In a recent conversation with Nikki Blakk of 107.7 The Bone, Rob Halford shared how the upcoming North American trek featuring Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, and Corrosion Of Conformity came together.
"Back in the day, it was so easy to put these two together. Now they're a little bit corporate, and blah, blah, blah. But does that really matter? No, 'cause eventually we get the opportunity — we get the opportunity to be in each other's company and to share the stages with each other. And this is a real event — this is a real event. Will this ever happen again? I don't think so," Halford explained.
He highlighted what makes the tour unique: "So if you wanna see an event where you've got The Metal Gods, and you've got the original shock rocker, 'cause he started it all, baby. And Corrosion Of Conformity. And I'm so, so happy that that band has stayed together. They've been through some tough times, like we all have. But Pepper's [Keenan, Corrosion Of Conformity frontman] is such a great guy. It's a great band, great music, great albums. So, bang, bang, bang, one after another."
When asked jokingly if there was a debate over who gets the prime stage slot, Halford explained how the shows will work. "Well, we're flipping it. We're flipping it. It is a co-headline. So, I don't know how many shows — is it 30 shows? — We split [it]. 15 Alice closes, 15 Priest closes. I've gotta say, from my angle, I'll go on at nine o'clock in the morning. Not really, but what I'm trying to say is I don't care, as long as we get to play, as long as we get to see our beautiful metal maniacs again, see the people that have given us this great life in rock and roll, and just party. It's a reunion, and it's such a great, great way to celebrate both bands, rather than all the bands. And so yeah, just a lot of good vibes, a lot of good feeling and incredible music."
Turning to the setlist, Halford confirmed fans can expect both old favorites and newer tracks. "We're still promoting this Shield Of Pain tour idea, because, as you know, [Priest’s 1990 album] Painkiller celebrated a big anniversary last year. So we're sharing a great set. It's a big selection of the Painkiller album and some of Priest's latest album, Invincible Shield. So you've got your Invincible Shield, which is still roaring on all cylinders, and the obvious celebration of Painkiller, which is the album for Priest and the album for a lot of metalheads, in and out of the Priest world. It's such a beautifully blessed and respected album. So it's just great. We come out of the box just roaring… It's just a roller-coaster ride of sheer metal power from the Priest side of things."
That energy doesn’t make song choices easier, though. Halford admitted, "It's real tough. As I said, thankfully, because of the Painkiller [35th-anniversary] angle, that kind of gave us a good chunk of the setlist that we took out recently in Europe; we did all of the festivals over there. And for the fans in Europe, they were just going nuts to hear these Painkiller songs one after another — 'All Guns Blazing', 'Hell Patrol', 'Night Crawler', 'A Touch Of Evil'. It's just a great display of metal power in its truest sense. But, yeah, I'm sure Alice is the same. This is a problem. C.O.C. — all of these bands have got all of this music, all of these songs. Where do you start? You try and cover all of the dots, so to speak. If Priest didn't play 'Breaking The Law', everybody [at the venue] would be breaking the law."
He added that these classics are more than just songs; they’re milestones in fans’ lives. "And we love playing those songs that are such an important part of the music fabric of America, because you know what music's like. We can say firsthand how much music is important in our lives, because all of these songs are a reference point, all of these songs are a reference point to the first date, to the first metal show we went to, the first metal album we got. So it really is a larger-than-life experience on all levels for this upcoming tour."
