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September 19, 2021

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Judas Priest is out celebrating 50 Heavy Metal Years and the band made a stop in Youngstown to rock the nearly sold-out Covelli Centre.

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Rob Halford, who recently turned seventy, showed no signs of slowing down as he prowled the stage and still hit his patented screams throughout the night. 

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The band, now consisting of Halford and original bassist Ian Hill along with long time drummer Scott Travis, guitarist Richie Faulkner and touring guitarist Andy Sneap sounded and played fantastic.

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Opening with "One Shot Of Glory" from 1990's Painkiller album, the band would go on to play songs from twelve of their records from their storied career.

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The stage, which looked like an industrial fall out shelter, was the perfect setting for this crunching heavy metal set.  Songs like "You've Got Another Thing Coming," "The Sentinel" and "Desert Plains" showed the variety of tunes in this career spanning set list.  The biggest surprise was when the band played the first song, from their first album "Rocka Roller." 

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Halford thanked the fans for sticking with the band throughout the years by saying "we could have never gone this far with out the best heavy metal fans in the world!"

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The "Metal God" changed leather jackets about every two songs to give the singer a different look.  Each jacket was custom made with fringe and various bling and embroidered logos on the back.

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The main set closed with "Painkiller" but the band came back and encored with a great four song set.   "Electric Eye," "Hell Bent For Leather," which featured Halford on his Harley-Davidson, "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight."

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Even after fifty years, this band is still rocking!

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Sabaton, a Swedish heavy metal band played a very inspired set with a military theme.  Every band member was dressed in camo and had matching camo guitars.  The drummer was perched on a tank, similar to Eric Carr in the old Kiss days.  Even their mic stand had machine guns and army helmets attached to them.

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They really got the audience involved in the show by having them chant and jump up and down for various songs through out their show.

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At the end of their set, singer Joakim Broden noticed a young fan in front and invited him on stage.  After a few moments, the kid asked if his uncle could come on stage to and sit with them for the last song, and the band obliged.  What a great rock and roll moment not only for the kid and his uncle, but also for the band!

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They just made fans for life. 

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Photos and review by Greg Drugan

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