Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill is featured in a new interview with The Aquarian discussing the band's current 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour. He also comments on guitarist Richie Faulkner's recent health scare and complete recovery, as well as the possibility of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden touring together in the future.
Q: On this tour, you’re doing some songs that haven’t been performed live in quite some time. How does it feel to revisit some of these deeper cuts?
Ian Hill: "Off Painkiller, we’re doing 'One Shot at Glory' – we’ve never played that before, so that’s exciting. Things like 'Rocka Rolla', we hadn’t played in 40-odd years. That was the first single from the first album. 'Invader' is another song we’ve never played before… or if we did, it was so long ago, nobody can remember (laughs). So, we’ve got some surprises in there.
It’s been great revisiting some of these old songs and trying to get them in the show. We’ve only got a finite time onstage so every new song you put in, you might have to drop an old favorite, so you have to be careful, because you don’t want to start cheesing people off.
When we were rehearsing the song 'Rocka Rolla', we all started listening to that album, and we thought, 'Hey, this is a good album!' It’s just stuff we don’t think of listening to. It’s really nostalgic and it brings back memories of the things you were doing at the time."
Q: For years, there have been rumors floating around about a co-headlining tour with Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I don’t know how realistic those rumors are. As great as it would be for fans, I’m sure it’s tough to put together a tour like that.
Ian Hill: "We get asked about that all the time. We’d love to, you know. I’m sure the Maiden lads would love to do it, as well. With schedules, everybody is doing something all the time. Trying to get a gap where people are available is tough, but it’s a really attractive prospect. Two big British heavy metal bands on the same stage… it would be a great thing."
Read the complete interview here.
Courtesy of Live Rock Music by Scott Perry, the clip below features footage of Judas Priest's entire show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA on March 15th shot from the photo pit.
The setlist on the night was as follows:
"One Shot at Glory"
"Lightning Strike"
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'"
"Freewheel Burning"
"Turbo Lover"
"Hell Patrol"
"The Sentinel"
"A Touch of Evil"
"Rocka Rolla"
"Victim of Changes"
"Desert Plains"
"Blood Red Skies"
"Diamonds & Rust" (Joan Baez)
"Painkiller"
Encore:
"The Hellion / Electric Eye"
"Hell Bent for Leather"
"Metal Gods" (with GlennTipton)
"Breaking the Law" (with GlennTipton)
"Living After Midnight" (with GlennTipton)
Upcoming Judas Priest dates are listed below.
March
23 - Nashville Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN
25 - Ameris Bank Amphitheatre - Alpharetta, GA
27 - Charleston Civic Center Coliseum - Charleston, WV
29 - The Met - Philadelphia, PA
30 - Prudential Center - Newark, NJ
31 - MGM National Harbor - Washington, DC
April
2 - Foxwoods Casino Arena - Mashantucket, CT
4 - Paul E. Tsongas Arena - Lowell, MA
7 - Halifax Scotiabank Centre - Halifax, Nova Scotia
10 - Videotron Center - Quebec City, Quebec
11 - Place Bell - Montreal, Quebec
13 - FirstOntario Centre - Hamilton, Ontario
