2wo, Econoline Crush, Course of Empire
The Voyeurs Tour ’98
May 12th, 1998
Super Toad Entertainment Center
Des Moines, Iowa
Almost 30 years later, and I still remember how that night at Super Toad felt; equal parts sweaty dive and rock-temple, a close, sometimes chaotic venue where every shout and stomp landed straight back on the stage. I had moved to Des Moines in 1997, and this show would be the second of many at my adopted city’s premier venue.
After opening performances from Texas’ Course of Empire, and Canadian heavy-hitters Econoline Crush, Rob Halford arrived not as the chrome-studded metal god so many of us know from Judas Priest, but as the ringmaster of something darker and stranger: 2wo, his industrial-tinged side project, and the crowd rewarded the risk with curiosity if not unconditional devotion.
From the first amp-thrum the band made one thing clear, this wasn’t a Halford-lite Priest revue. Built to showcase material from Voyeurs, the gritty, electronically sharpened record Halford and Lowery released earlier that year. The set leaned hard into mechanical rhythms, distorted textures, and the kind of on-edge aggression that sits between industrial and alt-metal. Voyeurs itself had arrived in 1998 and positioned Halford in unfamiliar territory, pairing his unmistakable voice with programmed beats and razor-guitar lines. Guitarist John Lowery (better known later as John5) was a revelation on stage: fluid, jagged, and often the source of the evening’s most memorable moments.
The arrangements left space for Halford’s voice to do what it does best, cut through, but they also pushed him into phrasing and textures heavier on bite than soaring opera. The result was occasionally disorienting (fans expecting a Judas Priest singalong would have been ill-served) but also compelling. Halford sounded comfortable taking his signature howl into noir-ish, industrial landscapes.
The visual and sonic palette of the night matched the album’s aesthetic: hard, shadowy, and occasionally confrontational. The band’s debut single “I Am a Pig” had provoked attention with an explicit, controversial video banned by MTV. Its live translation retained the song’s ugly swagger while adding a bruising live punch.
Super Toad’s stage, a smaller room compared to arenas Halford had headlined for decades, but one that would showcase the likes of Staind, Filter, Slipknot, Godsmack, and Linkin Park in the upcoming years, worked in the band’s favor. Super Toad was the epitome of a 90s rock venue. The proximity gave the industrial elements a visceral weight. The thump of programmed percussion mixed with live drums felt immediate. The guitar squall was less polished and more menacing. For local fans this was a rare chance to see a legendary voice try something new in an ordinary, slightly ramshackle Iowa venue and there’s something electric about that mismatch. Super Toad had been a local hotspot for touring alt/metal acts in the late ’90s, so the room’s pedigree made the night feel right at home.
There were rough edges. The material sometimes sounded better on record, where studio tricks and production choices tightened everything. Performed live, a few songs wandered between fierce and unfinished. But the gamble of Halford stepping away from traditional metal armor, embracing industrial textures and collaborators like John Lowery and producers Bob Marlette and Dave “Rave” Ogilvie was admirable.
For listeners willing to accept a different aesthetic from a familiar voice, the May 12 show offered a potent mix of risk and thrill. Bottom line, the 2wo show at Super Toad wasn’t a nostalgia act and it wasn’t meant to be. It was Rob Halford testing limits, leaning into unease, and bringing fans along for a jagged ride. Not every moment landed, but when it worked, it was a striking reminder that even established metal icons can surprise and sometimes discomfit in the best possible way.
Setlist:
I Am a Pig
Stutter Kiss
Water’s Leaking
Wake Up
If
Deep in the Ground
Leave Me Alone
Shout
Gimp
My Ceiling’s Low
Bed of Rust
