March 4, 2015

Judas Priest, Faith No More & Soundgarden – Westfest 2015 – Mt Smart Stadium 3 March 2017

It seemed a little surreal…watching the leather-clad Judas Priest in the late afternoon sun as they banged out metal classics like Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight. Later the nearly-full moon (out) shined during Soundgarden’s closing set. But overall Westfest 2015 came across as well-organized, well-behaved and LOUD.

I arrived at Mt Smart shortly before 5pm with the aim to see the three veteran acts…Judas Priest, Faith No More and Soundgarden. But it seemed that the drama occurred earlier in the day. Apparently, by all accounts, Antemasque, the new band led by former Mars Volta members Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, threw a hissy fit, playing a shortened set (some said just three songs) and throwing their gear off the stage. Fortunately Simon Kay was there to shoot these photos.

Things were much more civilized during Lamb Of God’s set, which is when I arrived. The fans seemed happy, enjoying the sun, there weren’t many lines for food and drink, and the metal was blasting from three separate stages. With acts like All Time Low and Poppa Roach playing on the Ding Dong stage, I avoided that area. I caught a brief bit of death metal band Mayhem’s act on the Boom Brothers stage…quite intimidating…but for the most part concentrated on the Monster Mainstage.

I had never seen Judas Priest so I was excited to finally witness these “metal gods”…lead singer Rob Halford has actually copyrighted the term for himself…and they did not disappoint.

Black Sabbath’s War Pigs played out to the waiting fans to set the mood and then it was all Priest. Halford made his first of many dramatic entrances, singing the first lines of Dragonaut from behind the stage, then appearing in full studded leather, sporting a sword.

Recorded thunder and lightning preceded the song Metal Gods as the crowd responded by “throwing horns”. Halford reciprocated with his patented vocal screams.

This was heavy metal heaven.

New guitarist Richie Faulkner lined up with Glen Tipton for some twin guitar action during Victim Of Changes, and later in the song looked very much like the late great Randy Rhodes as he struck poses with his Flying V.

Halford went through numerous costume changes and he and the other band members seemed to leave the stage after almost every song, making for some brief confusion.

But that was a minor issue as they closed out with You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ and Living After Midnight.

Up next was Faith No More. The stage was set all in white as were the roadies and the band itself, with flowers decorating the front of the stage.

The band kicked off their set with Motherfucker, a tune from their soon-to-be-released album, Sol Invictus, with keyboard player Roddy Bottum providing the vocals before Mike Patton took over.

The first few songs in Faith No More’s set sounded awfully shaky to me…Ricochet came with a false start and the jazzy Evidence was unconvincing.

I was worried.

But after Epic things seemed to click and they were off and running, turning in a fine set that included a cover of Lionel Richie’s Easy, followed by an absolutely satanic-sounding Cuckoo For Caca.

The hissing King For A Day was a highlight as was the anthemic Ashes To Ashes.

They closed their set with another new song, Superhero then returned for an encore that included a beautifully subversive rendition of The Bee Gee’s I Started A Joke.

Soundgarden hit the ground running with their set, starting with Spoonman. Front man Chris Cornell was looking fit and sounding awesome…the man has an incredible set of lungs and he put them to good use.

The audience was getting right into sludgy grunge numbers like Gun, The Day I Tried To Live and My Wave.

Outshined, showing up mid-set was a definite highlight.

But after Black Hole Sun, which came after a blistering Birth Ritual, the vibe changed and songs like A Thousand Days Before and Fell On Black Days felt moody, atmospheric and out of place in a festival setting.

I could feel the crowd lose interest.

Soundgarden managed to reclaim their good vibe at the end with Mailman and Rusty Cage. By then it was well after 11pm. Soundgarden may have overstayed their welcome a bit but all was forgiven.

Marty Duda

There are three sets of images and set lists below – First off Judas Priest, followed by Faith No More and finally Soundgarden. All photos are by David Watson:

Judas Priest set list: