Masters of Rock Argentina, when legends come together.
April 26th Tecnopolis
When we talk about Masters of Rock, names like Europe, Judas Priest, Savatage, and Scorpions (a band that unfortunately couldn’t be present, something we’ll talk about later) among others automatically come to mind. Last Saturday, lovers of good rock had the pleasure of living an experience that very few will be able to forget.
Warming up early were local bands Renzo Leali, La Carga, Tandem, Against, Entre el Cielo y el Infierno, Horcas, and Onoff. With wonderful performances that would get us ready for what was to come!
OPETH
It was the turn of the international bands, starting with “Miguelito, el Peluca and el Uruguayo” Sorry Opeth, haha, In my opinion, they were the most fun band of the night. The Swedes, led by Mikael Åkerfeldt “Miguelito,” interacted with the audience at all times. Mikael said it was strange for them; metal is dark, and they had to play in sunlight, which would make them red like tomatoes. With incredible vocal changes, going through hits like “Deliverance” and “Ghost of Perdition,” they satisfied the audience!
Queensrÿche
The Americans from Queensrÿche took the stage. Their vocalist Todd LaTorre stole the show, hitting unmatchable high notes. With a setlist that focused especially on the album “Operation: Mindcrime,” absolute perfection in their sound.
SAVATAGE
A much-anticipated moment of the day had arrived, the debut of Savatage in Argentina, (a band that we had the pleasure of interviewing before they visited the country, with the charismatic Chris Caffery and Al Petrelli, who gave us a sneak peek into what their performance at Masters of Rock would be like).
The historic progressive metal band came to Argentina to give it their all, with a setlist that covered different stages of their career including their hits “Hall of the Mountain King”, “Edge of Thorns” and “Dead Winter Dead”.
The most emotional moment came with “Believe,” where Jon Oliva paid tribute on the screen to the late Criss Oliva, guitarist and founding member along with his brother Jon.
EUROPE
And one of my favorite moments arrived, Europe, who had been part of the soundtrack since I was a child, since my parents loved them, was about to take the stage to thrill the melancholic 80s who were in the venue.
Opening with their hit “BROKEN WING” the audience started to sing along automatically.
Joey Tempest, with his appearance intact (looking incredibly well), always friendly, with a beautiful smile on his face, and with admirable energy that never stopped! He made us all laugh when he said in Spanish, ¡Conchetumadre!
It’s impossible not to love him!
We were able to enjoy hits like ‘Rock the Night’ and the band’s most beautiful ballad, “Carrie,” which brought more than one of us to tears.
Closing with the most famous hit of the 80s, ‘The Final Countdown’, (who on this planet can say they don’t know this song, for more than 40 years it has been listened to by generation after generation) Everyone jumping and singing with great excitement!
Unfortunately, news that no one expected was about to arrive, which disappointed many and made those of us who had gone with great desire to see the wonderful “Scorpions” sad.
Good news is good news and bad news is bad news. The bad one, Scorpions wouldn’t play on the stage of the Master of Rock because of a severe laryngitis that Claus Mine got in the last hour. The good one, The Metal god would take over the situation adding a few more songs to the setlist to try to compensate for the absence of the Germans.
JUDAS PRIEST
So around nine p.m., the show started and the only word that comes to our minds is Heavy metal!!
The Priest was back!! That band that consolidated the sound of heavy metal fifty years ago was performing those hymns to us. Now, with Richie Faulkner and Andy sneaking like a perfect Team on guitars, the power of songs like “Panic Attack” or “ Rapid Fire” melted the heads of the excited crowd. Ian Hill with his tranquility did the perfect bases with Scott Travis It seems he has four hands to hit that drum set so strong and accurate in moments like the ultra classic “Painkiller” unleashing the violence in the pit or the epic “ Victim of Changes”. Rob Halford is still Rob Halford, his high notes are there!! Listen up to the screams in “ Sinner”.
He still performs the melodies that made history in heavy music with emotional precision. “Diamonds and Rust” for example showed up to him in a great performance. The beautiful “crows of horns” was another great example of the exciting “Metal gods” with Rob marching along the stage at the same rhythm as the images on massive screens. The stage where Glen Tipton joined the band on the screen during “Painkiller” in parts of the guitar solo with images of him in old shows. The stage where Rob got to it on his Harley Davidson to perform “Hell Bent for Leather” like many times he did. The stage where the party of “ living after midnight” made the crowd jump to no stop.
The stage where he walked along singing and making to sing the audience in a moment where his voice looks perfect. The stage where in moments I would seem to be in the 80’s seeing the exact moment when Judas started to rule the world. It was a night where Judas priest showed his love to us in every chord, every melody, every riff even in a Rob Halford exit showing his feelings with a promise of coming back to a crowd that gives the same love to the band in every scream, every applause, every smile for being once more in a evening where Judas once more shows that they are still true master of rock.
Photos by Eliana Fernandez
Review by Maria Fernanda Capici
Produced by Ake Music Productions
Press Agencia PR by Vicky Roa