Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Judas Priest are finally returning to the U.K. and Ireland, and they're bringing Saxon and Uriah Heep with them for what's sure to be the most impressive billing of 2024. As well as a U.K. arena run, the British heavy metal institution will hit Dublin's 3Arena on Friday March 15th 2024.
Tickets for the Dublin show priced from €69.75 including booking fee go on sale this Friday at 10am from www.Ticketmaster.ie
Billed as 'Metal Masters', the full list of dates for the tour run as follows;
March 11 - Glasgow, UK - OVO Hydro
March 13 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena
March 15 - Dublin, UK - 2 Arena
March 17 - Bournemouth, UK - International Arena
March 19 - Birmingham, UK - Resorts World Arena
March 21 - London, UK - OVO Arena Wembley
There are few heavy metal bands that have managed to scale the heights that Judas Priest have during their nearly 50-year career. Their presence and influence remains at an all-time high as evidenced by 2018's 'Firepower' being the highest charting album of their career, a 2010 Grammy Award win for 'Best Metal Performance', plus being a 2006 VH1 Rock Honors recipient and a 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination.
Judas Priest originally formed in 1969 in Birmingham, England (an area that many feel birthed heavy metal). Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill would be the nucleus of musicians (along with several different drummers over the years) that would go on to change the face of heavy metal. After a 'feeling out' period of a couple of albums, 1974's 'Rocka Rolla' and 1976's 'Sad Wings of Destiny' this line-up truly hit their stride. The result was a quartet of albums that separated Priest from the rest of the hard rock pack - 1977's 'Sin After Sin', 1978's 'Stained Class' and 'Hell Bent for Leather', and 1979's 'Unleashed in the East', which spawned such metal anthems as 'Sinner', 'Diamonds and Rust', 'Hell Bent for Leather', and 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)'. Also, Priest were one of the first metal bands to exclusively wear leather and studs – a look that began during this era and would eventually be embraced by metal heads throughout the world.
It could be said that Priest simply owned the '80s as they were second to none as far as pure metal goes, releasing such all-time classic albums as 1980's 'British Steel', 1981's 'Point of Entry', 1982's 'Screaming for Vengeance', and 1984's 'Defenders of the Faith'. Once more, these titles spawned countless enduring metal anthems including 'Breaking the Law', 'Living After Midnight', 'Heading Out to the Highway', and 'You've Got Another Thing Coming'. The '80s were also a decade where Priest became a global arena headliner, offering show-stopping sets at some of the world's biggest festivals, including the first-ever Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington Park (1980) in the United Kingdom, the US Festival (1983) in the United States and Live Aid (1985) in the United States.
The remainder of the '80s saw Priest embrace more melodic hard rock sounds on 1986's 'Turbo' and 1988's 'Ram it Down' (in addition to their second live set, 1987's 'Priest...Live!') before releasing arguably the heaviest release of their entire career, 1990's 'Painkiller' (which saw the arrival of Scott Travis on drums). Judas Priest were special guests on the 2004 Ozzfest, appearing alongside Black Sabbath, before issuing 'Angel of Retribution' a year later.
2008 saw the release of the double disc concept album, 'Nostradamus', which peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200, and a year later 'A Touch of Evil: Live' was issued (which led to the group's aforementioned Grammy Award win due to a killer rendition of the classic, 'Dissident Aggressor').
In 2009, Priest began a celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the release of their classic 'British Steel' album, which included a tour that saw the group perform the album in its entirety, and was followed up by an expanded double disc version of 'British Steel' in 2010, plus a DVD of their live show.
By 2011, Downing announced that he was exiting the band. With a still burning desire to continue flying the flag of metal, Judas Priest decided to continue on, by enlisting newcomer Richie Faulkner on guitar. The move seemed to have reinvigorated the band, as evidenced by a show-stealing performance on the 'American Idol' TV program, that also served as Faulkner's debut performance with the band (also in 2011, as was the release of a new compilation 'The Chosen Few', which included Priest classics selected by some of metal's biggest names) and the 'Epitaph' concert DVD in 2013. Priest’s next studio effort would arrive in 2014, ‘Redeemer of Souls’, which scaled the U.S. charts to #6, and was supported by another strong tour.
In 2017, Priest received a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the following year, issuing their latest studio album, ‘Firepower.’ Co-produced by Tom Allom and Andy Sneap, the 14-track album has become one of the most successful of the band’s entire career - landing in the top-5 of 17 countries (including their highest chart placement ever in the U.S., at #5), and scoring their highest charting commercial rock radio single in decades with “Lightning Strike.” After wrapping up a highly successful winter/spring tour of North America in 2018, Judas Priest then proceeded to rock across North America with some true heavy metal Firepower in the summer and fall - on tour with fellow rock legends Deep Purple.
And Priest continued to go from strength to strength, with their ‘Firepower' tour including dates throughout the world for the remainder of 2018 and well into 2019, before having to take a break from the road with the onset of Covid in 2020.
