Meeting Your Idols At Concerts In WNY: Priest

Photo by Sam Ray-Johnson.

Since moving to the Buffalo area in the fall of 2025, I was excited to start exploring not only the City of Good Neighbors, but the surrounding towns as well. Back when I ran this music blog in Reno, it felt different because I grew up there. I spent 25 years in Northern Nevada so I knew each suburb and adjacent cities well. Here in Western New York, everything feels new and fresh and exciting, so I decided to break my rule of sticking within city limits for this project and write about my first big concert in quite some time. 

Rochester is about an hour and a half drive east of Buffalo. We stopped in Batavia on the way there for a bite to eat at Eli Fish Brewing Co. and I had a wonderful chicken wrap that was so filling, I couldn’t finish it. Coupled with a strawberry cider, it was a quaint stop before heading into the “Imaging Capital of the World”, historical home of Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb. 

With beautiful murals abundant and spunky dive bars like Lux Lounge, located at 666 South Avenue, if Buffalo felt like a big city compared to my roots, Rochester felt even more so. With small local shops and tall lofty buildings lining the street, I was excited to see what Photo City Music Hall had to offer before seeing one of my favorite artists of all time: Priest.

Don’t judge this Rochester music venue by its cover: tucked into a strip-mall looking infrastructure on Atlantic Avenue, the inside of the place was dark but inviting, a hidden gem, perfect for the night of synth pop and industrial ahead of us. The first few bands were much greater than we anticipated, setting the stage with gritty vocals, heavy guitar riffs and pounding bass lines. With each performance punching out bangers, we were blown away by the sheer talent of the local lineup. As a music journalist, I was frantically taking notes and gathering connections for my next blogs, and I’m not sorry about it. 

Certainly the evening couldn’t get any better, then it was Priest’s turn to stand in the light. I’ve been listening to their dark electronic masterpieces for a few years now, after I fell in love with their New Flesh album, with songs like “Virus,” and “Call My Name” stealing my heart from the start. Mercury’s vocals were just as melodic and chiming as the recorded version, captivating us all from the first lyrics. I’ve always adored their cyber-noir visuals and sound, and they lived up to all my expectations and more. They opened with “The Pit,” which I wouldn’t have predicted any other way to begin, and led us into a mix of new and old, weaving us through a journey of satisfying nostalgia and thrilling contemporary. 

Just when I thought my life had been made – Priest played “Obey,” and it hit me like a ton of bricks. To be transparent, I burst into tears. I had no idea how much that track meant to me until I heard the intro notes, and I could not control my happiness. There is something so special about seeing one of your beloved bands in person, but it’s especially dear to me, being someone who grew up in such an isolated, sheltered manner. Getting to see music that is my taste, my interest, my passion, not just something I picked because it would appease a group or something I compromised on for the sake of someone else’s merriment. This was a part of me, just me. And it was magical.

To top it all off – Mercury hopped off the platform and started walking through the crowd, touching his hand to fans’ foreheads as a gesture of blessing. I was absolutely shocked and could not believe my eyes, that it was actually happening. He got closer and closer to me, until he was… right behind me. 

And unfortunately, I lost it.

I sobbed, and turned away. I couldn’t even look at him, I was so overwhelmed. I geeked – hard. I’m not going to lie, I’m still beating myself up over it and more than just embarrassed, I am still fairly mortified I couldn’t just hold it together. One of my treasured artists was inches away from me, and I blew it. 

Either way, when Mercury returned to the stage and Priest rounded out the show with a stunning finale, I wiped the tears away with enough time to grab a T-shirt. But I kept replaying that moment over and over in my head the entire way home to Buffalo. 

Getting to see your most cherished musicians play is a precious thing, but I can now say I’ve *almost met mine. That’s something I will never forget, I just hope I’ll be able to keep my composure if there ever is a next time. It goes without saying that “Obey” will be in my rotation for a while now, too. 

To listen to Priest, listen to their Spotify profile here.

Video by Sam Ray-Johnson.