After seeing Roger Daltry play all of Tommy, I planned on returning for Deep Purple and Judas Priest, two of my childhood favorites.  I met up at Rock Fantasy with many of the area’s metal heads and we tailgated in three cars at this was a big event for us.

When we got there, we chilled in the parking lot for a few hours before heading up. I sat on the lawn with a few of our metal buddies but it was close enough to see the stage fine. At around 8 p.m. the first band went on.

Temperance Movement 

The first band on was an indie/ blues rock called the Temperance Movement. They were pretty, meh and not much memorable at all.

Judas Priest

I have had see Priest twice. The first time was with Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society (who sucked greatly) and they blew me away. The second time was three years later after that and did the same.

This time was no different.

They played a few tracks from their new album, Firepower, as well as many classics including, “Painkiller,” “You got another Thing Coming,” “Sinner,” “Breaking the Law,” “Freewheel Burning,” and Desert Plains” (last two being the first time I heard them live).

The energy they had was great and they ended up ruling the night that night.

Deep Purple 

I was excited to finally see Purple after being a fan since 8th grade.

It got even more nostalgic when they opened up with “Highway Star,” the song that got me into them. They then went into a selection of deep cuts including, “Bloodsucker,” “Pictures of Home” and “Sometimes I feel like Screaming”. They then would play many hits in a row including “Knocking at Your Back Door,” “Perfect Stranger,” “Space Trucking,” “Smoke on the Water” and then encoring with “Hush.”

They looked pretty aged and didn’t have a super large amount of energy, but the sound was great and was a great conclusion to this summers set of concerts.