Photos: Tim 'Ripper Owens live in Karlsruhe (Germany)
© Claudia Ehrhardt
For a holiday eve – November 1st 2009 – when the city is virtually empty, there's nothing better than the opportunity to witness personally, one of the best voices in heavy metal: Mr. Tim 'Ripper' Owens.
The former Judas Priest singer played in Brasilia, Brazil – more precisely in Taguatinga – in one more date of the Brazilian tour to promote his new CD Play My Game.
Scheduled to start at 9 PM, the concert began after 11 PM with Ripper hitting the stage with a song from Beyond Fear – And You Will Die – surprising the audience who was waiting for Painkiller, which came in second place, setting the public on fire and setting the tone for the evening.
Then, Ripper and the band continued with the classics: Judas Priest (The Ripper – with the traditional 'What's my name' banter – Green Manalishi, Electric Eye, Burn In Hell, One On One, Grinder), Iron Maiden (Flight Of Icarus), Black Sabbath (Symptom Of The Universe), Deep Purple (Highway Star, with the participation of B.J., of Tempestt, on vocals) and Yngwie Malmsteen (Rising Force).
The two songs from his new CD – Starting Over and Believe – have also been well received by the public, which although small (some 200 people), was very wild and very enthusiastic, singing and headbanging all along.
The band that played with Tim 'Ripper' Owens in this Brazilian tour was also Brazilian, Tempestt – with B.J. (guitar and vocals), Léo Mancini (guitar), Paul Soza (bass) and Gabriel Triani (drums) – and did deserve the praise of who attended the concerts.
'Ripper' seemed quite animated on the stage: talked and make jokes with the public and with the musicians, and did what everyone expected: sang. And sang great. Ripper's voice is just incredible, unbelieveble. The man is really a master of his trade.
The sound was very loud for the venue, deafening actually, which may hurt the more 'sensitive' fans – the venue, incidentally, was changed: exits the Lions Club (the original location) and enter a night club called Capital.
After the obligatory encore, with Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight, Ripper came back again and give the audience one last treat: the already mentioned Believe, from his solo album. Then he abandoned the stage for good, leaving the public, a few lucky ones, in ecstasy and satisfied.
Not bad for a holiday eve in Brasilia.