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JUDAS PRIEST, SABATON In Irving, TX With Photos!

By Larry Petro, News Monkey
Friday, November 1, 2024 @ 3:31 PM

The 'Invincible Shield Tour' Comes To A Conclusion At The Pavilion At The Toyota Music Factory October 26th

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

Back when the Second Leg of JUDAS PRIEST's Invincible Shield Tour was announced I took notice of the venue chosen for the Houston date of the tour, Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land just outside of town. I immediately cringed because this particular venue has no barricade for photographers to shoot from and so you shoot every show from the soundboard. No thanks! I refuse to shoot any show from the soundboard unless I'm already at the show and the change to soundboard was a last minute decision. Other than that, if I know in advance it's a hard pass.

So, I looked at the last two shows on the tour, Austin and Irving and since Irving was the final stop I figured it might be the better show to attend. Then the Sunday prior to the Texas shows in Colorado, PRIEST vocalist Rob Halford noted to the crowd that he wasn't feeling well. And wouldn't you know it, the show in Sugar Land 2 days later ended up being the only date on the tour to be canceled, presumably because he had the flu or bronchitis depending on which report you heard, and my show choice seemed to be the wise one. However, the potential for the remaining 2 shows on the tour to be canceled was well was not out of the question. Rob did in fact recover in time for the show in Austin 2 days after the Houston show so I breathed a sigh of relief that I should indeed get to cover the final show, even though it was a 3 1/2 hour drive from my home.

Toyota Music Factory in Irving is quite the nice complex, it’s a huge entertainment hub with a pavilion for live music events, restaurants, bars and even a cinema. The pavilion itself is mid-size, holding about 8,000 people when the lawn is being utilized and about half that when the 'doors' that separate the reserved seating from the lawn are closed, which is a unique feature allowing the place to theoretically hold concerts there year-round. Additionally, the architects took into account the blazing Texas summers when designing its layout, ensuring that the stage faced to the east and thus the afternoon sun did not turn the venue into an oven, much unlike the Woodlands Pavilion near me that I normally attend, which has its stage facing west and creates that oven effect I spoke of. The staff of TMF and the Live Nation reps (a husband and wife team for this show) were also as professional as I have ever seen and I would certainly not hesitate to drive there for another show in the future.

Support for the entire leg of the tour, as with the first leg earlier in the Spring, was Swedish Historical Metal exports SABATON. I've seen quite a few people that talk smack about this band and quite frankly I don't understand why. They're a great metal band (after all, isn't just about every band from Sweden?) that just happens to write songs about famous wars and specific events contained therein. What's not to like? You get your dose of headbanging and learn a little something in the process. The Swedes were quite raucous and energetic as they kicked things off with "Ghost Division", an upbeat number from their 2008 album The Art of War that was definitely suited for an opener. If they were worn out after a month and a half of touring you couldn't tell as frontman Joakim Broden paced back and forth across the stage, pumping his fists as the band rolled through "The Red Baron", "Bismarck", "Carolus Rex" (which was sung in Swedish), "Resist And Bite" and "Primo Victoria". His supporting cast of characters, bassist Par Sundstrom, guitarists Chris Rorland and newcomer Thorbjorn Englund and drummer Hannes Van Dahl were equally as engaging, both with the fans and each other. They were clearly having a good time throughout the set, from the time they donned gas masks for "The Attack Of The Dead Me" up to and including their final numbers, "Soldier Of Heaven" and "To Hell And Back".

Setlist:

"The March to War" (PA tape)

"Ghost Division"

"The Last Stand"

"Swedish Pagans"

"The Red Baron"

"Bismarck"

"Stormtroopers"

"Carolus Rex"

"Resist and Bite"

"The Attack of the Dead Men"

"Primo Victoria"

"Soldier of Heaven"

"To Hell and Back"

"Dead Soldier's Waltz" (PA tape)

After a short stage changeover it was time for the mighty PRIEST. Prior to heading out to drive to Irving my wife asked me why I would make the 3+ hour trek to see them, to which I replied that I didn't know when would be the last time I would ever get to see them. And there's definite truth to that statement. Even though they've been going strong for over 50 years (!?!) now, there has been chatter that the band might be nearing the end, certainly that of recording new albums but an end to touring seems more likely as the core group is well past the 70 years of age mark and with the incident of Rob Halford getting ill, those types of things take longer to overcome the older you get.

That aside, as we waited in the barricade for the show to begin you could see the center of the stage draped with a curtain that displayed some of the lyrics to the song "Invincible Shield". As the BLACK SABBATH classic "War Pigs" blared out over the PA system, you could sense the crowd's anticipation. The Invincible Shield Tour Anthem followed and then.....the opening notes of "Panic Attack" came through, the curtain dropped briefly only to be quickly hoisted into the rafters and there stood our metal heroes, all situated on the drum riser stairs surrounding drummer Scott Travis and they were off and running.

Now, certainly with knowledge of the cancelled show earlier in the week, all eyes would be on Halford and how he performed following his illness. Truth be told, he seemed to struggle early on as the first part of the set included PRIEST classics like "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", "Rapid Fire", "Breaking The Law" and "Devil's Child". The real test would come just a bit later in the form of "Sinner" and "Victim Of Changes", both of which include parts that challenge the vocal chords. Surprisingly, by this time his voice had warmed a bit and he managed to perform those parts well, all things considered. One thing I did notice though, and I'm not sure if this was tour-wide or just a side effect of his being ill, but Rob did almost zero talking to the crowd between songs and even left a lot of the singing to the crowd, but they didn't seem to notice or mind at all as the band finished up their pre-encore set with "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)" and Painkiller".

JUDAS PRIEST returned to the strains of "The Hellion" piped through the PA before launching into "Electric Eye". Following its conclusion you could hear the roar of Rob's Harley revving up as his drove onto the stage and the band went "Hell Bent For Leather" and "Living After Midnight". Fittingly as the band left the stage for the final time on this tour, they did so to the PA track from QUEEN, "We Are The Champions", riding off into the night to some much-needed rest. Drummer Scott Travis mentioned earlier in the show that the band gets some say on where they kick off and end a tour and that they knew from the beginning that they wanted to end it here, in the great state of Texas. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a band either kick off a tour or end one here and that's because Texas loves its metal, and it loves JUDAS PRIEST!