No one knew Testament had it in them to return with as strong an album as The Formation Of Damnation, after members surviving life threatening bad health and the band having not released an album in nearly a decade. Their live show lives up to their reputation, reinvigorated by such a strong new studio offering. It’s 5.30pm when they hit the stage, but they play with the ferocity of a headline act.

Motorhead are never best seen outdoors and without their full PA. Part of the joy of their show is that it sonically beats you to the point at which you feel you’ve been in boxing ring for 90 minutes and can’t take anymore. They don’t achieve this during their 50 min set today in daylight and with amps not set so loud they may blow at any second. Nevertheless the band play a faultless set which is a mix of older material and songs from their most recent albums which prove that this musical institution can still cultivate new music which equals, and in some cases surpasses what is deemed the band’s classic period. The Metal Masters show is a good warm up for the pummeling your ears will receive if you check out Motorhead on their forthcoming headline tour for the new Motorizer album.

Heaven And Hell are as solid as you would expect a band with the years of experience the combined members have. Dio’s voice appears unaffected by his 66(ish) years on the planet and it’s great to hear so many great Sabbath tracks from the Ronnie era which haven’t been played live in so long. While many longed for the new Ozzy Sabbath album that never happened, the new Heaven And Hell songs played tonight suggest that now the band have committed to a full album in ’09, this should be a collection of songs worth the worth wait. If you discount last year’s round of re-union shows this line up of Sabbath hasn’t played together since 1992, but it’s like they’ve never been away.

And so to headliners Judas Priest. Put simply, they stole the show. The real Nostradamus gigs (where they plan to play their entire recent two CD concept album) will happen next year. For now Priest are playing largely a best of set as they did after the release of Angel Of Retribution. Only this is a different best of set as they dig deep into their catalog for songs not featured last time. Hell Patrol, Between The Hammer And The Anvil, Dissident Aggressor and the amazing Devil’s Child are all outstanding contributions to the history of not just Priest, but metal in general. The dual guitar assault of Tipton and Downing is superb and Halford amazes as his voice is still capable of the most remarkable vocal acrobatics, despite the fact he is almost 60. Metal Gods indeed.