Judas Priest & Alice Cooper, O2 Arena. 25th July 2025

Bloody hell this place is big. It’s been donkeys since I was last at the O2 Arena, has it got bigger? I don’t think so, but it feels cavernous. Crazy to think its capacity is now dwarfed by Manchester’s Coop Live. The expansive feel is probably cranked up by my perspective being in the nosebleed seats as Alive Cooper takes to the stage in typical theatrical fashion. Top hat and tails, orchestrating with cane in hand a band of guitar hero’s. It’s an early start and difficult to gauge the atmosphere up here, but ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’ gets the blood pumping as people take their seats with two pint cups precariously carried. He sounds good and bangs out the hits, ‘18’, ‘Hey Stoopid!’, ‘Feed My Frankenstein’. Impalling photographers on stage, playing air guitar with a crutch while Nita Strauss does it for real with distinctive flair, it’s a show. It always is and if you’ve seen him once, you’ll recognise a lot, but he does it so damn well, you’ve gotta love Alice. He looks good, sounds great, the band behind him are tight as fuck and the sound in here considering we’re up in the rafters is pretty decent. Phones are out as people headbang with ‘Poison’ dispatched mid-set, after which Alice takes a break and gives Strauss the spotlight which she laps up. This all gives Alice time to get his straight jacket on for ‘Ballad of Dwight Fry’, this is one of my faves, dark and theatrical, when he screams “I gotta get out of here” despite the years, it’s still laced with menace. I said the other night that I’d guess there’d be a lot of bands banging out Sabbath covers this week. Bodega did ‘Paranoid’ well on Wednesday night, but I think Alice tops it in London, plus having a bit of megawatt star help from Johnny Depp doesn’t hurt. A raucous ‘Schools Out’ is shambolic in the best possible way, with bubbles, balloons, more guitarists than any band really needs and Alice dressed all in white delivering the goods. He’s always brilliant, but honestly this blew me away. There’s not many bands that could boast warm up like this, but then most bands aren’t Judas Priest.

I’ve seen Alice many times, but this my first time with Judas Priest, I’m a virgin and looking at the crowd, one of the few. ‘All Guns Blazing’ does what it says on the tin, it sets a ferocious pace as they claim the stage. The family next to me don’t seem to like it though and get up and leave. Granted they have a young boy with them, but he’s got ear defenders on and would surely enjoy some leather clad 80s metal. You’ll have to google Halford’s age, but fuck me he can still hit the notes on ‘Hell Patrol’ and as they rip into ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Coming’ I’m totally sold. They’re not route one, pounding drums and endless soloing sort of metal, there’s space in these songs, with genuine catchy hooks that easily draw even the casual listener in. Seriously it’s powerful stuff and as Halford addresses the crowd and asks us if we’re ready, the dad from the departed family comes back as ‘Freewheel Burning’ ups the BPM. ‘Breaking the Law’ is the one you’ll know if you’re not a fan reading this. Although I’m sure no one’s doing that. Predictably it goes off, but as is often the way with songs like this, the famous one, it’s not the best in their catalogue or even the set. That said I’m glad they played it, it feels important even if I don’t enjoy it as much as ‘A Touch of Evil’ which is much more fun. That start stop riff, slow bludgeoning drums and Halford stalking the stage in a long cost (he’s got quite a wardrobe tonight), it’s brilliant. ‘Night Crawler’ bizarrely triggers a mass exodus near me. Maybe all that expensive beer has hit the collective bladder, but it’s still a bit weird. The video set up isn’t flash, the lights are standard arena faire, they’re not leaning on anything but the tunes and fuck me with stuff like ‘Solar Angels’ why not. That guitar chug sounds fucking phenomenal. There’s more space in this, no pun intended and it seems the slower they go the better they sound. Granted there’s some stuff I don’t know in the set and maybe don’t enjoy as much as a result, but it still sounds good. ‘Giant’s in the Sky’ is dedicated to Ozzy, who’s probably the reason I’m here. When his last tour was cancelled on which Judas Priest were to support, it was a double disappointment. Although I didn’t get to see Ozzy again, I was determined to see Judas Priest and tonight was worth the trek down from Manchester. ‘Painkiller’ takes us into the break. I know I said I like the slower stuff, but fucking hell this is awesome. That vocal has to be heard live to be believed. Halford really is awesome. He arrives back for the encore on a motorcycle as they rip into ‘Hellbent for Leather’. Halfords grinding in thecseat with a leather whip. Brilliant. They close with ‘Living After Midnight’ which isn’t my favourite and there’s lots of other songs I’d love to have heard (‘Turbo Lover’) but this was still wonderful set and the call and response stuff with the crowd is the kinda thing you want with an arena gig and feels appropriate to send us back out into the warm night. Not one but two great sets from two legends.