I just finished reading former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing’s autobiography, Heavy Duty. In the book, he talks about how he didn’t like the Operation Tour and that he wished it had never happened. It’s amazing when you hear something like this from someone on the inside but from a fan’s standpoint, I thought Operation Rock N’ Roll was hands down going to be one of the greatest tours. As a matter of fact, I was more excitetd for this show than I was for Clash of the Titans (Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, & Alice in Chains). After reading KK talk about this tour, I thought I would recount my memories of seeing this monumental tour here in Atlanta!
I can clearly remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer before my senior year of High School and I was gearing up with my buddy to go see Operation Rock & Roll at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta, GA. Much like the Clash of the Titans tour line up that same year, Operation Rock & Roll boasted a line up of Metal powerhouses Motorhead, Alice Cooper and Judas Priest along with up and comers Dangerous Toys and the obscure metal band Metal Church. Each band this year was touring behind some of their best work to date. Judas Priest had Painkiller, Alice Cooper had Hey Stoopid, Motorhead had 1916, Dangerous Toys had Hellacious Acres, and Metal Church had The Human Factor. I knew that without a doubt this was going to be an amazing day of metal.
What I remember the most about this show as that it was hotter than hell that day. Atlanta is the summer is downright miserable and black is not the best color shirt to wear but regardless, Lakewood Amphitheater was an ocean of black t-shirts, pale skin and long hair. We were running a bit late because of having to take public transportation but we got there just as Metal Church was taking the stage. Metal Church had just put out an album called The Human Factor and they were experiencing some minor success due to a video on Headbanger’s Ball called “A Date With Poverty.” I remember being so impressed with their set and their singer Mike Rowe.
Even to a 1/3 full shed, Mike and Metal Church played like that place was sold out with tons of energy. Metal Church really blew me away and to this day The Human Factor is one of my favorite metal albums that has stood the test of time very well. After their awesome set we immediately made our way to the merch booth after their set to get our swag. I was super pumped to purchase a new Dangerous Toys tour shirt along with an Alice Cooper one as well. My buddy opted for the Judas Priest and Motorhead combo so between the two of us, we pretty much supported all the bands sans Metal Church. Hey, at least we watched their set.
Dangerous Toys was up next and they were supporting their 2nd album Hellacious Acres. This was a band that I loved the moment I heard their debut single, “Teasn’ Pleasin’.” I had seen them on their first tour with Junkyard and I was so ecstatic to see part of this amazing bill. It was really cool seeing Dangerous Toys on a huge stage. The band had this huge, cool ass backdrop that looked like the album cover and the amps were covered by smaller backdrops of that creepy ass clown mascot.
Dangerous Toys came out and played to a nearly full shed and I could tell that these guys were going to kick ass and take names. Dangerous Toys at this point had quite a bit of buzz to them and already had a great reputation for putting on an amazing live show. The band’s set was way too short but damn were they awesome. They opened with “Sport N’ A Woody” from the debut and managed to cram in the hits like “Scared” and “Teasn Pleasn” along with a few deep cuts from the “Hellacious Acres” album. They were so fucking good and the crowd reaction was so great. I thought for sure they’d return soon enough as arena headliners. Yes, I thought they were that good but unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
Motorhead came up next and at this point I had never seen Motorhead live before. I was so pumped to see them as I really loved their “1916” album and was a proud owner of “No Sleep Till Hammersmith” on vinyl! The band came out opening with Dr. Rock and my first impression was that they were so fucking loud it was nearly painful. I could literally feel my chest rumbling from the bass and the sheer volume of it made my ears hurt. I managed to scoot out to the bathroom and get some tissue to put in my ears so it wouldn’t be so damn loud. Once I got back to my seat I was fine and totally loving every note they played. The audience was so into them that you would’ve thought they were one of the headliners. Their set was full of great songs new and old such as “No Voices In The Sky”, “R.A.M.O.N.E.S” and “Ace of Spades.” Lemmy didn’t do a lot of talking. He’s a man of few words so he opted to just kick all our asses, melt our faces and then say good night. The fact that there were still two huge acts left to play blew my mind.
