaton couldn't have done that. I don't know, I don't know. Anyways, it is what it is. If we're going to bring up that subject, I just want to say it leads us into the Judas Priest portion of the concert. There you go. I caught them the last two Redeemer of Souls and Epitaph and, you know, the attendance, this was at the larger venue here in town and the attendance was slipping. So I'm glad management finally woke up and booked them into a place that was more convenient to the type of crowd they're drawing these days. Yes, it's great that it's still better than theaters, but, you know, they're on their downward slope here. They're not playing the larger venues. They did in the 80s or as recently as, you know, in the last 10 years. So that leads us into the Judas Priest portion of the concert. So I'm anxious to hear what you guys have to say. All right, Stefan, what do you think? It's been a while since you saw Judas Priest. I'm putting up some pictures as we speak. So what did you think? What did you think? I loved it. And it was a very important show for me because the last time priests came to town, they were on the same bill as Deep Purple. And even though it was a co-headline tour where priests had almost as much time as Deep Purple, let's face it, it was a Deep Purple evening and Deep Purple these days. Well, they sound kind of soft. So we all remember that show where priests literally took the show. They won the audience. You know, after that, people were just sitting down. And it was the same thing last night. As soon as Rob Alford shows himself on stage, oh my God, it's, he's the middle God. For me, it's like, you know, even more important in metal than Bruce Dickinson. He's it for me. He's like, ah, thank God. Heavy metal started and ends with Judas Priest. And even though I still feel kind of sad not seeing Glenn and KK, I still see this incredible band, you know, of Ian Hill, of Rob Alford, who just give it their absolute best. And I, look, I loved every minute of it. I cannot think of a single moment during the show when I went, okay, let's go for a piss. I did not have a single piss song. My only criticism is I think I would have liked to be on the floor with Alan. Oh, next time. Yeah, because. I could have arranged that, just tell me next time, guys. The old switcheroo with stiff rod. No, it's because. You guys know, you don't know stiff rod, paramet stiff rod. You didn't know stiff rod. For me, the sound needs to be good. And I could tell the sound was good, but where we were, let's face it. We had a column of speakers hiding the backdrop. And the sound wasn't too good. Am I correct to say Alan, that the sound was better on the floor? I don't know what you were, I have no reference to compare what you were hearing, but it sounded, it took them a while to get the sound correct in my opinion. The first two songs sounded, I don't know if it was the Flying Vs also, but it sounded tinny, it sounded thin, compared to Queens Right. It took a few songs to get the sound right. And which is okay, because the first two songs are not necessarily my favorite, but I was glad to, you know, from you got another thing coming to the end, I was, my mind was blown. And it's really funny, because when we got to Freewheel Burning, this is the spot where the tour started off with Exciter. You know, for me, Exciter was the greatest song in the world, because my very first Priest album was Priest in the East. And I said, no, no, no, I love that song too much. But then when I saw YouTube- Unleashed, Unleashed in the East. Yeah, well they called it Priest in the East elsewhere in the world and I have the import. And so when I heard on YouTube a few months ago, Exciter sung nowadays, I said, oh shit, this sucks, you can't do it. And then I'm listening to Freewheel Burning. Yes, that takes me back. That he's doing it as he should. And that was a great song. And for me, even songs I used to not care much about like Turbo Lover, I actually got into it. Oh, here we go with Alan. Alan, he can't stand Turbo Lover. I love it, man. I love it too. I love it too. But for me, I mean, just there was not a dull moment. Howford was looking and feeding a lot younger than his age. His voice was spot on, Stefan. His voice, once he started kicking into gear, man, he was hitting these notes and I still having trouble hearing on this ear right here because that big speaker was right there, right? He was hitting the mark. He was on fire. This guy has a cold? Or he had a cold? What? What? You could tell he's not using tracks either. Because there's too much grittiness in his voice. It's not polished. He was better on this tour or this show than he was for me during Angel of Retribution. I just think he was kind of sleeping during that tour. But this one, he was spot on, man. He was spot on. And I like Turbo Lover. But it was more than that, I think. It was when they got into those lists of non-stop classics. I mean, Rocker-Roller. Oh, I loved it. I loved it. That was a highlight for me. I loved it. I loved it. A highlight. And then Victim of Changes. Wow. That's his standard. You can't, this is one of their best songs. It's one of their best songs. I mean, Desert Plays, Desert Plays for me was awesome. You know, came out saying they're using backing tracks. Okay, let's define