Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner has outlined a conceptual tour he would love to see the heavy metal legends undertake. Speaking on Slovenia’s “PodRaznoKast” podcast, the musician revealed his personal ambition to build a live setlist heavily focused on the band’s mid-1980s catalog.
When asked about a specific period of the group’s history he would like to highlight on the road, Richie Faulkner detailed his ideal scenario (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Personally, I’d like to do a Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith tour, [focusing on] those two records. So maybe it could be called ‘Screaming For The Faith‘ or ‘Defenders Of Vengeance‘ or something like that. But that’s totally fantasy. That’s nothing that we’ve spoken about or anything like that, but that’s just something I’d like to do.”
While this double-album concept remains purely theoretical, the guitarist addressed the band’s actual plans for their upcoming European summer dates. He noted that the new shows will feature a broader approach compared to their most recent performances.
“The last [tour] was pretty album specific — it was [focusing on the] Invincible Shield and Painkiller [albums] — so I think this summer in Europe, it’s just gonna be a bit more free, over the band’s career, and nothing too specific — just a celebration, I think, of everything Judas Priest. So it will be fun to see what we come up with.”
The conversation then shifted to deep cuts and specific tracks the current lineup has yet to perform live. Richie Faulkner pinpointed a few notable selections he hopes to bring to the stage in the future.
“Let me think. I think we’ve done a lot of songs — over the last few years, we’ve done a lot of songs. Because usually if we go out for a third leg in the U.S. or something, we have to do different stuff, ’cause we can’t play the same stuff again that we played twice before. So we have to change it up. So, we pull some good ones out. But I would like to play — we’ve played it before, but I’d like to play ‘Night Comes Down‘ again. I love ‘Night Comes Down‘. I love that song. It’s such a great song, especially for festivals. But as far as songs that we haven’t played, ‘Reckless‘ from the Turbo album — we haven’t played that one. I’d like to play that. We rehearsed it, I think, for the ‘Redeemer Of Souls‘ tour, I think, but we never played it. Or maybe it was [the] ‘Firepower‘ [tour]; I can’t remember. But we’ve played so many. No, I think apart from ‘Reckless‘, we’ve played all the ones that I wanna play, really — unless I’m forgetting one.”
Fans of the group have multiple upcoming releases to anticipate. Sony Music will issue The Best Of Judas Priest, a comprehensive career retrospective compilation, on June 19.
Additionally, the new documentary film “The Ballad Of Judas Priest,” directed by Tom Morello and Sam Dunn, is scheduled for its North American premiere at the Hot Docs international documentary film festival in Toronto. The event runs from April 23 through May 03.
This summer, Judas Priest will embark on their upcoming “Faithkeepers” European tour. Scheduled to run from July 26 to September 18, the now expanded trek will see the band play in the Balkans, along with an extensive stretch of shows across Italy and France before closing out in Belgium.
