Še pomnite tovariši: Satanski marš skozi Graz! (2002) – koncertne zgodbe iz odprašenih arhivov
Avtor: Aleš Podbrežnik
Kraj: Graz (Avstrija), Orpheum
Datum koncerta: 01.04.2002
Število obiskovalcev: 1000
Cena karte: 30,00€
(attention: for an English version, please scroll down the bar)
Bil je eden redkih letošnjih sončnih aprilskih dni. Odločitev, da odrinemo že ob 11:30 iz Ljubljane je bila povsem na mestu, saj je bila meja zaradi velikonočnih praznikov na Šentilju hudo obremenjena skoraj isključno z vozili avstrijske registracije, razen nekaj svetlih izjem z oznakami SLO, ki so jo mahnili kam drugam, kot na priste. Dve uri smo crkavali na mejnem prehodu. Mislil sem, da mi bo razneslo sečni mehur. Rešil sem se hudega bremena, pa čeprav me je opazoval pri tem ves praznično ovenčani vesoljni svet, saj se je šlo za življenje in smrt.
Graz ob 16:00, leno in zaspano mesto. Dvorana Orpheum, razen požrešne blagajne, ni kazala znakov življenja. Karte na dan koncerta, so prodajali za mastnih 35 evrov. Po 18:00 so se ljudje počasi usipali v preddverje. Vrata dvorane so se odprla ob 19:30 in za pozicijo v prvi vrsti si moral pokazati res vse svoje vrhunske atletske akrobacije. Koncert naj bi se začel ob 20:00. In raje bi še kakšno uro mencal v prvi vrst, zakaj vam takoj povem.
Lokalna predskupina, ponos mesta Graz. Brez imena, nenajavljeni? Halo? Gibson “les paul” enojajčna dvojčka na kitarah, identični frizuri (dolgi ravni mastni lasje), identičen image, identični gibi. Mali bobni (kakšen otroški set, po dimenzijah sodeč) in čudežna skrinjica poleg njih, za katero se je izkazalo, da je neka drum & bass mašina. Sicer nimam nič proti tehniškim kreacijam, a naj se jih vsaj okusno uporablja. Dobro, če so že bile okusno uporabljene, pa za ogrevanje pred Judas Priest, kjer je narod med drugim odštel za karte tudi krepke denarce, ta šov nikakor ni sodil. Narod se je iz minute v minuto bolj repenčil in postajal vidno nejevoljen zaradi izbrane skupine, ki se je “trudila” ogreti občinstvo. Kaj ima takšna glasba veze z Judas Priest? Oh, kako so si člani benda zaslužili aplavz, ko so se odločili zapustiti prizorišče. Kamen se mi je odvalil od srca. Skupina brez duše, za katero stojijo premožni starši, ki razvajenim fantkom kupujejo drage “igračke”, ki tako postanejo žal zlorabljene.
Začelo se je povsem zares. Ob 21:10 je udarila znana strela z jasnega. “Metal Gods” in bogovi heavy metala so bili z nami. Narod je ponorel. Dobro, dobro skrajno so podivjale le prve vrste. Brez kakšnega “Živjo” publiki, so pristi naprej marširali z “Heading Out To The Highway”. Uauuuu, skoraj deset let ga ni bilo moč slišati v živo, prav tako pa je bend proti koncu šova presenetil z “Desert Plains”, seveda v mnogo hitrejši izvedbi, kot je na originalni verziji plošče “Point Of Entry”.
Ripper je bil res v top formi. Kjer navadno spusti Halford na originalnih verzijah komadov po en scream, jih je Ripper v živo tudi po pet zapored (“Touch Of Evil”, “Beyond The Realms Of Death”). Še posebej, pa se je izkazal pri izredno dolgem screamu, ki zaključuje pesem “Victim Of Changes”. Ripper je pel fenomenalno, kristalno čisto, brutalno ostro, z barvo glasu se je poigraval, kot spretni žongler. Lahkota s katero je odpel vse te težke sekvence predhodnika Halforda, je bila le dokaz , da je Ripper dostojna Robova zamenjava, da prepričam še enkrat tiste, ki stavijo absolutno le na Halforda. In kakšna komunikacija s publiko! Stalni stiski rok najzvestrejšim fanom v prvih vrstah.
