#newflesh

Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing Priest live in Copenhagen! Here’s how it all went down~

It was my first night in Copenhagen and my boyfriend and I decided that the best way to get around was by purchasing the city transit app. Little did we know, the app sucks and sometimes doesn’t work at all. That being the case, we had to walk about 1km from our flat to the show. It wasn’t that bad, but it did mean that I got to experience the concert in 17 layers of aesthetic winter clothes.

So we get to the show and it’s about half way through the second opener Crackdown, which on their own was pretty good. Mauro and his wife were manning the merch table, which had signed Priest posters, signed vinyls, some of the basic Priest logo shirts, a snap back and a Priest logo pin. I think it also had some Airghoul merch too. For some reason I was hella nervous talking to Mauro even though I know he’s super chill, so I had a couple drinks and ventured over to the merch table to grab some swag. They were both nice and seemed stoked for the show.  As I was watching the opener near the back I saw Linton run over to Mauro for a sec to check out the scene. Guys, I know his hair is controversial, but his new cut is hella dank. 

So the crowd cleared after the opener and I managed to get front row. I think I was actually standing next to that Joppe777 guy from Reddit which was... kinda funny. 

The show was SO GOOD. It started with the birds playing Tria Prima, and Mercury coming out to kick off The Pit. He sang “come closer to me” at some girl in the audience which was super cute. 

At some point in the beginning Sulfur’s computer got some issues. Salt pointed at him like “lol his fault not mine” and Sulfur was obviously pissed at the situation; he pointed at his computer to indicate that he couldn’t help it. At about the half way mark Mercury noted that, since Priest was supposed to control all of cyber space, it was a little weird for them to experience computer problems. Nevertheless, we were experiencing the group’s first glitch. If they were a rock band, Mercury explained, this wouldn’t happen, because instruments are less technical than computers (idk lol). I thought his quips were really endearing and, as annoying as the situation probably was, it gave some good characterization of the people in the band. He had us clap for the dude who was crawling under Sulfur’s gear to help fix the problem, which was dope. TBH I couldn’t even tell anything was wrong.

Anyway, holy shit, Mercury’s dance moves were awesome. You could tell they really worked on their choreography. He interacted with the audience a shitload, and had some really dramatic moments, especially in Revolver. And wow, he can really, really sing. Vaudeville made me nervous but he hit all the notes perfectly. In some parts of some songs he even growled I think?? which was cool and made the songs even more interesting. Like holy shit I didn’t know it was possible to love him more but it happened. 

At the end of the show Salt shook peoples’ hands before leaving the stage, he was a real sweetheart. 

The birds in general were really fun to watch, it seemed like they were both hella into the music and really enjoyed playing. Sulfur seemed obviously irritated at the issues they were having and tried to focus their farewell bowing on Salt and Mercury, but Salt beckoned him over to join them. It was super cute; like homie we get it sometimes issues happen, nbd.

Omg and their encore, a cover of Street Spirit by Radiohead, was so haunting and awesome.

The only issue I had with the show was that it was too short! They didn’t play Virus or Nightmare Hotel; I really hope they can find a way to incorporate them into their set in the future. 

Call me biased, but the atmosphere of the club and quality of the music made the show one of my favorites. I’m a little bummed that I didn’t get to meet them due to transit problems (apparently they were chillin’ in the bar talking to fans before the 2nd opener) but it’s whatever; I’ll just have to wait for them to come to the US. Priest has a LOT of character, talent, and potential. I can’t wait to see where they go from here. 

(soorry for the quality of pics I was very Not Sober)

Keep it up @priestutopia y’all are lit. <3