JUDAS PRIEST ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES STARTING IN OCTOBER, MASTODON TO SUPPORT

judaspriest640 Due to the overwhelming success of Judas Priest’s 17th studio effort overall, Redeemer of Souls (which became the highest-charting album of their career, when it debuted on the Billboard 200 charts at #6), the band has announced a fall tour, which will hit the U.S. and Canada, from October 16th through November 12th. Supporting Priest on the U.S. dates and the Halifax engagement will be one of modern metal’s top bands, Mastodon.

Redeemer of Souls also went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed releases of the band’s career, with Rolling Stone stating, “Above all, Redeemer is proof that Priest can still call themselves metal’s defenders of the faith,” while Revolver Magazine offered further praise, “Thus rejuvenated and recharged, the Metal Gods have delivered their strongest record in over a decade.”

Comprised of Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Ian Hill (bass), and Scott Travis (drums), Judas Priest is responsible for some of heavy metal’s all-time classic anthems (“Living After Midnight,” “Breaking the Law,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” etc.) and albums (‘British Steel,’ ‘Screaming for Vengeance,’ ‘Painkiller,’ etc.).

Ever since the release of Redeemer of Souls, Judas Priest has been taking their music all over the world. And they are not finished yet, with the announcement of these new dates.

October:

16 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Ampitheater
17 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl
20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield Theater
21 – San Jose, CA @ City National Civic
27 – Vancouver, B.C., Canada @ Hard Rock
28 – Vancouver, B.C., Canada @ Hard Rock
31 – Regina, SK, Canada @ Brandt Center

November:

1 – Winnipeg, MB, Canada @ MTS Center
3 – Peoria, IL @ Civc Center
6 – Huntington, N.Y. @ Paramount Theater
7 – Newark, N.J. @ Prudential Center
10 – Halifax, NS, Canada @ Scotiabank Center
12 – Halifax, NS, Canada @ Air Canada Center

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford recently said, “The clock is ticking. We can’t afford to wait three years, or five years now, to make [a new] record.”. The band’s latest release was 2014’s, Redeemer Of Souls.”

35 Responses

  1. I saw Priest two weeks ago and they played and sounded as great as ever. It was basically a hits only set, three songs from REDEEMER OF SOULS, only one song from DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH and no songs from POINT OF ENTRY, but the show was still awesome. And as much as I hate when people hold up their phones to record or take pictures, I admit that I took some pictures at the Priest show. But it was during “Turbo Lover”, so it doesn’t count.

    1. Yeah James, I went through the same thing with Def Leppard last week, (hits only set) for the most part. I understand at this stage of the game playing the safe card, but no songs from On Through The Night, and only 2 from High ‘N’ Dry. I would have loved to hear “Rock Brigade,” “Wasted,” “Let It Go,” (at least they played it for Eddie!) “Saturday Night,” “Another Hit And Run,” and “Me & My Wine” would’ve been F’N awesome! “Heartbreak,” “Switch” & “Rock! Rock!” were the highlights for me. I don’t mind the “hits,” except for “Love Bites,” (gasp) most of those songs are great, but go deep once in a while, mix it up with more variety, f–k making the critics happy, make us happy! I really hope when I see JP again in Nov. they play something from POE, I’ll take anything, especially “Heading Out To The Highway,” hell yeah! Have a good one James.

    2. Doug, the songs you listed would be in the Def Leppard setlist of my dreams! I understand that classic bands mostly stick with the songs they’re best known for on a mass scale. But those of us, like you, Eddie, Dana, me and all the people that post on this site, that know and love the full song catalog of the bands we love want to hear those deep tracks that the “casual” fan probably has never heard.

      Enjoy the Priest show, or shows in your case. Despite the lack of deep tracks, the band, and especially Rob, sounded amazingly awesome when I saw them. I’ll say this as a lifelong fan of Judas Priest and a guitarist for 36 years now: Richie Faulkner has my respect.

      Cheers bro!

    3. I saw Richie last year with JP in Brooklyn, dude, he has my respect, and my envy! Nobody can or ever will replace KK, but Richie is the right guy, at the right place, in the right time to keep JP marching on! Rock Hard, Ride Free James!

    4. Hits only? Not the setlist I saw. Only hits on it were: Turbo Lover, Breaking the Law, Electric Eye, Another Thing Comin, and Livin After Midnight. I passed.

  2. I’m hell bent on seeing Priest…Live! Again! Only question is where? Long Island, or New Jersey. I’ll probably go to both shows! The clock is ticking…

    1. At the Warfeild? I can’t believe Priest is playing that place, it’s a small theater. Not that I am even going, I checked out back in 09. “And you can analyze a situation, to me, it’s all just mental masturbation.” That’s just a rock lyric Doug R, you aren’t supposed to actually live by that stuff. : )

    2. LMFAO Shannon!
      “I’ve heard it called by different names
      All over the world, but it’s all the same!”
      …91 Bottles of beer on the wall…
      Are we having any fun yet?

