Judas Priest brings their vintage British metal sound to Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park

Judas Priest brings their vintage British metal sound to Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park

By: Kevin Vickery 

On Sunday, April 28th I made my way to Indy’s White River State Park to see the legendary Judas Priest with special guest Sabaton. If you’re not familiar with Judas Priest (commonly referred to as just “Priest”) they are a British heavy metal band that has been making hard rock music for over 52 years. The band has released thirty-two albums over the years and is currently touring to support their newest release, “Invincible Shield”.

Priest’s line up has changed significantly throughout their years and currently features original bassist, Ian Hill, guitarists, Richie Faulkner & Andy Sneap, drummer, Scott Travis and iconic frontman, Rob Halford whose operatic vocal style, and leather clad image have been a major influence on heavy metal music for decades.  The band has sold over 50 million albums, received a Grammy Award for best metal performance in 2010, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Now, at 72 years of age, Halford is still screaming for vengance as he’s done for decades and could hold his own with vocalists half his age. In a time where so many of the lead singers from the 80’s era rock bands voices have not aged gracefully (not to mention any names), Halford is still offering an authentic performance that the fans loved.

I’ve always respected and enjoyed Judas Priest’s music but admittedly, I’m not a mega-fan so there were several songs that I was unfamiliar with but I was still bobbing my head with the rest of the crowd when they played their hits like, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, “Breaking the Law”, “Turbo Lover” and “Living After Midnight”.  Those songs alone were worth the price of admission but I did learn that I’m way too old to stand that close at a metal show anymore, especially for that long.  Fortunately I remembered to bring my earplugs and even more fortunately, I was unharmed when a spontaneous mosh pit broke out near me.

That leads me to opening act, “Sabaton”. They are a Swedish power-metal band who despite never performing in Indiana before, clearly have a big following here in the Hoosier state.  Even singer, Joakim Brodén commented from stage that, “I’m surprised to see so many people singing along to our songs when we’ve never been here before.” And that “He would like to come back again sometime soon”!

Their songs are super heavy and mostly about wars and significant battles throughout world history. Their drummer, Hannes van Dahl even sits atop a riser that replicates a tank from WWII, weighs two tons and takes two people 30 minutes to assemble. Their sound has been described as combining soaring guitar riffs with gruff baritone vocals creating a mix of power-metal and symphonic metal. I would agree for the most part but I would add to the description that it is deafeningly loud and after about four songs, they all sort of sounded the same to me, but maybe I’m just getting old. I will say that the black t-shirt crowd at the show that night was definitely into their music and enjoyed their performance.

I spoke with concert goer, Carolyn Stevens of Indianapolis who like me had never heard of Sabaton before. She said, I really liked them and I’m going to pick up some of their music”.  She added, “I’ve seen Judas Priest many times over the years but not since 2011” and, “I can’t wait to hear ‘Breaking the Law’!”.

I have attended several shows at Everwise Amphitheater over the years but this was my first since it took on that new name and went through major renovations in 2020.  The venue originally known as The Lawn at White River State Park was nice but pretty basic back then, only featuring lawn seating and some reserved seating areas that were removable plastic chairs.

To After spending 17 million in renovations, this modern version located at 801 W. Washington Street in Indianapolis, right across from Victory Field is as nice as any other amphitheater around. Everwise Amphitheater now features a covered seating area with permanent seats, a VIP section, sky-box seating and has a capacity of 6000. It’s basically like a smaller Ruoff Music Center, which you know I will still always call Deer Creek.

For more information about Judas Priest visit their official website at judaspriestinvincibleshield.com

To learn more about Sabaton visit their official website at sabaton.net

To find out about events at Everwise Amphitheater go to their website at everwiseamphitheater.com

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com