Halford and Leatherwolf get it on at the Grove
By Naughty Mickie  notymickie@earthlink.net

A Sunday night at the Grove in Anaheim, California was the final stop of the West Coast leg of the "Gods of Metal" tour, featuring Halford, Leatherwolf, Testament and Pain Museum. Things were not boding well as fans learned that half of the show, Testament and Pain Museum, had canceled at the last minute. Some were demanding refunds and the rest seemed anxious to get in the door. The box office crew on hand was having a poor time handling the irate crowd and was truly disorganized when it came to will-call tickets. This is the first time that I have had a bad experience with the box office at the Grove. They seemed to have trouble understanding that I was there to review the show and kept looking for my pass under the wrong name. I told them my name and who I was working for and they would walk away, look through some papers, come back and say that there was nothing under some other name and company. It was weird. Eventually they let me speak with a manager who managed to locate me on the list and then told me I had to go all the way to the back of the line and wait again for my pass. Now, that's even stranger. You would think that if I'm there and you've located my pass, you'd hand it over. I feel really sorry for the people who were trying to get refunds, as from what I could hear, they were having an even worse time. I hope that all the chaos was due to new inexperienced employees and the Grove will be back to normal soon.

As for the show, I missed most of Leatherwolf, who took the stage early and made good use of the extra time. They were rocking right through the walls. If Leatherwolf seems unfamiliar, this may be because the group never really made the big-time. But in their favor, they have survived since the '80s and have retained a solid fan base. Leatherwolf gave out a long list of their most popular tunes, including "Gypsies and Thieves." The group's musicianship was evident during their performance, as their licks were tight and they seemed to know what they were doing well enough to have some fun on stage. Their only weak spot was the lead vocalist. He was fine on the lower notes, but as soon as he went into falsetto or a yell, his voice thinned out. It could have been something to do with how the sound was tuned in, but I doubt it. It seemed to me that he is trying to make sure those high and loud notes make the end of the tour and was holding back for extra insurance.

Rob Halford hit the stage and it was his party. The former Judas Priest vocalist and his band, Halford, had selected this night and this venue to film and record the concert for a future DVD release. For this reason, there wasn't any photography allowed-- sorry. The group promoted their 2002 effort, "Crucible," as well as serving up heaping helpings of songs from Halford's comeback anthem album, "Resurrection" and tunes from his time with Fight and Judas Priest.

During the performance, Halford took time to thank everyone who had helped him come to this point in his career-- 32 years long and still strong. His voice ripped through "Resurrection" and flowed with emotion for "Diamonds and Rust." Halford made an effort to touch on pivotal songs during his musical experience with aplomb and connected with the audience with ease. He used call and response, as well as invited the crowd to join him for choruses during "Electric Eye" and "Breaking the Law." But it was almost a futile effort, as most of us sang along the entire show anyway.

If you were there, you can understand what a historic night this was for Halford. If you didn't or couldn't attend, I would encourage you to check out the DVD when it's released. And as for the tour, it was misnamed, there was only one God of Metal at this concert-- Rob Halford.

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