    3. Doug R,, saying Richie is “the right guy.” To do what? act like a buffoon on stage? That’s not metal, that’s charades. He overplays, hot-dogs, he’s the antithesis of Priest, and to give him any glory is disingenuous. He didn’t earn it. Let’s see, when KK was his age he had just made the greatest metal album of the epoch, and this guy isn’t doing anything like that, he’s living off of someone else’s legacy….the dumbing down I was referring to continues unabated. They should just quit already, Rob is singing through an auto-tune onstage, so sorry, he’s not singing in top form, it’s virtual singing. If you really think he can still hit those notes, and that’s what your are really hearing, then…insert cliche here.

      Doug R, I watched Halen ’89 in Tokyo last night, and the only songs that really worked were Sam’s. The material he wrote with VH was this sort of New Agey pop, with Eddie plunking and doodling instead of riffing, with Sammy singing his melodramatic rock over it, i.e. the stuff that works perfectly when he sings it over his own material. I dug the guitar duels, in sense, Sam was giving Ed a run for his money, Sam gets a bad rap, he’s great on his own, so he didn’t ruin VH, it just was a mismatch.

      So, I am guessing we’ve got to be down to about 59 bottles at this point.

    4. Damn Shannon, I’m not an alcoholic, we’re only down to 89 bottles! LOL! We can go back and forth all day on JP and VH, to each his own. Look, Richie is a guitar player, JP needed a guitar player, and he fit right in, what’s the problem? And Rob may not be in top form anymore, but like I’ve said before, I’ll take a Halford at 50% over most other singers at 100%! Lighten up Shannon, enjoy what’s left of our Metal Gods, the clock is ticking…

    5. Richie Faulkner walks up to me one day when I’m walking down the street minding my own business……… Nah, just fooling. Faulkner is a very competent replacement for KK and Redeemer is the best metal album of the 2010s by a mile. Shannon, you are an all time great blogger buy you must overcome your negativity regarding the junior Priest guitar player. Embrace change and the future. And we’ll race together. We can ride forever.

    6. Is this the guy who made me the clown? Those were the days, the wild west! I was thinking of changing my name on here to Don Von Moshbourne and just being a complete prick for the sake of it, but, integrity is more important, and honesty, so I won’t. : ) Besides, Dana might not let me.
      Michael, embracing Richie is a negative because it cheapens the brand. I.e. Purple brings in a totally different element than Ritchie, so it’s still viable. The Eagles did this when they brought in Walsh, and even Kiss did this in the 80s. So, I am criticizing the whole concept, Richie just being the unfortunate employee.

      That’s another thing, if someone is in a band for, say, 10 years, they should get a piece of the action. Eric Carr should’ve been given some ownership, even 10%., how about 5%?

      Vinnie vs. Ace, Ace was perfect for Kiss because here you have a guy who is talented enough to be a force in his own right, has such a strong identity, yet, he is so lazy, he won’t mind being in a supportive role for prolonged periods of time. This explains why Paul and Gene put up with him, and would’ve continued to, had he not quit. Vinnie was way over qualified, and way too ambitious for Kiss. He wasn’t going to be their employee, so he wouldn’t sign their contract. If you listen to his demo, with him singing, it’s analogous to having Sykes join Kiss, Vinnie was that great, maybe even more so. He could write like Townshend, and shred like DiMeola. I wasn’t there, but having such a genius in Kiss only works if he’s lazy…lol.

    7. Shannon, just please STOP. Rob is NOT singing through auto-tune. Where the hell did you get that? I saw them 3x in October and HE was singing. You can tell when someone is auto-tuned. Rob hits enough off notes that it’s real.

      And I just can’t, for the life of me, get these continud attacks on Richie. I, too, felt he was overdoing it on his first tour. It was annoying. But the simple fact of the matter is that he injected another 5 years of life into the greatest metal band in history. Period. PERIOD! Have you seen Glenn this tour? He’s a shadow of his former self. Who, during the last tour, and this tour, was busy recording riffs and idea for new albums? Richie. He continues to push guys in a band that did things the old and slow way. Now? We might actually get ANOTHER album next year before all is said and done with Priest. Yet, you claim the kid is a poseur? Get over yourselves. Yes, KK was an icon and founding member. But HE chose to walk away from it all, on his terms. We wouldn’t be discussing another tour leg if he had stayed on. We’d be reminiscing about the good old days already and how disappointing it was to see Priest ending with Nostradamus and closing shop in 2011. Cheapens the brand?? Are you saying Redeemer is inferior to Nostradamus? C’mon.

      So, enough of this garbage. Please.

    8. The Warfield is my all-time favorite venue, I to can`t believe they`re playing there Alot of great bands have played there throughout there almost 100 yr history. I was done seeing Priest because I`ve seen them a few times but I guess I`ll have to go see them one more time just because they are at the warfield and there 2250 capacity.

    9. Not charades so much, that’s really what Halford does, and it’s an art, no, what Richie is is the bands’ mascot, he’s like that dumb furry animal you see at sporting events.

