2025 saw many good performances of Painkiller, but like I said - it shouldn't be on the setlist for the Faithkeepers tour. Partially because it's overplayed, partially because we've just had a big celebration of the Painkiller album... And partially because if they want to play VoC, Valhalla, Panic Attack and Painkiller, there will be a price to pay. Rob always needs a few shows for warming up and he'll generally sound better, but this is a very demanding setlist. Singing Painkiller after Panic Attack is just an insane idea, with the latter being the most difficult track to sing. I'm surprised they even decided to bring PA back.
Judas Priest
- Thread starter Perun
- Start date
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Underwhelming setlist (most in recent years), I guess they just wanted a tour this year before the release of the new album (kind of like Maiden's Give Me Ed tour). No theme, no DOTF, no SWOD or Turbo, why Rob said it? Let's see if they change something along the way.
The stage set is the same, they just use screens for the main stage decor now. It's nice, it works for Painkiller.
The only ''deeper cuts'' are: Desert Plains, Steeler, Delivering The Goods. Maybe Halls Of Valhalla?
The first 4 opening songs plus the encore are boring. Panic Attack-Victim-Valhalla-Painkiller is brutal for Rob.
The first 4 opening songs plus the encore are boring. Panic Attack-Victim-Valhalla-Painkiller is brutal for Rob.
The stage set is the same, they just use screens for the main stage decor now. It's nice, it works for Painkiller.
Much respect to Rob, but this is an Aces High case.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
He is not singing like before but he goes up when the song goes up. yes he sounds different his voice,but reach the notes
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GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Good setlist, but with a good number of my personal favourites missing (e.g., Sinner), I am not sure I will be going to see them in London.
Iron Lurker
Apologist Maidentard and Pub Drummer
Yeah, not a bad setlist overall. A lot of the usual suspects but then that's what a sizeable portion of the audience still wants to hear. I wish they'd give Turbo Lover a rest and play Reckless, the best song from that album IMO.
Setlist will likely change a bit and certainly will be somewhat different if they hit NA/SA next year
Setlist will likely change a bit and certainly will be somewhat different if they hit NA/SA next year
I highly doubt that Faithkeepers will hit the US/SA. After the tour, Richie wants to play shows with Elegant Weapons. The new Priest album is planned for spring and that's when they'll get back on the road. They'll probably start promoting the record in NA.
Halle got the same setlist. I watched The Sentinel from BOBfest and I gotta say that the performance was pretty decent. First performances of this track can be quite rough, but it was a decent one. As the tour goes on, Rob will sound better and better, as he always does, but considering the songs that come before Painkiller... I seriously doubt that Painkiller will ever be sung as well as was on the last two tours. Not this time, sadly.
Halle got the same setlist. I watched The Sentinel from BOBfest and I gotta say that the performance was pretty decent. First performances of this track can be quite rough, but it was a decent one. As the tour goes on, Rob will sound better and better, as he always does, but considering the songs that come before Painkiller... I seriously doubt that Painkiller will ever be sung as well as was on the last two tours. Not this time, sadly.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
He was struggling on painkiller long time ago, on rising in the east and on warcry he uses that voice too. But we are talking about of one of the hardest songs to sing in metal.
terrell39
Ancient Mariner
Today is the 35th anniversary when I saw Judas Priest on the Painkiller tour from 2nd row.
They headlined a touring festival called Operation Rock and Roll:
Metal Church promoting Human Factor Dangerous Toys promoting Hellacious Acres
Motorhead promoting 1916
Alice Cooper promoting Hey Stoopid playing a coheadlining set with Judas Priest!
They headlined a touring festival called Operation Rock and Roll:
Metal Church promoting Human Factor Dangerous Toys promoting Hellacious Acres
Motorhead promoting 1916
Alice Cooper promoting Hey Stoopid playing a coheadlining set with Judas Priest!
Attachments
Rising in the East is possibly their worst live release because it was recorded during the weakest chapter of Priest's history. Shortly after returning to the band, Rob started losing his voice. Maybe because Halford used to smoke cigars, but I don't know for sure. I'm not a fan of that period. The Battle Cry version isn't as bad as a few previous ones, but on the Redeemer of Souls tour he was still trying to get his voice back.
Here's one of the best Painkiller performances I've seen in person. Perhaps the best one in general, but it all gets blurry after some time.
