Judas Priest are back on the road. The British metal institution launched its 2026 “Faithkeepers” world tour on Saturday, July 25, with a 17-song set at BOBfest in Mönchengladbach, Germany — and rewarded the die-hards in the crowd with a few songs they had all but given up on hearing.
The night’s headline for longtime fans was the return of two 1970s cuts. “The Ripper” and “Delivering The Goods” were both played for the first time since March 21, 2019 — a roughly seven-year absence.
Two of the choices carried even deeper significance than that. “Delivering The Goods” had not been performed anywhere in Europe since 1980, a 46-year gap, and “Steeler” was a full European live debut, having never been played on the continent before. For a band that has toured Europe relentlessly for five decades, digging that far into the catalogue is not something that happens often.
The set drew heavily from the 1980s peak, Screaming For Vengeance, British Steel, Defenders Of The Faith, while reaching back to 1976’s “Victim Of Changes” and forward to “Panic Attack” off 2024’s Invincible Shield. The band walked on to a taped snippet of Black Sabbath‘s “War Pigs” and a “Faithkeepers” intro, and sent the crowd home to Queen‘s “We Are The Champions“.
Per Setlist.fm, Judas Priest performed:
- “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”
- “Metal Gods”
- “Breaking The Law”
- “The Ripper”
- “The Sentinel”
- “Desert Plains”
- “Lightning Strike”
- “Turbo Lover”
- “Steeler”
- “Delivering The Goods”
- “Panic Attack”
- “Victim Of Changes”
- “Halls Of Valhalla”
- “Painkiller”
Encore:
- “The Hellion / Electric Eye”
- “Hell Bent For Leather”
- “Living After Midnight”
Judas Priest‘s current lineup pairs frontman Rob Halford with founding bassist Ian Hill, the band’s only ever-present original member, guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap, and drummer Scott Travis.
The “Faithkeepers” European leg keeps Priest busy across the continent into the autumn, with the next stop today, July 28 in Warsaw, Poland, followed by major festival appearances including Wacken Open Air and Bloodstock.
The trek comes less than a year after the band’s 22-date North American co-headlining tour with Alice Cooper last fall, and continues the touring cycle behind Invincible Shield, their 19th studio album, which reached No. 18 on the Billboard 200 after its 2024 release.
Priest also put out a career-spanning compilation, The Best Of Judas Priest, through Sony Music on June 19, 2026, collecting staples like “Breaking The Law“, “Electric Eye“, “Turbo Lover” and “Painkiller” for newcomers and longtime fans alike.