    10. Shannon, are you trying to get me drunk? I haven’t been drunk in about 24 years, buzzed yes, but drunk, no!
      1 Bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer.
      Take one down and pass it around, no more bottles of beer on the wall.
      No more bottles of beer on the wall, no more bottles of beer.
      Go to the store and buy some more, 99 bottles of beer on the wall.
      You’re buying Shannon, cheers!

    11. I’ve been gone along time. Seen a lot of change in the world. Seen a lot good things and a lot of bad things. Many people come and many people go. But no matter what things come in and out of our lives one thing that will never change is that Shannon is wrong again. You’re like a Swiss watch Clown, always on time….but never neutral. Shannon I respect anyone who sticks to their guns no matter how wrong they may be. But I’ll quote the legendary Doug R who once so famously stated….’I’ll take Halford at 50% than most other singers at 100%’. No Robert is not what he was, none of us are. Richie isn’t KK and nor should he be. But Priest is timeless. If every band packed it in that were once a shell of their former selves we’d all be going to Adele concerts these days. Now where is Lee or Sar305?

    12. Oh no, it’s DR, someone whose logic resembles that of a High School student who campaigned against Bush because Bush mis-pronounced nuclear.

      To D. Comiskey, it’s called an on/off button.

      Doug R, Sammy’s Three Lock Box and I”m good to go brother.

    13. Mysteries of the days of old.
      You find the key, you got the gold.
      One, Two, Three Lock Box!

    14. Elliot, why do your posts always make me hungry? Now I have a craving for a bagel, LOL!

    15. doug r, “these posts are making me hungry”. may I suggest bagel boss on 2nd avenue or any long island location. can’t beat it with a Michael Jackson album.

    16. DR is back on the board, hell yeah! “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll!”
      “Let The Good Times Roll”…again! Cheers DR!

  3. Oh, you have GOT to be f’ing kidding me!!!!!! I don’t know if I can go. First of all (and I’ve spoken to Eddie via email about this), I am so SICK and tired of most big bands hitting Huntington, LI as their new NY stop. That place is a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR pain in the ass to get to. I’m in CT. It takes me, on a good night, about an hour and a half to get there. Tolls and gas add up to about $30 alone. Traffic is guaranteed. Parking in Huntinton? IT SUCKS. The tiny town is NOT capable of handling the crowds that the Paramount generates. I saw Trivium and Volbeat there last year and people, literally, had to park 4-8 blocks away in residential neighborhoods, hoping not to get towed or have an angry resident do something to their car.

    This has been going on for about 3 years now. ALL of the metal bands are skipping NYC now, for the most part. Yet, the Paramount seems to be, literally, getting every single band or entertainer to play there. The promoter is doing his/her job well. But it’s destroying the conert experience in our area.

    Just GETTING to Huntington is a nightmare. I truly hate going there. I only go if it’s a must-see for me. The problem is… I’m already going there in late Nov to see Machine Head (I don’t know why Eddie has paid them almost no attention – their last album is one of the greatest metal albums in years and their “An Evening With….” tour is mind-blowing – and I’ve seen a hell of a lot of shows in my young 43 years).

    Add to that, I just got my tickets to see Artie Lange and Jim Brewer doing stand-up in November. Oh, and seeing Machine Head two nights in a row the week of Thanksgiving. Wife isn’t exactly thrilled with me as it is. No matter my love for Priest, going this time around is insane.

    I sort of accepted that the last time I saw the mighty Priest – my favorite band of all time – three times last October was probably it. Now, they half-ass a second NA tour and hit… Huntington and Newark??? Ugh. It kills me, but I’m out this time. So it looks like I was right last year. 🙁

    Sorry for the rant.

    1. d.,
      not sure where it ct you are, but is the ferry a viable option? maybe that and 1/2 hour cab ride from pt. jeff might not be cheap, but maybe less stressful.

  4. Oh, and I wouldn’t get your hopes up about them changing the setlist. As much as I love Priest, this has been a major sore point for me for a very long time. That is a band that rarely takes risks on the road. They MAY add/remove a song or two, but I guarantee you that will be it.

    1. I haven’t seen them since 2009.

      But in seeing Priest four times from 2004-2009, I saw a pretty wide array of different songs from different Priest eras.

      At the Metal Masters Tour, they even dropped Living After Midnight to make room for Hell Patrol, Dissident Aggressor, Rock Hard Ride Free, and Angel among some other rarities.

      Of course in 2009, they did British Steel, so you got The Rage, Steeler, and You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise.

  5. Def Lep was playing paper sun on this tour but dropped it from the setlist when the states tour kicked off. Rush was playing between the wheels but replaced it with some lame song on the show I saw last month. Queensryche was playing breaking the silence every night on the latest tour this year but dropped it from the show I saw. Thank God when I saw Priest this year they put my favorite song back in the setlist after being omitted for the last 30 years. Love Bites!!!

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