Ripper je seveda moral pokazati vso svojo modno konfekcijo. Na vsakem kosu oblačila, od basebal kapice, do hlač je pisalo “Ripper”, najbolje pa mu je (seveda) pristajalo onetano usnje. Prikazal se je tudi v hokejski majici (seveda z napisom Ripper) in Judas Priest simbolom na prsih v barvah Kanade, kot se za Ripperja, pristnega kanadčana tudi spodobi. Narod je bil v transu. Ko je Ripper nagovoril občinstvo z “Sedaj bomo upočasnili sceno s pesmijo z albuma “Stained Class” ter hotel vprašati publiko, naj ugane za katero pesem gre, je ta še predno je končal stavek zahrumela: “Beyond The Realms Of Death!”, Ripper pa se je le obrnil k Tiptonu in mu vidno zadovoljen prikimal: “Well, they’ve got it!” Res je enkratno doživetje, ko gledaš Ripperja s kakšno lahkoto odpoje Halfordovo zapuščino. Nevem kako naj ga sploh prehvalim.
Akustični kitari, ki sta nekaj časa samevali na odru, je band uporabil za izvedbo “Diamonds And Rust”, “Beyond The Realms Of Death” in “Hell Is Home”. Poleg slednjega je band z zadnje plošče odigral tudi ubijalski “One On One”.
Malo nerodno, kar se zvoka tiče, je izpadel “Turbo Lover” (na originalni verziji so kitare sicer odigrane čez sintethiserje), vendar je Ripperju kar dobro delo, da si malo sprosti glasilke, saj je temu sledil “Painkiller”. Sicer je bil zvok koncerta Judas Priest perfekten.
Tudi thrashersko obarvani “Blood Stained” in “Burn In Hell” sta našli svoje pravo mesto na set listi in s svojo agresivnostjo dodatno prispevali k uprizoritvi pravega satanskega marša, ki se je zaključil z znanim hrumenjem. “Vrooommm, vrooooom…”, luč Harleya Davidsona na zatemnejnem odru. Ripper na njem, kot mali otrok, ki je pravkar dobil liziko, se je ob tem vidno zabaval. Bend je udaril s “Painkiller”, narod takoj roke v zrak, hala se je zatresla pod hrumenjem dvojnega bass pedala Scotta Travisa in še ena Priest klasika je zaživela v noči. Tako se je končal glavni del nastopa.
Prvi dodatek je odprl intro s “Screaming For Vengeance”. “The Hellion” je normalno prešel v “Electric Eye”. Band je vedel, da bi jih brez “Electric Eye” publika gotovo linčala. Presenečenje je sledilo s pesmijo “United”, prvi dodatek pa se je končal (sedaj že dolgoletna praksa koncertov Judas Priest) z “Living After Midnight”.
Narod je zahteval še. “Priest, priest,…!” je odmevalo v dvorani, fantje pa so se prikazali še enkrat na odru in nas z znamenito “Hell Bent For Leather” popeljali v pozna sedemdeseta. Po hitro odigranem intru, si je Glenn privoščil nekaj užitkov na tremolu svoje znamenite Hammer kitare, potem pa sta se s K.K.-jem postavila drug ob drugega in uprizorila tisto znamenito pozo, ki je bila skozi zgodovino banda tolikokrat uvekovečena bodisi s fotoaparatom ali celo z risanjem. Čupe do tal, kitari levo in desno, riff do konca, uauuuuu….ali sanjam? Band je bil tistega prvega aprila res dobre volje in dobro razpoložen. Morda jim je koristil ravno en dan počitka (prejšnji koncert so imeli 30.03.2002 na Dunaju).
Kakšen repertoar in kakšen nastop!!! Legende!!!
fotografije: Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič
“Satanic march through Graz!” (2002)
It was one of those rare sunny days of April. To start our trip in Graz early at 11:30 a.m. was very clever decision, because of celebration day which caused a long queue of cars on the border in Austria direction. We waited for a two hours to get through. So meanwhile I got a serious problems with where to take a pee. I was surrounded with highway full of cars and frustrated people in it waiting to move closer to the borderline. I thought that I will explode. I finally free my mind about all those eyes that stared at me and I made it. Well don’t get me wrong, but it was a question of life and death for me.
Graz at 4:00 p.m. was lazy and very boring place to be. There were no signs of life at Orpheum too, except guy who was selling high-priced tickets for 35 euro. The gates of the hall were opened at 7:30 p.m. and the gig should start at 8:00 p.m.
Local support group was something very special to me. I couldn’t get even it’s name. Well guitarists were twins. Same image, same moves, even same hair style and beside that the same copy of Gibson’s “les Paul” guitars. They were using stoner riffs, and most of those riffs were played through wah-wah effect. So they were hiding behind wah-wah, giving us a poor melody. Even one solo could not be heard. What we could also saw, was very small non-standard basic drum set nearby interesting box. This box was drum & bass machine. This computer was used as a basic rhythm, that covered drumming. So who needs drums at all?
