After having lunch, I headed to the concert venue, the Bullring of Valencia. Due to the long queue, I arrived to the stage when legendary Danish rockers PRETTY MAIDS were about to perform their second or third song, but got in on time to hear them play my favorites: "Sin Decade", "Yellow Rain", "Wouldn't Miss You", "Love Games" and "Future World", among others. The last song they played was one of my favorites, "Red Hot And Heavy", off of their second album released way back in the early 80's. A superb finish to the show. This was the first time I've seen them live and I didn't know what to expect... well, the Maids can sure fuckin' ROCK! Check their stuff out if you haven't heard them (especially their albums "Future World" and "Sin Decade"). Next was U.D.O. What a show! Second time I've seen them and it was just as explosive as the first. The guys had an absolute blast on stage. Udo's voice is still in fine form, hard and aggresive. The band kicked off with "Thunderball", from their latest album with the same name, followed by "Pull The Trigger". The show went on with UDO treating the fans to some Accept classics of absolute metal perfection such as "Metal Heart", "Restless And Wild", "Living For Tonight", "Son Of A Bitch" and "Balls To The Wall". Just when I thought their set couldn't get better, they went into "Man And Machine" and one of my personal favorite songs, "Animal House". This classic track from their 1987 album was just a complete onslaught. Their encore consisted of "Princess Of The Dawn" and "Fast As A Shark". They left the stage leaving us wanting more. A great gig that will be difficult to top. CRADLE OF FILTH suffered from sound problems. The keyboards and backing vocals were barely audible. But despite that, COF were better than when I saw them at Piorno Rock. Not a great concert, by any means, but not a bad one either. IN FLAMES went on next. I didn't see them, though, 'cause I went out for something to eat and drink. I don't like this band too much... it's just too much noise for me, hehe. HELLOWEEN were quite good... only downside was that their set lasted for less than an hour. The band focused on old classics, opening with "Starlight" and "Keeper Of The Seven Keys" in its entirety, followed by "Future World", "Eagle Fly Free" and "Dr. Stein". Only two songs from the "Deris era" showed up in the show: "If I Could Fly" and "Power". They closed the set with "How Many Tears". The boys were in really good mood tonight. You could see they were genuinely enjoying themselves, even Weiki seemed to have fun!!!! hahaha. Singer Andi Deris spoke in good Spanish to the audience and made jokes in between songs, bassist Markus Grosskopf had vibrant energy while he ran around the stage and new boys Sascha Gerstner and Stefan Schwarzmann (with dyed red hair) did an excellent job. Finally, JUDAS PRIEST took to the stage in front of 9,000 screaming fans. This was their second gig in Spain since reuniting with Rob Halford. I ended up sitting right by the stage. Great seats to see the show from. Andi and Weiki from Helloween sat there next to me. The stage show was excellent and their set was full of classics like "Metal Gods", "Touch Of Evil", "Turbo Lover", "Victim Of Changes", "Breaking The Law", "Painkiller", "Hell Bent For Leather" and "Living After Midnight" and great guitar riffs and solos delivered by Glenn Tipton & KK Downing. However, there was something about their show that just left me a bit cold - it was lacking the energy that was present the previous times I saw them. Another downside was Halford's voice, it doesn't hit those high shrieks that he used to belt out. His vocals are still unmistakable, but the magic just isn't there... Especially his vocal performance on songs like "Diamonds And Rust" and "Beyond The Realms Of Death" was far from impressive. Despite that, I enjoyed the show VERY MUCH and I was very glad to be there ´cause Judas Priest are one of my all-time favorite bands. It was great to see them with Rob back on board bringing their original Heavy Metal to the masses and I'm strongly looking forward to their new album coming out on November 9th.