what backing tracks are. They're not backing tracks. Exactly. So when you have like a synthesizer or a keyboard in the background, or maybe you have some multiple vocal layers or harmonies, yes. But the main vocals are Rob's. I was watching, I was listening to him. It didn't sound, you know, altered or he wasn't lip-syncing. What do I know? But it didn't sound that way. Yeah. They're effects. They're not tracks. Yeah. Like now, semantics maybe. So, but what were the first two songs, Perrin, what was the first three songs? Cause to me that was a kind of like Queens rights, you know, doing great, doing great. And then Priest comes on. It was kind of like a little bit of a letdown to Alan's point. Maybe the mix wasn't there. But then when they started kicking into gear, it was just amazing. Okay. Well first, so I'll address the sound thing first. So first, like I said, in the States, most of the shows are in theaters. So their sound band is used to theaters, which are typically acoustically really made for music and they're smaller houses, right? This is only your second or third show in an arena this tour. And even when you're sound checking, sound checking in an empty arena versus in an arena full of people is different. So it's normal that it's gonna take a couple of songs to kind of get the sound where they want it. It was a very, very loudly played show on purpose. There's no doubt about it. So you're also dealing with like sheer volume as well. So I didn't have much of a problem with the sound. But you did allude to the first couple of songs, Jimmy. So I would say, first of all, I thought the set list was brilliant because when you have a 50 year career, it's really not easy to make everybody happy. And 70s priest is an animal and 80s priest is an animal. And 90s and newer priest is another animal. So they were able to do a lot of that. But look, opening with one shot of glory, a deep track from Pinketer is not what I would have done. Now, I've seen priests 12 times. I appreciate them doing a song that I've never seen live before. Hence, I really appreciated Rockerola because of the 12 times I've seen priest, they never played Rockerola. They never played one shot of glory either, but opening with a song that people generally don't know except the diehard of all diehards. That was my problem, Perry, that was my problem. You really want like Queenstrike opened of Queen of the Reich. And even if you're only vaguely familiar with Queenstrike, you were kind of up and you were excited. But for a priest to open of one shot of glory, where you can kind of see a couple people mouthing to their friend next to them, what song is that? Like, you know, I don't think it's the best thing. And look, and I love the Firepower album. So the second song was Lightning Strike from Firepower, which is a good song, but I think there's better songs on Firepower. And I don't know if I would have just done a combination of opening with lesser known song, last album, new song. I might have, it's your last tour most likely. It's your 50th anniversary tour. I appreciated having Electric Eye as the first encore. Maybe I would have opened of that. If they wanted to open of something rare, open of Screaming for Vengeance. I don't know, like just do, you know, open with a rapid fire or something. I don't know, like just do something that's a little more familiar and a little more punchy. So I would say if there was a downside of the night, I would think, I thought as novel an idea as it sounds, the open of one shot of glory and then go into Lightning Strikes, I don't think that was a good idea. But then after that- But Perrin, Perrin, what do you think about? Okay, so K-Man saying, Jimmy, you definitely need to go back and listen to some of priests in 2004, 2005 gigs. Okay, what did you think about the vocals? Look, Rob is 70 years old. And again, a show was canceled in Boston five days prior because he had a very bad cold. And again, we kind of know exactly what the issue was. He had a very bad cold. So, you know, I had said to Jimmy privately, oh, I bet you they cut the setlist short in Halifax and Quebec City to preserve his voice. They didn't. And neither did they in Montreal. 19 song set, his voice was really strong. I thought they might protect his voice a little bit and not play victim of changes and they did it. And, you know, look, he was high. He was low. He had those piercing screams. Yes, and victim of changes in other songs, like the extension of the note changes is done with an effect. But he's still hitting a pretty high note the first time. And they're this, they're extending it for effect. But he's- I'll tell you, Perrin, if you listen very careful with the singers, they choose different notes when they're singing because they don't want to blow their voice out. He was going for the notes. He was going for the big notes and victim of change, you know, he, you know, grade that middle part, you know, that, but he went for it. Painkiller, he's just going, this is the painkiller. And he keeps going higher and higher. He didn't, he didn't go for the lower notes. He went right up there. Yeah. No, he didn't cheat. There's no, look, he didn't cheat. There's no cheating. I wouldn't call it cheating. I would say he just, he went for it. That's all. I saw, but I just