Judas Priest brings 50th-anniversary tour to the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio Tx. 3-21

Updated: Mar 31, 2022

Judas Priest brought the "50 Years Of Metal "tour to the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio. Tx. Judging by the nearly sold-out crowd, San Antonio was more than happy to welcome them back. It has been several years since the mighty Priest have rocked the Alamo City. It's hard to believe that Rob Halford and company have been making heavy metal music for the better part of half a century now. Quite an amazing feat.

Opening the show was fellow heavy metal veterans. Queensryche. The band played a twelve-song virtual best-of set. The one-hour set kicked off with “Queen of the Reich” followed by "Warning", this was going to be a good night. Singer Todd La Torre was spot on, delivering an impressive performance, while the band sounded tight and polished.

Setlist

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This Judas Priest tour was a long time in the making having been postponed way back in 2021 due to Ritchie Faulkner's nearly fatal heart issues. Richie has seemed to recover quite well and looked at home back on stage, bearing a long scar down his chest as a reminder of how fragile life is. It was good to see Priest back in the Alamo city in all their metal glory.

It didn't take long to get the metal machine rolling with songs like "One Shot Of Glory" and "Lightning Strike" to kick off the show followed by the huge radio hit "You Got Another Thing Coming". Metal God, Rob Halford's voice was strong and deliberate. It truly is amazing that he can still do this at age 70. Andy Sneap is back on guitar after Priest announced that they’d be touring as a four-piece, which judging by how the fans reacted, proved to be a bad idea.. Priest has two guitar players, always has, and always should.,

The night rolled on with classic Priest song after classic, including a few I don't think I have ever heard live. It's really good to see these guys still doing it, and still enjoying it." Painkiller", would be the last song on the set. Of course, there would be an encore starting with rocker "Electric Eye" followed by the sound of an engine roar of "Hell Bent For Leather" where Halford would deliver his vocal performance while sitting on a Harley - Davidson motorcycle.

For the final three songs, the band would bring up Priest guitarist Glen Tipton to help close out the night. Tipton announced in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. It's always good to see Glen back up on stage and a beautiful thing that Halford and crew encourage it.