The guy on vocals was wearing an image of a fellow who just felt unfortunately down the escalator. All those moves he made on stage convinced me that he is very much in love with nu-metal and rap. All his “singing” (better for me to say loud spoken words in German language) reminded me on Hitler’s famous ecstasy speeches somewhere a long time ago. So the audience was becoming from minute to minute more impatient and frustrated because of guys who really “hardly tried” to warm up the people. Even some screams (in all sort of languages): “Go fuck yourselves!” blazed out. And the only moment that we enjoyed in a whole gig was when they finally left the stage. Oh, what a release.
So the time for a big bang ran out. Uauu,”Metal Gods” at 21:10 p.m.! And true metal gods were with us once again. Audience went totally insane. O.k., o.k. only the front rows. Without any “Hello” they continued with “Heading Out To The Highway”. I was really happy about the decision of the band to put “Heading Out…” and “Desert Plains” (both from “Point Of Entry” album) in their set list again. “Desert Plains” came later in show and was played in much faster way that could be heard as original LP version.
Ripper was really ripping. High tuned heavy screams, he shouted out even five together one after another (when you listening to original versions of tracks, there is usually one Rob’s scream). When the band reached the end of “Victim Of Changes”, shouted Ripper a real long and high lasting scream and proved that he is a real challenge to Rob Halford and his Judas Priest heritage (for all of you, who still think that Rob is the only choice for Judas Priest). Ripper done his job perfect. All sequences that are really hard for singing and we all know that only Rob can do it, seemed to Ripper a piece of cake. Hail to you Ripper and welcome on board again! A great communication was established between Ripper and audience with continuous shaking of hands during the show. At one point, Ripper turned to audience with: “Now we will slow down a little bit with a song from our Stained Class album!” And even before he tried to let the audience in guessing game which song is it, he got an answer: “Beyond The Realms Of Death!” Ripper satisfied with great response simply turned to Glenn and said: “Well, they’ve got it!” Ripper also disguised himself a few times. Well he wore a baseball cap with sign on “Ripper”, belt with “Ripper” on it, even hockey sport shirt again with “Ripper” in back print, but most of all it was the leather (of course with “Ripper” sign on) that made him real.
On the stage there were two acoustic guitars that were used during “Diamonds And Rust”, “Beyond The Realms Of Death” and “Hell Is Home”. And beside “Hell Is Home”, the band stroke with “One On One” (based on great killer intro riffing) from “Demolition” LP, too.
The sound through entire show was perfect. Only at one moment it felt a little weaker. During “Turbo Lover”. Maybe because I have always in my head those keyboards (from original LP version) that are played through guitars, and “in live” there were none. Ripper could relaxed himself a little bit before great finale.
The lights went off. And a single light appeared. It was a light of Harley Davidson and we could hear: “Wroooommm, wroooooom,…! Ripper on a motorcycle enjoyed like a little kid who just got a candy. After a while Scott’s double bass (with great previous rolling intro) detonated. It was “Painkiller”, another Judas Priest classic. Heads were rolling again, crowd went totally mad, as the main part of a gig was over.
First encore began with “Hellion” and (of course) “Electric Eye”, followed by one of surprises that night “United” and finished with classic end “Living After Midnight”.
But the crowd wanted priest to came back: “Priest, priest…!” And they’ve got another thing coming. And this thing was “Hell Bent For Leather”. Quickly played intro of a song followed by Glenn’s magic hands on tremolo. For a moment I thought he will never stop all guns to blaze. After Glenn’s intro, K.K. joined him side by side. In well known Judas Priest style which is almost a part of heavy metal history, the guys brought us their show to a final end.
After the concert, the whole band came to the fans in first row and shacked their hands. Even always a little bit shy and introverted Ian did. Well it was real great repertoire and most of all fantastic gig. To see Judas Priest after 35 years still at their best. Metal gods, revolution and the first name of heavy metal to me, thank you for everything and I hope to see you soon again!
photos taken by Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič
Setlista
1. Metal Gods
2. Heading Out To The Highway
3. Touch Of Evil
4. Blood Stained
5. Victim Of Changes
6. One On One
7. Diamonds And Rust
8. Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)
9. Beyond The Realms Of Death
10. Burn In Hell
11. Hell Is Home
12. Breaking The Law
13. Desert Plains
14. Turbo Lover
15. Painkiller
—prvi dodatek—
16. The Hellion
17. Electric Eye
18. United
19. Living After Midnight
—- drugi dodatek— 20.
Hell Bent For Leather
===taped outro===
21. Lost And Found
Galerija slik
