Judas Priest and Their 'Spinal Tap Moment' at New York's Palladium

‘New York Rock & Roll History: The 1970s’ Book Excerpt

Frank Mastropolo

Sony Music Canada

Promoter Ron Delsener presented Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and many other stars at the Palladium.

Paul Simonen of the Clash smashed his bass guitar on the stage of the Palladium in 1979, an image captured on the cover of the band’s third album, London Calling.

“The Palladium was beautiful inside, it was a real theater,” said Marky Ramone.

“It was cavernous. We did a New Year’s Eve show there in ’79, which was great. You don’t see these places anymore. You’ll see Madison Square Garden, the Beacon, but you don’t see those great old theaters anymore that had great acoustics.”

Keith Haring paints Palladium mural, 1985. Bernard Gotfryd, Library of Congress

Keith Haring painted the Palladium mural in 1985 when the hall was converted into a dance club in 1985 by Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. The club closed after a final performance by Fugazi in May 1997. The building was sold to New York University, which demolished it a year later to build a dormitory.

Judas Priest, the Palladium, April 21, 1979

For heavy metal rockers Judas Priest, the Palladium was a favorite stop in the 1970s and ’80s. “For most UK bands, playing New York City was just a massive thrill,” said singer Rob Halford in Rock Cellar.

“The Palladium was a very important venue to play in rock and roll. I’ve got memories hanging out with Linda Blair in the dressing room. That was crazy. The Ramones always showed up, which was just really, really cool.”

The band’s April 1979 gig was memorable for a mishap Halford called “a Spinal Tap moment.”

“We used to do a song called ‘Genocide’ and at the end of the show, for whatever reason, it was probably one of my wacky ideas, I said wouldn’t it be great if, at the end of the breakdown, we set off some explosions.

“And that idea manifested itself into me walking out on stage with a fully automatic Thompson submachine gun full of blanks. I’m standing there looking all Rambo, holding this machine gun.

“And you can actually see the blanks, the blank cartridges flying all over the place. At the end, I would do a full burst, which was about a hundred rounds that went off in about three or four seconds.

“We got to the end of the song and this particular night at the Palladium, the song would go ‘da da da da da da’ and then the gun jammed. All the blanks got jammed. So that was a Spinal Tap moment at the Palladium.”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of New York Rock & Roll History: The 1970s. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.