LIVE (Retro): Judas Priest & Iron Maiden @ Glens Falls Civic Center, 10/8/1982

38 years ago tonight, Oct. 8, 1982, one of the most world-destroying shows to ever play the Albany area: ‘Screaming for Vengeance’-era Judas Priest and ‘Number of the Beast’-era Iron Maiden at the Glens Falls Civic Center, NY.

As unbelievable as this bill was, it was actually the second time these two bands played the area in just over a year – the ‘Point of Entry’/’Killers’ tour had played the Palace in July the previous year.

Iron Maiden were becoming huge in ’82 – they’d headline the same venue less than a year later in Aug. ’83 – and this was the first tour with Bruce Dickinson (a.k.a ‘Bruce Bruce’ from Samson) out front. Clive Burr was still on drums. They opened with “Murders In The Rue Morgue” and closed with “Drifter”, and played a whole lot of mostly ‘Number of the Beast’ stuff in between, with a few other Di’Anno-era highlights like “Wrathchild” and “Iron Maiden”.

Any other band would have been obliterated by having to follow Iron Maiden, but Judas Priest were at a peak, and could not be defeated. The band had a multi-level stage set with walkways.  They began with then-new, but always iconic set-opener “Hellion/Electric Eye”, played a host of classic metal songs, from new songs like “Riding On The Wind”, “Devil’s Child” and the hit single “Another Thing Comin’”, to 70s classics like “Sinner”, “Ripper”, and the immortal, set-closing “Victim of Changes”.  The show ended with three encores, the final being Rob Halford bringing the house down with the motorcycle, before the band whipped the audience to submission with “Hell Bent For Leather”.  The best metal double-bill in Nippertown history?  My vote is yes. 

The set-list was:

1. The Hellion
2. Electric Eye
3. Riding on the Wind
4. Heading Out to the Highway
5. Metal Gods
6. Bloodstone
7. Breaking the Law
8. Sinner
9. Desert Plains
10. The Ripper
11. Diamonds & Rust
12. Devil’s Child
13. Screaming for Vengeance
14. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
15. Victim of Changes
16. Living After Midnight
17. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)
18. Hell Bent for Leather.

All hail Iron Maiden & Judas Priest.