(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)
I remember back in the fall of 1992 when I first heard on the radio that Rob Halford had left Judas Priest to work on a solo project, thinking, "Wow. That sucks." I just couldn't imagine Priest without Halford's vocal talents. But they found a suitable replacement in Tim "Ripper" Owens and carried on just fine without the Metal God. Halford, meanwhile, was busy putting together something special - his superbly heavy project, "Fight." I was lucky enough to see them twice in just over 2 months time back in 93-94. This was the first time.
PriestFreakNo.1 and I picked up another buddy of ours (we'll call him "The Cursed Alcoholic" - he is no longer a friend - it's a long, sad story) and headed off to the Mirage. None of us were too excited to see Cathedral so we went upstairs and had a few beers and shot some pool. The Cursed Alcoholic had several beers and then a few more just for good measure - quickly spending all of his money and becoming predictably beligerent and more stupid the drunker he got. PriestFreakNo.1 and I refused to buy him any more beers. At one point I remember looking over and seeing him grabbing some dudes beer from the ledge near the pool tables and downing it in just a few gulps while the guy was busy taking his shot at the table. The guy returned to an empty beer glass. He didn't see it happen and we weren't gonna point fingers at our buddy, but we were already growing disgusted with his behaviour on this evening. We shot another game of pool and went downstairs to see what Halford and company had in store.
When Fight took the stage, about 2 seconds into the first song, our buddy, The Cursed Alcoholic, decided he was gonna take a stab at the mosh pit. He jumped in and started going around, flailing away and trying his best to mosh like a pro - he made it about 3/4 of the way around the pit before some dude body checked him - HARD - and he went sprawling to the floor. PriestFreakNo.1 and I were watching all this from a distance and rolled our eyes at each other and had a good laugh at our drunken friends misfortune on the floor. He picked himself up and limped away...we saw him going back upstairs to the bar...I figured he was gonna spend the rest of the show up there stealing people's beers and winding up getting his ass kicked in. Whatever - I wasn't here to babysit that dumb fucker - I was here to enjoy the show.
Fight turned out to be even better live than on their debut CD, "War Of Words." This band was heavy, and heavily tattooed. Halford was even sporting a new tat on his shaved head. Being that they only had one CD out at the time, they played most if not all of the songs from that and also threw in a few heavied-up versions of some Priest classics as well. I was in and out of the pit throughout the show and, unlike my less-agile, more drunken buddy, I managed to stay on my feet the entire time. Sure, I was a bit sore the next day but I had a great time. I remember hoping I'd get the chance to see Fight again sometime - little did I know that I wouldn't have to wait very long for my next chance to do so.
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