Video: Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner Shreds Guitar Ten Weeks After Open-Heart Surgery

December 8th, 2021 at 8:14am
Vince Neilstein
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Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner’s recovery from the cardiac event he suffered on stage with the band in September continues with the best medicine available: a guitar and some good old rock and roll.

Faulkner took to Instagram live this past weekend to dust off his chops after sitting at home for the past eight weeks (following two in the hospital). He underwent ten hours of emergency open heart surgery after first feeling ill on stage at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, what was later diagnosed as an aortic aneurysm and dissection. “From what I’ve been told by my surgeon,” Faulkner said in a statement of the condition, “people with this don’t usually make it to the hospital alive.”

Judging by his stream, which lasted for nearly an hour and a half, Faulkner hasn’t lost any of his guitar magic, ripping through a variety of material in free-form fashion that would certainly turn heads if you heard it coming from the corner of your local Guitar Center. After he completely caught up on the latest seasons of Succession and Curb Your Enthusiasm there wasn’t much else to do, I suppose, so there’ll likely be a lot more wood-shedding for Faulkner in the weeks and months ahead as his recovery continues.

In a prior update in early October, Faulkner indicated he was at home and beginning his recovery. Then, in another post issued in mid-November via Priest’s social media channels, Faulkner said the recovery was going quite well and he’d begun playing guitar again every day.

His full statement at the time read:

“Hello there maniacs!
“I just wanted to post, and I’ve had many of you asking for an update on how my recovery is going.
“I was able to return home from hospital 10 days after my surgery to continue recovery at home.
“It has now been 7 weeks since the night it all happened and I’m feeling very strong and positive. My incisions have healed very well and I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m walking well and moving freely, I’m pretty active and I’m starting cardiac therapy very soon. I’m playing guitar everyday and with the love and support of my family, the continued support from you guys and the inspiration that i get from the guitar, I’ll be back on stage in no time! My surgeons are very pleased with my progress and have all reserved front row tickets for the next Priest show haha
“It’s Thanksgiving this month, and whether you celebrate it or not, I have a lot to give thanks for this year; Including all of you for your patience, your love and your support. Lots of love and I’ll see you down the front soon, horns held high.

We continue to wish Faulkner all the best in his continued recovery and hope to see him back on stage ASAP.

You can watch his livestream practice session below.

Judas Priest will open the E.U./U.K. leg of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo farewell tour, which has now been rescheduled several times. The latest dates are as follows:

Tags: Judas Priest, Richie Faulkner

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