want to underline everyone because I started on a negative about the set list. The set list was great. Rockerola was a fantastic ad. I hadn't heard Green Manalishi and Diamonds and Rustin a while and we heard those songs. And again, I appreciate that they don't shun the turbo ram it down era. I like herring turbo lover. I'm perfectly fine with that. Cause you're a turbo lover. And even playing Blood Red Skies from Ram it Down. Blood Red Skies is a great song. And I mean- Alan's favorite song, by the way, is Turbo Lover. Alan's never liked the song. Alan, please explain why. We know there's two camps, right? There's turbo is a love it or hate it album. It's as simple as that. And it's a love it or hate it track. I like the song. I think it's an important part of their history and I'm glad they still play the song. Okay, Sylvain was sitting next to us as, you're right, Jimmy, of course. Rob's voice and stage presence was better on this tour than in the 2008 Angel Tour, Angel Retribution. I'm telling you, he walked like Frankenstein with a cane, you know, he just looked tired. You just, there's something. I think the audience was going, they gave him that energy. They gave him that energy. They're just going wild. Orlando was up there. I don't know if the security took him away at one point or somebody was taken away. It was just the fans. We got him back. We saw him at the end of the show. Yeah. What would you have changed? Anyone? What would you have changed? Well, I think of my impression of the concert, Jimmy, it's like, it's like he started. Okay. So I agree with Perrin. I loved that song, but it was in the opener. No, the second one, they lost me because firepower, I'm not that familiar. But then I look over and here's Orlando. So I was like, maybe it's a good choice to add this as the second song. He had another thing coming. There's a bit karaoke for me. And then they started kicking it. Then I think that's when they hit their stride after the third song. Now I love under the red skies. I love, you know, Turbo Lover. We heard that synth guitar intro and Steve Rodney sat down. Unfortunately, it's better live than it is on record, I admit, but it's just not everything. But we weren't surprised by too many of the choices, right? And we even looked at each other and at one point I said, it's gonna be hell bent for leather next. And to turn it up, you heard the motorcycle start. So, you know, that's what we've seen increased a lot of times. Rob, he's an entertainer and he hit all the notes. We're not gonna say anything, Richard did his best. And then there's a one point of the song that I'm looking over and Andy Sneep, I can barely hear his guitar. He's playing rhythm tracks. Richie's playing all the leads. And for where I was standing, it was hard to hear that rhythm track play. But to go back to the sound, as soon as they came on, my knees down to the floor were vibrating because of the bass. I was standing on the floor six rows from the stage and all night long from my knees down to my ankles, you can hear a vibration from all the low end notes coming from the bass. Hmm. My only, it's not a criticism at all. That's your question. I was under the impression that Glenn was still coming to play rhythm for the final song. I was gonna make, I was gonna say that. Glenn hasn't shown up. He wasn't in Halifax. I think his last appearance was like seven shows ago, right? He did a few at the start of the tour. I would have liked him to come out, but you know, his health is what his health is, right? He flies in and out and he does clusters of shows. Actually last time in Montreal, we were lucky. He made an appearance last time in Montreal on the Deep Purple Tour. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think from what I hear, it goes of how he's feeling and who knows if he's having treatments and stuff like that. And maybe there's a schedule there. Yeah. So some clusters of shows he does, some he doesn't. So it sounds like he did not come to Canada. I think Richie Faulkner, he was just incredible. He just, he carried the band so much. And he was just, what a great showman. What a great musician. What a great guitarist. You know, he sort of made up for KK not being there and Glenn not being there. Of course I would have loved them if they were there. Don't get me wrong. But he really is a star, you know? It almost feels like they're holding him back. That's the impression I got. This guy's got so much talent and he's so good. I'm watching him and you can just see where he just, he was doing little leaves that normally weren't there and he's making it his own, but you can see the potential of this guy and he's kind of like boxed in, right? These are classic songs. You can't reimagine it. Not that Judas Priest ever would. But you can see the potential of this guy in it. It's almost as if he's living himself. Richie brought new energy to Priest. He did. Just the same way Todd brought new energy to Queens, right? I think that's kind of like that. Absolutely. But you know, I'm competitive Priest, you know, defenders of the faith tour, you know, with KK and Glenn, you can see the energy level, even Rob. Rob's doing his best. He's all over the stage. He's nonstop. He's walking back and forth. But you know, I see the younger generations, they're going insane. There's a whole bunch of 20, 17 to 23 year olds that are going insane watching Priest. I was going to say, if you liked that, you should have seen them 20 or 30 years ago. You're back in the 80s. You know, you would have, you would have blown your mind. You know, it's a different beast. