It's 93 degrees, and humid. Sitting at Darien lake Amphitheater, (mind you I was covered in sweat from 632pm up to 11pm, the next day we here in NY experienced a drop in temperature and humidity to instantaneous autumn.) Anyway, anticipation that I am seeing Judas Priest for the second time, and seeing Deep Purple finally, a childhood dream come true at 27. I always felt people really overlooked them, they're much more than Smoke On the Water for God's sake. Anyway, I am sitting there sweating, unsure of who the opening band is. The venue and set up is great.
Finally the band is introduced, The Temperance Movement take the stage at roughly 641 pm. Instantly I'm shell-shocked, they're DAMN good. A young upstart band probably around my age, with a sound that crosses the Black Crowes, with the Rolling Stones and early Aerosmith, before they got sober and became a pop band. The singer even channels Mick Jagger and has a great, raspy voice and a clean sweet voice too. Top notch players, loud, raw, and real. These dudes got it, no doubt. They're British and sound more American than most bands today. Speaking of that, observing the audience, for seeing 3 British bands tonight, there's alot of American flags on display. I don't get it, but it amused me slightly.
The temperance movement finishes up their set. We sit down and I go have a smoke and come back, now it's the Metal God's taking the stage soon, I'm smoking fast and remembering what it was like when I first saw them and realizing here I am again. I take my seat, sun Is setting but still the heat is insane. Packed like sardines in the seats, it's rough but we love it. At 740pm the crowd is chanting for Priest, and well , I was, too, let's face It. The curtain goes down, stage set up is like a mix of defenders meets turbo era. They start off with firepower. Rob is killing it, sounding fantastic. Lots of energy and real raw power and his voice is still inhuman almost . The metal God is made of stainless steel, and will never rust. Andy and Richie are definitely in unison, obviously any fan misses the Glenn and KK duo, no doubt, but these guys are doing what we all wish we could do ourselves. And they are fucking killing it. They whip out Delivering the goods, and Andy and Richie trade off solos and it's like orgasmic. Sinner comes next, one of my all time Favourites, and it sounds so energetic and it's blowing me away that they are just invincible it seems. The band is on fucking fire, full of raw molten metal. Richie's take on sinner is phenomenal and improvised very well. And Andy does the last solo. There's a reason Glenn chose Andy to fill in. The band plays lighting strike, and the crowd is absolutely lackadaisical about a new song, they literally stand still like confused. It really irked me, like get a little past 1982, it's still classic Priest, but fuck sakes it's got better production! Cmon. Firepower reached number five in the charts get with it baby boomers! Desert Plains comes next and is a treat for sure, loved that song since I was 7 years old, brings back memories, and really resonates in me as a person and I don't know why. So getting to see it live was a dream come true. Turbo lover was fucking great, then guardians plays, and they do Rising From Ruins and despite the crowds lame response to it, I was belting every word with every ounce of my being. Rob pulls out a sword or upside down cross thing, badass. They pull out freehwheel fucking burning and I go nuts. Any fan of true old school Priest knows this song is a fucking anthem for us faithful metallions. They do their typical encores, some great stage screens too, with visions of England and politicians and bank robbers during breaking the law, it was orgasmic. I go smoke a cigarette and sit again. Crowd thins out. Are they nuts? Deep fucking purple is coming onstage, an people are leaving in droves. Oh well, gave me more wiggle room. Deep purple come out with Highway Star, and it was orgasmic in a psychedelic hard rock way rather than the machine gun fire ecstasy of Judas priest. When you witness deep purple start a show with Highway Star, you've joined a special club and it really makes an impact on you. You fall on love. Gillan sounds fucking amazing at 73,ive always loved his voice, personality, and his style and vibe, and to finally see one of my favourite singers live singing this song, it was just incindiary. Then they follow with Pictures of Home from machine head, a kind of deep cut which I sang every word too proudly. They played a couple new songs and they were amazing. Gillan is still the hairy scream, he's just going Grey. Steve Morse is a incindiary guitar player, a master akin to Blackmore himself. During strange kind of woman from My favourite album Fireball, I notice a pair of headohones randomly flew up in the air near Roger Glover's side of the stage during the guitar solo. I don't know what that was about, but that stuck out as random. And funny to me. A spinal tap moment if you will. Ian pays tribute to Jon Lord, as Don Airey does a well worthy keyboard solo in his honour. Then the jam leads into Lazy, one of my Favourites, Gillan playing the harp, and the band just jams the fuck out of the song, improvising it, amazingly well, too, just like they always did back in the day. They pull out knocking on your back door, a personal favourite of mine. The double entedre lyric is a work of fucking genius. Pure poetry. A wee trippy keyboard intro into perfect strangers, another brilliant song. Space Truckin was a highpoint with the psychedelic intense visuals going as another generations anthem is played and sang by everyone including me, rocking out, dancing , grooving, sweating, smoking, toking, drinking, and united as one, as soldiers of rock, many younger than me as much as older than me. Smoke on the Water is played with visuals of headlines and newspapers telling story, and they close it with Hush. An absolutely stunning sell fucking show by all the bands, they are not aging dinosaurs, they are gods among us, and proved it to me that good music doesn't go out of style and does not get old. It was a religious experience in rock and metal history. Best show I've seen in a very long time. I'd see it again and again if I could. The high from it and the music and everything man.
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