KK Priest and Accept
Regency Ballroom
October 7, 2024
Photos by Raymond Ahner
The Full Metal Assault Tour rolled into San Francisco on Monday night as Accept and KK’s Priest both delivered rousing sets. There were no openers on this tour, so fans were treated to full sets from the two bands.
KK’s Priest, the new band from ex-Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing took the headlining slot, ripping through new songs as well as Priest classics.
Opening with the thunderous “Hellfire Thunderbolt,” Downing and the rest of the band showed no signs of fatigue on this last night of the tour. Former Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens sounded as electrifying as ever, hitting all those impossibly high notes with ease.
After a few more new songs, the band dug into the deep catalog of classic Judas Priest, starting with “The Ripper.” Between soaring vocals and killer dual guitar leads from Downing and A.J. Mills, the song got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy.
Later on in the set, KK’s Priest ripped through two fan-favorite Priest tracks: the grooving “Night Crawler” and “Hell Patrol.” Anchored by Sean Elg’s high-speed double bass drumming, the songs showed that the band can perform the classics just as well as the current iteration of Judas Priest.
Another classic track followed in the form of the Fleetwood Mac cover “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown).” Anchored by Tony Newton’s pulsing bassline, the song featured loads of guitar solos from Mills and Downing, who seemed set out to prove that he had not lost one ounce of playing ability from his long time away from playing live.
The only subdued moment in the set was during the ballad “Before the Dawn,” a song from Judas Priest’s Hellbent for Leather album that had never been performed live until this tour.
After that it was back to full-throated metal as members of Accept and the road crew came on stage to rip through an inspired version of “Breaking the Law” which saw Accept vocalist Mark Tortillo singing along with Owens.
KK’s Priest closed things out with a wild rendition of “Sinner” followed by another original track, “Raise Your Fists,” before calling it a night.
Accept opened the evening with a thrilling set covering old and new material. Beginning with a series of furious rockers from their latest album, Humanoid, the band clearly was firing on all cylinders.
Lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann stole the show with his tasteful leads and blistering solos, particularly on the mid-set classic “Princess of the Dawn.” Amidst plenty of crowd interaction, the mid-tempo song proved to be the perfect place for Hoffmann to pull out all the stops as a soloist, ripping through all sorts of spellbinding guitar techniques.
The band followed that up with another heavy dose of guitar heroics in the form of “Metal Heart,” which relied on the triple-axe attack of Hoffman, Uwe Lewis, and Phillip Shouse along with another show-stopping Hoffman solo that quoted both Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.
Accept closed out their set with a series of fan-favorites, ending things with the grooving “Balls to the Wall” which was the perfect showcase for lead singer Mark Tornillo’s high energy vocal acrobatics.
Here’s a slideshow with more photos of both bands by Raymond Ahner:
KK Priest
KK Priest
KK Priest
KK Priest
KK Priest
KK Priest
KK Priest
Accept
Accept
Accept
Accept
Accept
Accept
Accept
Accept
KK’s Priest Setlist:
Hellfire Thunderbolt | Strike of the Viper | One More Shot at Glory | The Ripper (Judas Priest cover) | Reap the Whirlwind | Night Crawler (Judas Priest cover) | Sermons of the Sinner | Burn in Hell (Judas Priest cover) | Hell Patrol (Judas Priest cover) | The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown) (Fleetwood Mac cover) | Before the Dawn (Judas Priest cover) | Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover) (with Accept) | Sinner (Judas Priest cover) || Encore || Raise Your Fists
Accept Setlist:
The Reckoning | Humanoid | Restless and Wild | Straight Up Jack | Midnight Mover | Southside Of Hell | Riff Orgy: Demon’s Night / Starlight / Losers and Winners / Flash Rockin’ Man | Princess of the Dawn | Metal Heart | Teutonic Terror | Fast as a Shark | Pandemic | Balls to the Wall
