By the time Judas Priest hit the stage, more than 9 hours after I arrived at Tokyo Makuhari Messe, I was spent–tired, thirsty, and hungry. My SD cards were nearly full, and I had no available space left for a video. The above photo did come out rather nice though. I took it a split second before Priest hit the stage. The green on the screen was “painted” on with laser and moving rapidly. The camera froze the completed drawing an instant before it disappeared.

Another Judas Priest picture from Loud Park can be found here.

I first saw Priest back in the 80s. I saw Rob Halford when he had his solo act going in the late 90s. The show hasn’t changed much, but they did do something different. To kick things off they played the entire “British Steel” album from beginning to end. “British Steel” is a good album, but it is not their best, IMO. I could certainly have done without “Living After Midnight” which is one of the most overplayed songs in the history of radio.

The setlist was something like this:
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Breaking The Law
Grinder
United
You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise
Living After Midnight
The Rage
Steeler
The Ripper
Prophecy
Hell Patrol
Victim Of Changes
Freewheel Burning
Diamonds & Rust
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

I split during “Diamonds & Rust” to beat the crowd to the train station and because I figured the only thing left was “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” which I didn’t want to hear again. I was right.

For me, the Priest set was worth it with “The Ripper” and “Victim of Changes.” Substitute “Genocide” and “Tyrant” or “Beyond the Realms of Death” for “Living After Midnight” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” and I would have been really pleased.

Day one of Loud Park was over. Day two I kept myself in better condition by drinking and resting more. I had lots of energy all the way through Slayer. Stay tuned for those pics and video.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: judas priest, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Judas Priest @ Loud Park 09

Loud Park was the first time in 19 years that I witnessed Megadeth live. Before that was 1987 at The Stone in San Francisco on the “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” tour. Dave Mustaine has really mellowed over the years. He was positively happy and in a good mood throughout the set.

Both Dave and Chris Broderick, Megadeth’s recent guitar addition, are in really good shape for their ages–for any age really. Maybe they have hired a band chef and personal trainer or something.

Dave, and the band, came out for an encore at the time they were supposed to be done. (All other bands, both days, stuck exactly to the schedule.) He said they would let him squeeze in another song. Then he said, in a way that is totally Dave Mustaineish, he doesn’t like to follow the rules. He did technically play only one more song (Holy Wars), but in the middle he threw in an extra song (Mechanix) so Megadeth ended up going way over time. Everyone loved it. Judas Priest, to stay on schedule, had to start their set just a few minutes later.

The setlist (or set list) was something like this:
Set The World Afire
Wake Up Dead
Hangar 18
Skin O’ My Teeth
Headcrusher
She-Wolf
In My Darkest Hour
Tornado of Souls
1,320
Devil’s Island
Kick The Chair
Sweating Bullets
Rattlehead
Symphony Of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars Intro (Mechanix) Holy Wars Conclusion

Here is Megadeth doing Hangar 18. Crank it up. This video came out pretty good considering how crazy the crowd was around me.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: concert photography, loudpark, megadeth, metal, video. Comments Off on Megadeth @ Loud Park 2009

Arch Enemy’s appearance at Loud Park was one of the main reasons I wanted to attend. I have previously seen many “similar” Swedish bands like Opeth (four times), Amon Amarth, and Dark Tranquility (twice). But Arch Enemy is one of the few bands from Sweden that I like who I hadn’t had a chance to see, until now.

Due to hunger (as I had to grab something to eat before they began), and tiredness, I didn’t have a great spot to view them. The photos came out rather well zoomed up at 17X as their lighting was better than it was for some other acts at Loud Park. The sound wasn’t good though. Indoor arenas are not ideal for sound quality. If you aren’t standing near the mixing board the music isn’t clear.

Another photo of Arch Enemy from Loud Park 09 can be seen in this blog entry.

The set list was something like:
Bury Me an Angel
Revolution Begins
The Immortal
Ravenous
Beast of Man
Snow Bound
Pilgrim
The Last Enemy
I Will Live Again
Demonic Science
Bridge of Destiny
Nemesis
Fields of Desolation

Angela Gossow is the lead singer for Arch Enemy. She spoke, in English, between a few songs and could barely breathe. She was quite winded from sprinting around the stage and her “growling” vocal style.

This video didn’t come out great, but here is a brief taste of part of Arch Enemy’s “Ravenous.” I apologize for the short length and incomplete song, but my SD chip filled up with this video.

Posted on October 16th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: arch enemy, concert photography, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Arch Enemy @ Loud Park 2009

It has been 22 years since I last saw Anthrax live in concert. The last time was at the Omni in Oakland, California. I was a big Anthrax fan then. My love for the band has long since dimmed. Their first few albums were pretty good, but I don’t even listen to them anymore. Anthrax took some wrong turns along the way, the biggest being their Rap Metal phase.

I didn’t take many photos of Anthrax. The vast majority of those that I did take didn’t come out as Scott Ian still runs around like a maniac (as he did 22 years ago). That makes for a great stage show but not good picture taking.

In addition to the rap influences, I also have never been a big fan of any of Anthrax’s half dozen, or more, singers. John Bush isn’t bad I suppose.

I was standing right in front of the mixing board for several bands at Loud Park. The sound was pretty poor standing any closer to the stage than the mixing board. At one point I turned around, and this Japanese guy working the mixing board was head banging and singing along. I’ve never seen that before. I had to laugh. You can’t really see him bouncing his head in this picture, but he was. Trust me.

Posted on October 10th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: anthrax, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Anthrax アンスラックス @ Loud Park 2009