After storming the world for nearly 40 years and taking its very
special brand of heavy metal to all four corners of the planet,
JUDAS PRIEST
� one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time � has
announced plans to embark on a final world tour. However, the mighty
PRIEST will certainly be going out strong as it rocks the planet starting in 2011 on the massive
"Epitaph" trek � hitting all the major cities throughout the world where it will play the songs that helped make the name
JUDAS PRIEST synonymous with heavy metal.
With
all guns blazing and amps cranked to eleven, the band will be giving
all its fans one last chance to witness the ultimate metal experience
that is
JUDAS PRIEST!
JUDAS PRIEST will be starting its world tour in Europe and has just confirmed the following festivals for 2011:
Jun. 09 - Sweden Rock Festival, S�lvesborg, Sweden
Jun. 11 - Sauna Open Air, Tampere, Finland
Jun. 17 - Copenhell, Copenhagen, Denmark
Jun. 19 - Hellfest, Clisson, France
Jun. 22 - Gods of Metal, Milan, Italy
Jun. 25 - Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, Belgium
Jul. 23 - High Voltage, London, UK
Aug. 05 - Wacken Open Air, Wacken, Germany
JUDAS PRIEST was honored in the "Best Metal Performance" category at the 52nd annual
Grammy Awards, which was held on January 31, 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
PRIEST was nominated for the track
"Dissident Aggressor", from the band's 2009 live album
"A Touch of Evil: Live". Singer
Rob Halford and the band's drummer,
Scott Travis, accepted the award at the event.
In his acceptance speech,
Halford said, "The fifth time is the charm," referring to the fact
PRIEST had been nominated four previous times and gone home without the award every time. He mentioned that
PRIEST
have been making metal for 35 years and that they still love what they
do. He also remembered to thank all the radio stations and press that
have supported the band, and he dedicated the award to all heavy metal
fans.
In a 2008 interview
JUDAS PRIEST bassist
Ian Hill
stated about being part of a band that has defined a genre and spawned
countless imitators, "We are very proud of what we have achieved. When
I formed this band way back in 1970 I had no grand plan.
K.K. Downing
[guitar] and I were just mates from school that wanted to play some
music. We have a great family among us and like family we have our good
and bad days, but without sounding nostalgic, yeah, it's pretty cool
what we have achieved."
JUDAS PRIEST's most recent double-disc concept album,
"Nostradamus",
sold 42,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to
debut at position No. 11 on The Billboard 200 chart. This marked the
band's highest-ever chart position in the U.S. In Canada, the CD opened
at position No. 9 after shifting close to 4,000 units.
JUDAS PRIEST's previous studio CD,
"Angel of Retribution", premiered with 58,000 copies in the U.S. back in March 2005 to debut at No. 13.
When asked about the varied reaction from
JUDAS PRIEST fans to
"Nostradamus",
Halford stated in a 2008 interview, "The reaction has been very kind of mixed and diverse � very passionate responses. There are some
PRIEST fans that only want
'Painkiller',
'Painkiller',
'Painkiller', which is fine. If you want to listen to
'Painkiller',
throw it in your CD player. But I think, in terms of achievement, this
is something we've always wanted to do. We've often talked about making
a concept record, but it took until now to personally have the strong
structure of an idea � in
Nostradamus � and secondly have
enough time to disappear into the recording/writing realm through
almost a two-year period. But it's done now, and we feel very satisfied
� we're proud of what we've achieved � and it's out there around the
world settling into the psyche of everyone. My gut feeling tells me
that in two, three, five years from now, the light will go on and
people will go, 'Oh yeah. I've got it. I understand what this is all
about now.' We're all about music. Some of it is instant; some of it
takes awhile [to connect with the listener] . That's the joy of
listening to music in all the ways that we do."
JUDAS PRIEST's
"A Touch of Evil: Live"
live album sold around 5,300 copies in the United States in its first
week of release to debut at position No. 87 on The Billboard 200 chart.
PRIEST chose 10 songs not previously released in live album form for
"A Touch of Evil: Live", which was released in July 2009, in the midst of the band's U.S. summer tour.
"A Touch of Evil" included live renderings of longtime fan favorites such as
"Painkiller",
"Dissident Aggressor",
"Riding on the Wind",
"Between the Hammer & the Anvil" and
"Eat Me Alive", as well as
"Hellrider" from
"Angel of Retribution", the group's 2004 reunion album with frontman
Rob Halford, and two tracks �
"Death" and
"Prophecy" � from 2008's rock opera
"Nostradamus".
Recorded by
Martin Walker and
Brian Thorene during
JUDAS PRIEST's mammoth 2005 and 2008 world tours,
"A Touch Of Evil: Live" marked the first
PRIEST album that producer
Tom Allom has worked on since 1988 (co-producing along with the band). It was such
Allom-produced albums as
"Unleashed In The East", as well as
"British Steel" and
"Screaming For Vengeance" (among others) that made
PRIEST not only one of the premier metal acts, but one of the leading global rock acts.