At this point, my buddy and I were going head to head. I was there to see Alice Cooper and he was there for Judas Priest. He was convinced that Priest would reign supreme but I was sure Cooper would just wipe his ass with Priest. The end result? BOTH FUCKING WIN! How can you go wrong with a dual headliner of Alice Cooper & Judas Priest? Alice had this awesome stage show with a huge skull with hands on each side of the stage holding the drums and the keyboards with everyone else in the middle. Alice’s set started off with a bang opening with “Under My Wheels” and went on to deliver the best Alice show I had seen up to this point.
I remember “Go To Hell” being the highlight of the show. Alice walked thru this screen and became part of some footage that was playing where he was being tortured in this thing that looked like a a cross between a dentist chair and an electric chair. Finally, Alice breaks free and runs towards the screen and when he finally got right up to the screen he broke through it and was back on stage just in time to end the song. Alice’s performance was stellar and his band was top notch awesome. Sprinkled among the classic hits, Alice to squeeze in some newer (now classic) tracks like “Trash”, “Poison” and “Hey Stoopid.” Alice closed the night with “Elected” which had everyone rooting for the “Wild Party” of which Alice Cooper will always reamin president of. I could’ve easily used another hour of Alice but all in all, this was a flawless performance.
Finally it was time to see what Judas Priest was going to bring to the stage. Following Alice Cooper isn’t an easy thing to do but Judas Priest in their own right kicked a lot of ass. I honestly I feel like their set just ran together with not much of a flow. Priest opened their set with “Hell Bent For Leather” which had vocalist Rob Halford riding out from under the drum riser on his Harley and the band just slayed that tune. Priest’s setlist this night was absolutely the charts with hits like “Heading Out to the Highway,” “Metal Gods,” and “The Ripper” bu it was the pre-encore of “The Green Manalishi” that was the real show stopper for me.
Priest closed out in true “hits” fashion with “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.” As Priest left the stage, I clearly remember thinking that while Alice was still my favorite of the night, just having Priest and Cooper on the same bill was lightning in a bottle. Looking back on this show now I feel that even then I knew that I was seeing something that was really amazing. The fact that I was seeing all of these amazing acts on one stage together was an amazing thing and all that for under 20 bucks? Hell, these days a show like that would cost over 100 bucks easily. Operation Rock & Roll is one of those moments in my life where it was great to be a teenager and great to be lucky enough to see so much great music in one day on one stage for a low price. Those were the days…
OPERATION ROCK & ROLL SET LISTS
Metal Church
The Human Factor
Start the Fire
In Mourning
Fake Healer
Badlands
Date with Poverty
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Dangerous Toys
01. Sportin’ A Woody
02. Sticks & Stones
03. Sugar, Leather & The Nail *
04. Line ‘Em Up
05. Gimmie No Lip
06. Scared
07. Teas’n Pleas’n
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Motorhead
1.Doctor Rock
2.I’ll Be Your Sister
3.Traitor
4.No Voices In The Sky
5.Metropolis
6.The One To Sing The Blues
7.I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)
8.Going To Brazil
9.Just ‘Cos You Got The Power
10.Angel City
11.Love Me Forever
12.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
13.Orgasmatron
14.Ace Of Spades
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Alice Cooper
01.Under My Wheels
02.Trash
03.No More Mr. Nice Guy
04.Billion Dollar Babies
05.Love’s A Loaded Gun
06.Bed Of Nails
07.I’m Eighteen
08.I Love The Dead/Devil’s Food/Steven/The Black Widow (Medley)
09.Sick Things
10.Feed My Frankenstein
11.Cold Ethyl
12.Only Women Bleed
13.Guitar Solo
14.Poison
15.Go To Hell
16.School’s Out
ENCORE
17.Hey Stoopid
18.Elected
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Judas Priest
01.Hell Bent For Leather
02.Heading Out To The Highway
03.The Hellion
04.Electric Eye
05.All Guns Blazing
06.Metal Gods
07.Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
08.The Ripper
09.Night Crawler
10.A Touch Of Evil
11.Scott Travis Drum Solo
12.Painkiller
13.Victim Of Changes
14.The Green Manalishi
ENCORE
15.Breaking The Law
16.Living After Midnight
17.You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
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