Flaming Blimp Crash
Ancient Mariner
Somewhat surprised they reverted back to a greatest hits setlist, but when they downplayed 'Faithkeepers' being Defenders-oriented I guess the writing was on the wall there. Oh, well, if it's probably just a one-year European 'get us out of the studio' sort of deal then that's fine.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
The weakest chapter by far is the Nostradamus tour. He was absolutely wrecked. RiTE sounds great for the most part (Beyond the Realms of Death, Diamonds and The Ripper are for instance, just fantastic), but yeah, he favored using his lower register, at a couple of really odd places. Like Exciter. While he didn't have to use his high pitch head voice like in the original release, he could have done it in his rough "motorcycle guy" voice, without having to use his upper end, but instead chose to really chicken out.
The Nostradamus tour wasn't terrible as a whole. The Graspop performance was definitely horrible and it's pretty much unwatchable, but there were better shows on the tour. I've heard that Rob was ill at Graspop and they only managed to play the show because David Coverdale gave him some medications. Not sure if the rumor is true. I kinda enjoyed bootlegs from Japan. It's been a while since I heard them, but Priest sounded better there.
By "the weakest chapter of Priest's history" I meant the whole reunion era before Epitaph.
By "the weakest chapter of Priest's history" I meant the whole reunion era before Epitaph.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
I followed that tour back in the day through bootlegs and attended two shows. It it definitely the worst tour in my view. It was pretty damn rough all the way through Europe. The 2005 tour had some poor shows as well though, but not close to every night like the 2008 european tour. The 2010 British Steel tour was a clear step up, but was also shorter and had more mid-range stuff.
Yeah, overall the BS 30th anniversary tour was better and the setlist was much less exhausting. On the other hand, I think that's when Glenn's health problems began to surface. Until 2018, I thought that they were playing Freewheel Burning so slowly due to Rob's limitations, but when it was revealed that Tipton has been struggling with Parkinson's disease since at least 2009, my whole perspective on that matter changed. It's great that he managed to keep playing shows for such a long time.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
I saw that one and in madrid was ok. I saw that one and the historic tour with the itroductions. The problem with judas is the same as helloween, there are 9 or 10 or more songs rhat always will play.
srfc
Ancient Mariner
On the original running order, it's before them tracks. Side one of the original album is Prelude, Tyrant, Genocide, Epitaph and Island of Domination. The more widespread running order makes no sense to me, Prelude is track 5 FFS
It seems there's a version of Sad Wings coming out now with the intended original running order
Yax
Ancient Mariner
Yeah, remixed by Allom, right?
Edit: Nope, just rematered according to this source.
JUDAS PRIEST: 'Sad Wings Of Destiny' 50th-Anniversary Archival Edition To Be Made Available During 'Faithkeepers' Summer 2026 Tour
Exciter Records has announced the release of JUDAS PRIEST's "Sad Wings Of Destiny (Original 1976 Masters)", a newly restored 50th-anniversary archival edition that will make its debut in CD format exclusively at merchandise stands during JUDAS PRIEST's "Faithkeepers" summer 2026 European tour...
blabbermouth.net
Not really. The only songs they play no matter what are:
1. Breaking the Law
2. Living After Midnight
3. You've Got Another Thing Comin' (not played on the final leg of the Firepower tour)
4. Hell Bent for Leather
5. Electric Eye (not played in 2018)
There are more songs that are very likely to be played, but they're not guaranteed at this point of their career:
1. Painkiller (not performed on the 2nd Firepower leg in the US and during the final 50HMY leg)
2. Victim of Changes (used to be a live staple until 2018, since the Firepower tour they've been rotating it with Sinner or they don't play any of them)
3. Metal Gods (again: not a live staple anymore, played only few times post-Firepower)
4. Turbo Lover (same case as Painkiller)
There are songs that used to be played very, very often, but not anymore:
1. The Green Manalishi (pretty much every tour since Killing Machine)
2. Heading Out to the Highway (after the Epitaph tour, Desert Plains is the more popular choice from Point of Entry)
3. Beyond the Realms of Death (post-RoS it was only played in the USA in 2022; I assume they don't like performing this one without Glenn)
4. Diamonds and Rust (similar to The Green Manalishi, played at most of their tours, but it doesn't appear on the setlist as often as it used to - after Epitaph the only tour that featured Diamonds and Rust was the anniversary one)
Ever since 2018 they tend to drop some of the evergreens in favor of new stuff and rarities. This is actually pretty interesting because you'd expect the opposite.