There are few bands that can take the stage after killer sets by Black Label Society and Thin Lizzy and make you forget that you even saw the other bands within fifteen minutes of their set. One such band is Judas Priest. Deep into their Epitaph tour, Priest are proving they are indeed the top deity in the genre, i.e. The Metal Gods.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, however, we do need to discuss the other bands on the bill, Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society. Lizzy opened the show to a half empty auditorium, as the crowd was still showing up, getting their beer and t-shirts and hanging in the lobby. It’s a shame; really, as the band cranked out ten of their most classic tunes, performing them with skill and precision. Watching long time Lizzy axe-master Scott Gorham hammer out harmony lead sections with newcomer Damon Johnson, of Brother Cane and Alice Cooper fame, was worth the price of admission.

Lizzy cranked out their best-known tunes including “Jailbreak,” “Don’t Believe A Word,” “Emerald,” “Cowboy Song,” “The Boys are Back in Town” and “Rosalie.” Vocalist Ricky Warwick did a great Phil Lynott impersonation and the rest of the band soldiered on playing as if their lives depended on it. “Black Rose” ended the set as Warwick dedicated the song to fallen Lizzy heroes Gary Moore and Phil Lynott, adding a touch of class to their performance.

Next up was Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society. If you look up rock n roll maniac guitar hero in the dictionary then you will find Zakk’s picture, and he will probably have a scowl on his face, a ferocious gleam in his eye and be spitting into the air.

After finding huge success and fame with Ozzy Osbourne, Wylde left his mentor and went out on his own with Black Label Society. The band started as a side project for Wylde when he was with Ozzy but has now blossomed into one of the most popular, and loud, Metal bands in the world. Not only are the fans faithful to BLS, they show it by purchasing, and wearing, as much merchandise as they can fit onto their bodies. The crowd was a sea of skull t-shirts and sleeveless leather jackets.

Wylde played a guitar solo midway through the set that had the crowd foaming at the mouth, shaking in their books and waving the devil horns frantically. A huge man, with huge talent, and huge intensity, Zakk Wylde is one of the hardest working guitarists in the music biz. His band backed him through the head banging tunes “Crazy Horse,” “Suicide Messiah,” “Godspeed Hellbound” and “Concrete Jungle” before ending their time on stage with their biggest hit, “Stillborn.” The show was filled with intensity, power, testosterone and fire. When the band left the stage the audience gasped in relief as the energetic show pushed them into another dimension.

The ten thousand pound elephant in the room, concerning Judas Priest, was that KK Downing was no longer in the band. Priest are on the road for their final world tour, perhaps the grandest tour in their illustrious history, without one of the most familiar faces and distinct personalities in the group. Would the hardcore fans accept newcomer Richie Faulkner? Could they grasp a Priest show without the famous site of guitarists Glenn Tipton and KK Downing standing next to each other and ripping out famous harmony lead licks? When the band took the stage, all questions were quickly answered. While it didn’t hurt that Faulkner, like Downing, was blond haired, draped in leather and playing a Flying V guitar, physical similarities were not going to be enough for diehard Priest fanatics. Richie would have to, pardon the pun, deliver the goods. Before the opening number, “Rapid Fire,” was half finished, Faulkner was well on his way to convincing the crowd that he, and Priest, were doing just fine without KK.

Faulkner played his ass off from the first number to the last. He gives the band a renewed energy. His playing is fluid and he fits in well with Tipton on the harmony licks, best witnessed at the beginning of the classic “Victim of Changes.” Plain and simple, Priest accomplished the unthinkable in replacing such a beloved character as Downing with ease. In a perfect world, Downing would have taken the stage, but it’s not a perfect world. This was not so much the next best thing, as it was a legitimate appointment, as a successor to the metal guitar throne. Suffice it to say, that the cogs in the Priest machine are working fine and firing on all cylinders.

The focal point of any Priest show is vocalist Rob Halford. The Metal God looks the part, demanding attention with his leather and chain ensembles and garnering worship from his subjects, as he hits notes only a true Metal God can reach. While there were a few times Rob saved his voice by not going for the high note, he proved, time and time again, in songs like “Victim of Changes,” “Judas Rising” and “Painkiller” that he can still reach into the pits of molten Metal hell and forge a scream that would frighten Satan, himself, when he chooses.

The 21-song set touched on every classic era of Priest history, reaching as far back as the debut album, Rocka Rolla with “Never Satisfied” to the band’s latest epic Nostradamus. Old School Priest fans were wetting their pants as the band performed “Starbreaker,” “Green Manalishi” and “Diamonds and Rust.” “Blood Red Skies” had never been performed on a Priest tour, until now. Other standout tracks included “Metal Gods,” “Heading Out To The Highway,” “Prophecy,” “The Sentinel” and “Beyond the Realms of Death.”

Halford addressed the crowd towards the end of the main set with the question, “Breaking the what?” The crowd roared back “Law.” Halford surprised the crowd by stating that Priest fans knew every word to the classic tune and that he wanted to hear the crowd sing the entire song. With that, he raised his microphone stand as high as it could go and turned the microphone towards the audience. Texas Priest fans get an A+ as they sang every word to the song as Halford trotted from each side of the stage, leading the sing-along. Judas Priest’s ability to meld the band and audience during a performance was taken to a new level, leading to a blistering applause at the end of the classic tune.

When Priest left the stage, it was obvious the crowd was not leaving without an encore. Priest obliged with “The Hellion/Electric Eye” driving those in attendance wild with Metal bliss. Next, the familiar motorcycle engine revved and Halford drove his Harley onstage as the band cranked up “Hell Bent For Leather” before performing their biggest hit single in America, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.” The evening was not quite over yet, as Encore II soon got underway with the classic “Living After Midnight” ending the show.

Judas Priest are enjoying their last trek around the globe. Glenn Tipton could often be seen jumping up and down and smiling ear-to-ear, as bass player Ian Hill swayed back and forth, pumping the low end out with the strength of a freight train. Drummer Scott Travis provided the thump while newcomer Faulkner provided energy and entertainment. Rob Halford led the troops onstage, and the legions of fans in the arena, through a forty year history of Judas Priest, making sure everyone in attendance realized that the Priest were grateful for being able to stand on stage and share their music with their fans.

The show had plenty of fire, and laser lights, and the video screens behind the stage provided entertainment, but at the end of the day, it was the twenty-one songs that Priest cranked out that make this a great show. The band triumphantly left their imprint on Allen, Texas, just as they have nearly every other place they have played on the planet.