32 years ago tonight, Aug. 5, 1988: Judas Priest on the ‘Ram It Down’ tour at SPAC in Saratoga Springs, NY. The weather was great and the place was packed for the only show Judas Priest ever played at this venue. The only downer was the opening band – 80s hair-rockers Cinderella, who didn’t bring the metal required to warm up a Priest show. The west coast got Slayer as support for this tour – we got Cinderella. You can’t win ‘em all.
‘Ram It Down’ wasn’t JP’s best record by a long shot, but it was a whole lot better than the odiously commercial ‘Turbo’, which had preceded it. For this show in 1988, the emphasis was on heavy, and this was an amazing gig – you can’t go wrong with an opening “Electric Eye”/ ”Metal Gods”/ ”Sinner”/ ”Breaking The Law” 1-2-3-4, and they brought the ‘Stained Class’-era epic “Beyond The Realms of Death” back into the set for the first time since 1981. Hail PRIEST!
Setlist
- The Hellion/Electric Eye
- Metal Gods
- Sinner
- Breaking the Law
- Come & Get It
- I’m a Rocker
- The Sentinel
- The Ripper
- Beyond the Realms of Death
- Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
- Turbo Lover
- Ram It Down
- Heavy Metal
- Victim of Changes
- The Green Manalishi
- Living After Midnight
- You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
- Hell Bent for Leather.
