"It makes this old metal heart beat faster": Rob Halford is excited about the state of heavy metal
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As Judas Priest gets ready to kick off the North American leg of their Invincible Shield tour, Rob Halford says he's been left speechless by the worship the Metal Gods have been greeted with this year.
"The European leg we did, they were going nuts in Europe for Priest, for Invincible Shield," Halford tells Classic Rock from his home in Arizona. "It's worldwide, isn't it, this renaissance of heavy metal, culturally – to the point where Gojira are at the Olympic Games. Everybody's exploring everything metal. There's this great vibe out there that everybody wants to check out all these different bands."
And, Halford continues, that includes looking into what he calls "the source."
"They want to check out Priest," he says. "They want to check out Saxon. They want to check out Maiden. They want to check out these guys that are part of the first wave of metal. I'll tell you, when you walk out on stage in Athens and it's about 110 degrees at 10 o'clock at night and the place is packed and people are losing their minds for all of the songs that we're playing. And a lot of them are in their 20s; some of them are barely into their teens, and they're rammed up against the rail at the front going crazy. It just makes this old metal heart beat faster."
Taking a step back to consider why that is, Halford says metal is simply a great escape from troubled times in the world right now.
"It's an antidote to a lot of the divisiveness and angriness that people are subjected to, particularly in the political spectrum. You're constantly bombarded with stuff. It's inescapable, particularly as we go through this election cycle. I think that metal now, and has always, served as a catalyst for people to go somewhere and scream their heads off and let go of all this stuff that's been building up during the day or the weeks before you see your favourite metal band.
"More than ever I think that metal, maybe all music, serves a purpose to give people the opportunity to let loose. That's the very important role that music has played, starting from the 60s in the cultural revolution that happened there, wrapped around the Vietnam War, and that seems to have persisted. And in this moment in 2024, when you see all the horrible, terrible things that are happening in certain parts of the world, God, you need to grab hold of some metal and embrace it and take it and let it do good things to your mind, body and spirit."
Halford and company will be doing that for North America starting Friday. Sept. 13, in Montreal, with dates running through Oct. 26 in Irving, Texas. The quintet hits Japan for a four-date run during December, with additional tour dates expected during 2025. Full dates below.
The latest run coincides with the digital release of a 50th anniversary edition of Priest's debut album, remastered by Tom Allom, who Halford says "did a wonderful job. It still works; in 2024 I'm still getting the same vibes with those songs from all those years ago as I am when I go and play a track from Invincible Shield. It's the same band. It's the same textures. It's the same identity. It's the roots of who Judas Priest is."
The new edition does not include any unreleased material, however, which Halford said the band "had debates about. I think there was a slightly different arrangement of the title track. I think we also had a live version of the title track from somewhere. But we it's that thing where if it's not broke, don't fix it. Rocka Rolla represents perfectly just as it is."
Rocka Rolla is out on Friday, with physical copies due on November 22.
Judas Priest: Invincible Shield tour 2024
Sep 13: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Sep 14: Niagara Falls Fallsview Casino Resort, ON
Sep 17: Sterling Heights Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill, MI
Sep 19: Milwaukee Miller High Life Theatre, WI
Sep 21: Cedar Rapids Alliant Energy PowerHouse, IA
Sep 22: Sioux Falls Denny Sanford Premier Center, SD
Sep 24: Rochester Mayo Civic Center Arena, MN
Sep 25: Omaha Baxter Arena, NE
Sep 27: Rockford BMO Center, IL
Sep 29: Louisville Louder Than Life Festival, KY^
Oct 01: Independence, MO: Cable Dahmer Arena
Oct 03: Billings First Interstate Arena at MetraPark, MT
Oct 05: Idaho Falls Mountain America Center, ID
Oct 06: Spokane Spokane Arena, WA
Oct 09: Everett Angel of the Winds Arena, WA
Oct 10: Portland Alaska Airlines’ Theater of the Clouds, OR
Oct 12: Sacramento After Shock Festival, CA^
Oct 13: Reno Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, NV
Oct 15: Los Angeles YouTube Theater, CA
Oct 16: Las Vegas Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood, NV
Oct 18: Phoenix Arizona Financial Theatre, AZ
Oct 20: Loveland Blue Arena, CO
Oct 22: Houston Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, TX
Oct 24: Austin Germania Insurance Amphitheater, TX
Oct 26: Irving The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, TX
Dec 05: Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Art Theater Large Hall, Japan
Dec 06: Amagasaki Amashin Archaic Hall, Japan
Dec 09: Okayama Performing Arts Theatre, Japan
Dec 12: Yokohama Pia Arena, Japan
^Festival Date
Tickets are on sale now.
