It was a dark and metal night Wednesday at CMAC. Compared to the new stuff off the concept album "Nostradamus," Judas Priest's classic material sounds rather pop. I mean, if you took "Living After Midnight" and made the beat 4/4, The Ramones could have done it. Slow it to a shuffle and The Supremes could have done it. And if you think about it, The Ramones were essentially a girl group with the wrong gear -- sexually and instrumentally -- but I'm getting off track. Where was I? Priest. Right.

The band came out heavy and intense, but set up all the way to the back wall of the stage (WTF?), coming out front only to solo and work the crowd. Singer Rob Halford -- who didn't come out on a motorcycle like I'd hoped -- barked and wailed angry, mean, and a little disengaged in bedazzled denim while the rest of the band stuck with the all-leather Priest uniform. There's less ironing, I suppose. Front to back it covered "British Steel" for an enthusiastic crowd that looked like it hadn't bought a new record --- or clothes --- since "British Steel." Yup, CMAC was doin' the time warp.

And there were headbangers there as well. In fact, I saw a cat wheeled out by paramedics with a big egg on his head. The poor bastard had really banged his head.

Whitesnake added to the retro vibe with singer David Coverdale's piercing vocals, Jesus Christ pose, and masturbatory mic stand moves. The band was more on the hair side than the heavy side of metal back in its prime, and still came off as masters of the rock star preen and prance. The 10-minute dueling guitar solo was a bit much, and it made me wonder how long a guitarist could solo before everyone left. I think Frank Zappa tried to find out once with The Mothers.

Detroit's Pop Evil had the unenviable task of warming up the stage in the daylight as people slowly climbed to their seats. The band was tight and didn't really drive off the hard rock road, but offered a lot of fresh intensity, energy, and long hair. We'll be hearing more from these boys, I'm sure.