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it. The songs, they threw in a few surprises. I was, we were joking. And we know of the set list before we even walk in what songs are going to play. And then they started out with two that like parents said, we would never imagine they would ever, ever do. But there were a lot of similarities to the epitaph tour. And then also the redeemer souls. So I think with their catalog, I'm kind of hypocritical here. I wanted them to do new songs and then they did new songs. And I'm questioning why they did those new songs. So that's, it was a bit of a confusing for me. All right. Would they, here's the big question for everybody who's ever seen them now and the people in Ontario and Hamilton are going to see them. Could they have pulled this off with four? Oh, what else before? Pulled off. Could they pull this show off with four without sneak? Cause that's the war. Okay. Sorry. Remember, sorry guys. It's, I'm tired. It's been a long day. Could they pull this show off with four as they originally intended to? Did sneak make that much of a difference? No way. No way. I cannot even imagine how they could pull a show like this of a foursome. No, no way. No way. You need that rhythm guitar. Yeah. Back and forth leads and that's, that's what the piece is all about. The dual leads. And well, and Alan alluded to it that, you know, whereas before it was more of KK and Glenn dueling leads, Richie does most of the heavy lifting here and, and, and Andy is more of a rhythm player that we does do some leads, but you just can't do it. Like there are two, two guitar parts in these songs. So, you know, you talk about tapes and cheating. I don't care what you said, you know, Richie was either going to have to play the songs differently and improvise if he was alone, or they were going to be kind of playing a rhythm track and they were going to be cheating a little bit. And I don't think anybody wanted that. Not to mention, it just wouldn't look right. Judas, Judas Priest as a quartet, you know, at the end of the night, taking the bow or whatever, it just doesn't look right. If you've seen Judas Priest any amount of times, you know, you're going to have, you know, you're going to have a guitarist stage left and a guitarist stage right. You're going to have Ian kind of back there in the pocket and not move very much. Do what is staying, holding it down. That's it. So, you know, if you're a longtime Judas Priest fans, you just expect them to look a certain way on stage. And it's just wouldn't be right as a quartet. We got a message to Stefan from this guy named Orlando Marsh, but tell Stefan, I want to do a duet with him on, I ain't no nice guy by Motorhead. He wants to do a duet with you, Orlando, a singing duet with him on the song, I ain't no nice guy, I ain't a nice guy by Motorhead. But they're both nice guys. Um, I, um... You accept. Challenge accepted. Challenge accepted. After a few drinks at the Metal Voice Summer Barbecue, we'll get that on stage. After quite a few drinks, if I can out-drunk Orlando, I'll sing. I don't know about that. Orlando's like a tank. He's like a little tank. I'm a big tank. He's relentless. Orlando is relentless. I must admit. Suddenly he's sitting with us or close by, and then suddenly he's right in front. No, and then all of a sudden he's next to me on the floor. Frank Potmay is heading to the show after work, he said. Okay. All right. So buy your tickets now. The show is starting in an hour. Right? You can over it? Yeah. I'm in 730, so about, yeah, over an hour. That's right. So, Quiz rate's hitting the stage in an hour. So, you guys, you got it. Okay, guys. The experience for you out of 10, what do you rate it? Okay. Tell us. Nine and a half. Nine and a half versus the fan. Oof. I would definitely, me too. I would say definitely nine and a half. It was a great show. It was just phenomenal. Yeah. I'm a tough grader. I'll give it a nine though. I mean, great opening act, great headline set, a few set list choices. I'd do a little differently for Priest, but it was mostly good. But I'll say nine on 10, just because a 10 on 10 is like the greatest shows I've ever seen. So this is like a nine on, this is like one little notch below some of the best shows I've ever seen. Let's take a nine on that. That's good. Alan. So thanks for doing it again. What do you grade it? Come on out of 10. You're the one who started this. Because the bar is so high in all the previous pre-shows. I'm going to give this an eight out of 10. That's pretty good. Eight out of 10. That's 80%. That's more than I ever got in high school. I was lucky to get out of high school. That's all I'm going to say. All right. I think we're done, guys. Thank you so much. Until the next round. All right. Thank you guys. Thanks to all the people who said hello. Our main is next, isn't it? Well, our main is not for a while. Well, there'll be a few others between now and then. All right, guys. Thanks. All right. Thank you. All right.