On July 3, 1984 I saw Judas Priest in Lakeland, FL. It was my first time seeing Priest and they were in all their metal glory at this point in time, the Defenders Of The Faith tour. A last-minute trip across central Florida with a carload of my military friends took us from Orlando to Lakeland, about an hour away.
Judas Priest was on an epic run with British Steel, Point Of Entry, Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith all having been released in the last four years and the arena was filled to the top. I have vivid memories of arriving in the parking lot and making our way into the arena through all of the metalheads who were partying hours in advance of Priest hitting the stage.
When I was in high school, Judas Priest came through on both the Point Of Entry and Screaming For Vengeance tours and I missed them both. While I had friends that told me both of those shows were incredible, I felt like I had topped all of it by making it to this show. I got to see them do the songs from Defenders of the Faith, plus everything that came before, and they were even bigger at this point.
Here’s the setlist.
Great show on the eve of the 4th of July holiday.