Judas Priest

Yes of course, but once you've been exposed to The Ballad of Jimi Hendrix and all its infamous spin-offs, it's impossible not to make the connection.
 
Fantastic setlist and a really nice performance for the opening show of the tour. Rob always needs a few concerts to warm up, but it seems that generally speaking he did really well at Rockfest. Even if they axe some tracks or replace them with something else, the setlist will still be amazing. So many deep cuts, including several that weren't played in Europe for a loooong time (All Guns Blazing, Between the Hammer and the Anvil). I love the fact that it's not Invincible Shield Tour pt. 2, but a separate tour. This is exactly what happened in 2019.
 
 
Really pleased with the setlist. Will try and see them later this year. I've actually seen Priest live more times than Maiden.

Edit: nobody seems to complain when Priest plays Breaking, Livin', Metal Gods, You Got Another Thing, etc. every tour. Nor does anyone seem to complain that AC/DC's set is mostly the same all the time....

Just an observation :cool:
 
The setlist totally rocks. Even more from Painkiller than I was expecting, all the songs from Shield that I really hoped they would would add as well as a couple of deep cuts and the return of Firepower? Way beyond what I was even hoping for.
 
Priest did it again, like in 2019 they changed almost the whole set. Kudos! Some bands should take notes...

The setlist is great and better than the previous leg/tour. It's like a new tour, not a continuation of the album tour.

7 Painkiller songs, 3 Invincible Shield songs, 6 classics and 3 deep cuts (if we count ''Judas Rising''). Wow. 19 songs.

''All Guns Blazing'' is used as an opener for the first time. It works. It and ''Between The Hammer And The Anvil'' returned to the set. ''Night Crawler'' since 2012 too, it was expected. ''One Shot At Glory'' again is a cool surprise.

No title track or Panic Attack from the new album! Instead they try ''Gates Of Hell'' again and played the already rehearsed and popular ''The Serpent And The King'' - I didn't expect it tbh. The bigger surprise is ''Giants In The Sky'', it seems to be a very liked song from the new album. It's cool and a little different. I still hope for As God As My Witness.

  • So far - 7 songs from the new album have been played live!

''Solar Angels'' is unexpected, Richie said it doesn't work that well live. And I agree. But's it's a real deep cut. ''Judas Rising'' is popular.

They continue to show love for the Firepower album by playing the title track again. Good.

Maybe just one Nostradamus song is missing.

No Turbo Lover, Electric Eye, Victim, the covers...
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The stage set is the same - the decor is the from the Painkiller cover. The new addition is the ''Priest sign'' in between the 2 screens (*for some songs). Nice.
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Rob is not good at all on Serpent And The King, a tough song. Giant's chorus is not sounding good too.

GIANTS IN THE SKY






I expect some songs to still be changed or dropped, and it's a challenging set for Rob. Maybe to even the 2 albums? It would be appropriate.


Iron Lurker said:
Edit: nobody seems to complain when Priest plays Breaking, Livin', Metal Gods, You Got Another Thing, etc. every tour.
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Speaking specifically about Priest and Maiden, maybe for the Priest fans the deep cuts aren't that popular (or new songs, even though the new album is popular), who knows. And with such a big change to the set, how to complain. The fresh sets in general in the last years, plus some rotating. We criticize Maiden, but if you think about it, the last 2 tours songs are a good rotation. Also, Maiden are doing more different tours with the mandatory hits, there's that. But they can easily change some songs between legs of a tour/regions like Priest and in the 80's. Both bands are doing very well. Playing more new songs is always good.

I expect this tour to continue next year. Then a new album, which is great! Maiden?!
 
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I am not the biggest Painkiller fan, but what Judas Priest have been doing with their setlists is commendable. Shame about Victim of Changes or Sinner not being played (those two are a must for an old fart like me!)
 
At this point Painkiller is for them just like hallowed or fear for maiden - they must play it. TBH after seeing both setlists - Maiden & Priest - I'm must say, I would prefer to go to Judas Priest show.

Also, shit, I love gates of hell.
 
On paper it's a very strong set, though also incredibly challenging for Rob, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's changed by the time I see them at the end of July.

I'm also slightly disappointed, though not surprised, that the Shield of Pain Tour kinda shafts the "Shield" part, I'd have preferred a more even split. They could've easily kept the Painkiller deep cuts and still played some new IS tracks.

Iron Lurker said:
Edit: nobody seems to complain when Priest plays Breaking, Livin', Metal Gods, You Got Another Thing, etc. every tour. Nor does anyone seem to complain that AC/DC's set is mostly the same all the time....
Click to expand...

I think with AC/DC it's that they're a big enough band that a vast majority of their audience is casuals, or people who haven't seen them before, so the band "have to" play the hits for them. With Priest, I'm not sure, as they're bit more niche than AC/DC I expect the majority of their audience is now die-hards who probably would rather hear the deeper cuts. Maybe them playing deep cuts takes the sting out of hearing Breaking the Law for the 100th time :lol:
 
Iron Lurker said:
Really pleased with the setlist. Will try and see them later this year. I've actually seen Priest live more times than Maiden.

Edit: nobody seems to complain when Priest plays Breaking, Livin', Metal Gods, You Got Another Thing, etc. every tour. Nor does anyone seem to complain that AC/DC's set is mostly the same all the time....

Just an observation :cool:
Click to expand...
Probably because even with the evergreens, their setlists are balanced. Yes, you get tracks like Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight and YGATC (more recently Metal Gods has not been played often), but on the other hand, you also get stuff not played live for 40 years, live debuts, etc. So both sides are happy. Casuals can take videos during Turbo Lover, fans can bang their heads to All Guns Blazing. The proportions are usually good as well.

Batman said:
At this point Painkiller is for them just like hallowed or fear for maiden - they must play it. TBH after seeing both setlists - Maiden & Priest - I'm must say, I would prefer to go to Judas Priest show.

Also, shit, I love gates of hell.
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They don't always play Painkiller (2019, 2022), but not hearing it on this particular tour would feel strange ;)
 
At this point I kind of wish they would retire Painkiller from their setlists. It's a song Rob has barely ever been able to perform adequately. Doing an instrumental version or something would be cool.

I wish they were doing more newer songs but I don't really care as I'm not seeing them on this tour. I saw Priest last year and thought they were....fine. Not amazing not bad but totally fine. But that's likely just me. They are just not the same live band without KK and Glenn. No more to be said on that, been done to death.

Dig that they are doing some newer tunes for sure though! I find those songs come across better with this lineup because the members in the band are the ones who recorded them. It's less of an odd disconnect in my head at least.
 
Kalata said:
maybe Priest fans don't want that many deep cuts (or new songs, even though the new album is popular), who knows.
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I started going to Priest shows 10 years ago. A few tours later I have 45 different songs in my statistics. I would have had many more if they had returned to Europe for the final leg of the Firepower tour (and for the second leg of the 50 Heavy Metal Years tour). Thanks to the pandemic and the stupid contract signed with Sharon, it wasn't possible. I'm missing ~12 tracks that I could have heard in theory, but I don't travel overseas to attend a gig.

Priest fans certainly do want to hear deep cuts, that's why they're playing them. There's also interest in hearing new songs live, but the band always takes their time to present them live. Never the Heroes debuted in 2022, 4 years after Firepower's premiere.
 
One of the merch shirts has the artwork for the song Disguise from the new album's booklet. Possible hint?

Here is the official art for the tour, Painkiller & Invincible Shield combined:
 

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