However, a year later, Priest’s 50th Anniversary US Tour started in the UK at a one off show - Bloodstock Festival in August 2021 - then in September 2021 they started the first US leg, but had to be postponed due to serious health issues with Richie (which resulted in major emergency heart surgery). With the 50th Anniversary tour rescheduled for March/April 2022 and continuing throughout the world with shows in Europe in May, June, July and August 2022, a second US run in October and November 2022 before going to Mexico and South America in December 2022 the band continued to storm their way across the world
Additionally in 2022 Judas Priest were given a massive accolade and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame –
In 2023 the band will continue to work on their new studio album due for release early in 2024…
2024 will see the start of their next world tour – starting in the UK and Ireland in March then going into Europe, the US and possibly other markets…
Billed as 'Metal Masters', the full list of dates for the tour run as follows;
March 11 - Glasgow, UK - OVO Hydro
March 13 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena
March 15 - Dublin, UK - 2 Arena
March 17 - Bournemouth, UK - International Arena
March 19 - Birmingham, UK - Resorts World Arena
March 21 - London, UK - OVO Arena Wembley
There are few heavy metal bands that have managed to scale the heights that Judas Priest have during their nearly 50-year career. Their presence and influence remains at an all-time high as evidenced by 2018's 'Firepower' being the highest charting album of their career, a 2010 Grammy Award win for 'Best Metal Performance', plus being a 2006 VH1 Rock Honors recipient and a 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination.
Judas Priest originally formed in 1969 in Birmingham, England (an area that many feel birthed heavy metal). Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill would be the nucleus of musicians (along with several different drummers over the years) that would go on to change the face of heavy metal. After a 'feeling out' period of a couple of albums, 1974's 'Rocka Rolla' and 1976's 'Sad Wings of Destiny' this line-up truly hit their stride. The result was a quartet of albums that separated Priest from the rest of the hard rock pack - 1977's 'Sin After Sin', 1978's 'Stained Class' and 'Hell Bent for Leather', and 1979's 'Unleashed in the East', which spawned such metal anthems as 'Sinner', 'Diamonds and Rust', 'Hell Bent for Leather', and 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)'. Also, Priest were one of the first metal bands to exclusively wear leather and studs – a look that began during this era and would eventually be embraced by metal heads throughout the world.
It could be said that Priest simply owned the '80s as they were second to none as far as pure metal goes, releasing such all-time classic albums as 1980's 'British Steel', 1981's 'Point of Entry', 1982's 'Screaming for Vengeance', and 1984's 'Defenders of the Faith'. Once more, these titles spawned countless enduring metal anthems including 'Breaking the Law', 'Living After Midnight', 'Heading Out to the Highway', and 'You've Got Another Thing Coming'. The '80s were also a decade where Priest became a global arena headliner, offering show-stopping sets at some of the world's biggest festivals, including the first-ever Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington Park (1980) in the United Kingdom, the US Festival (1983) in the United States and Live Aid (1985) in the United States.
The remainder of the '80s saw Priest embrace more melodic hard rock sounds on 1986's 'Turbo' and 1988's 'Ram it Down' (in addition to their second live set, 1987's 'Priest...Live!') before releasing arguably the heaviest release of their entire career, 1990's 'Painkiller' (which saw the arrival of Scott Travis on drums). Judas Priest were special guests on the 2004 Ozzfest, appearing alongside Black Sabbath, before issuing 'Angel of Retribution' a year later.
2008 saw the release of the double disc concept album, 'Nostradamus', which peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200, and a year later 'A Touch of Evil: Live' was issued (which led to the group's aforementioned Grammy Award win due to a killer rendition of the classic, 'Dissident Aggressor').
In 2009, Priest began a celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the release of their classic 'British Steel' album, which included a tour that saw the group perform the album in its entirety, and was followed up by an expanded double disc version of 'British Steel' in 2010, plus a DVD of their live show.
By 2011, Downing announced that he was exiting the band. With a still burning desire to continue flying the flag of metal, Judas Priest decided to continue on, by enlisting newcomer Richie Faulkner on guitar. The move seemed to have reinvigorated the band, as evidenced by a show-stealing performance on the 'American Idol' TV program, that also served as Faulkner's debut performance with the band (also in 2011, as was the release of a new compilation 'The Chosen Few', which included Priest classics selected by some of metal's biggest names) and the 'Epitaph' concert DVD in 2013. Priest’s next studio effort would arrive in 2014, ‘Redeemer of Souls’, which scaled the U.S. charts to #6, and was supported by another strong tour.
In 2017, Priest received a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the following year, issuing their latest studio album, ‘Firepower.’ Co-produced by Tom Allom and Andy Sneap, the 14-track album has become one of the most successful of the band’s entire career - landing in the top-5 of 17 countries (including their highest chart placement ever in the U.S., at #5), and scoring their highest charting commercial rock radio single in decades with “Lightning Strike.” After wrapping up a highly successful winter/spring tour of North America in 2018, Judas Priest then proceeded to rock across North America with some true heavy metal Firepower in the summer and fall - on tour with fellow rock legends Deep Purple.
And Priest continued to go from strength to strength, with their ‘Firepower' tour including dates throughout the world for the remainder of 2018 and well into 2019, before having to take a break from the road with the onset of Covid in 2020.
However, a year later, Priest’s 50th Anniversary US Tour started in the UK at a one off show - Bloodstock Festival in August 2021 - then in September 2021 they started the first US leg, but had to be postponed due to serious health issues with Richie (which resulted in major emergency heart surgery). With the 50th Anniversary tour rescheduled for March/April 2022 and continuing throughout the world with shows in Europe in May, June, July and August 2022, a second US run in October and November 2022 before going to Mexico and South America in December 2022 the band continued to storm their way across the world
Additionally in 2022 Judas Priest were given a massive accolade and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame –
In 2023 the band will continue to work on their new studio album due for release early in 2024…
2024 will see the start of their next world tour – starting in the UK and Ireland in March then going into Europe, the US and possibly other markets…
