Judas Priest never actually went away. They simply floundered after lead vocalist Rob Halford quit to spend the next decade jumping from one failed experimental musical project to the next. The problem, with all due respect to guitarists K.K. Downing & Glenn Tipton, is that Halford IS Judas Priest, the long-reigning poster-boy for metal's image & attitude, embodying everything good, bad & cliched about the genre (of course, since he invented many of those cliches, we must afford him a considerable amount of respect). Then again, it can be argued Halford's surprising departure would ultimately save this band from 80's obscurity. If he had remained in the band, t's likely Priest would have died the same slow agonizing death as countless other metal bands in the wake of Nirvana. Though the remaining members did their best to carry on (becoming somewhat of a joke by hiring a singer from a Priest tribute band), I think most die-hard metal fans knew they were Judas Priest in-name-only, but held onto the hope that Halford would get whatever bug was up his ass out of his system and return the band to its former glory. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and when Halford did indeed return to the band after 12 years (and releasing a new album, "Angel of Retribution"), it was one of the most welcome comebacks in recent years. Priest's brand of classic brand of heavy metal wasn't suddenly in vogue again, but it was wonderful to see these guys act as though the 90s never happened, and go back to doing what they do better than just about everybody. That, more than anything, guaranteed a successful album & tour, the latter of which is wonderfully captured in this terrific two-hour concert performance at the Budokan in Tokyo.