Rob Halford Doesn’t See Any Reason for Judas Priest to Retire Anytime Soon
Judas Priest has been at this whole metal thing since…well, since the earliest days of metal being a thing. They recently celebrated a half-century since the release of their debut album, Rocka Rolla, which came out in September of 1974. That’s even older than me, and that’s saying something. But according to frontman Rob Halford, the band has no plans of slowing down, as long as they still keep putting out good music.
In a recent interview with Iowa rock station Rock 108 (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Halford said he had no plans to retire the band anytime soon:
“My neighbor Alice [Cooper] — he lives about a cup of sugar away from me [here in Arizona] — we did some shows recently together in Europe. And I put a picture of he and I with our arms around each other and put the statement: ‘Still going strong’.
“I think if your desire is still there, if your passion is still there, if you can still deliver the goods, to quote a PRIEST song, if you’re moving along and the machine’s not too wobbly, you can still get from A to B on one wheel, as long as it looks good and sounds good and all the other pieces are in place, why would you wanna retire? I wouldn’t know what to do with my life if I suddenly couldn’t do this beautiful work. I need to do it. It’s part of me that I need to do to live as a person because I love it so much. And I think I’m speaking for everybody in PRIEST. And that’s the leading light that pushes through. That’s what keeps you carrying on. You marry that instantly with our glorious fans here in America and around the world that have kept this heavy metal machine rolling, because we can’t do this alone. We’d look pretty dumb going into an arena if there’s nobody in there. You need people there. That’s part of the experience. It completes you. A live show completes the love of your band. It’s like going to see your favorite basketball team or football team. You can watch them on the TV, you can get the shirt, you can see them on the Internet, but going to see them live, going to support them live is the ultimate commitment and dedication. So our fans are the biggest part of this story. We’re nothing without our fans. It’s true.”
Considering that Priest’s 19th album, Invincible Shield, which came out earlier this year, proved to be on par with some of their best work, it would seem there’s no reason to stop at this point. Someday we’ll say goodbye to Judas Priest, but it ain’t today.
In the meantime, you can still see them continuing to rock on with the remaining dates of the second leg of their Invincible Shield tour at the dates below:
Fri Sep 13 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Sat Sep 14 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Resort*
Tue Sep 17 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Thu Sep 19 – Milwaukee, WI – Miller High Life Theatre
Sat Sep 21 – Cedar Rapids, IA – Alliant Energy PowerHouse
Sun Sep 22 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford Premier Center*
Tue Sep 24 – Rochester, MN – Mayo Civic Center Arena*
Wed Sep 25 – Omaha, NE – Baxter Arena
Fri Sep 27 – Rockford, IL – BMO Center
Sun Sep 29 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life – Festival^
Tue Oct 1 – Independence, MO – Cable Dahmer Arena
Thu Oct 3 – Billings, MT – First Interstate Arena at MetraPark
Sat Oct 5 – Idaho Falls, ID – Mountain America Center
Sun Oct 6 – Spokane, WA – Spokane Arena
Wed Oct 9 – Everett, WA – Angel of the Winds Arena
Thu Oct 10 – Portland, OR – Alaska Airlines’ Theater of the Clouds
Sat Oct 12 – Sacramento, CA – After Shock Festival^
Sun Oct 13 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort and Casino*
Tue Oct 15 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
Wed Oct 16 – Las Vegas, NV – Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood
Fri Oct 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
Sun Oct 20 – Loveland, CO – Blue Arena
Tue Oct 22 – Houston, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Thu Oct 24 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
Sat Oct 26 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Thurs Dec 5 – Nagoya, Japan – Aichi Prefectural Art Theater
Fri Dec 6 – Amagasaki Japan – Amashin Archaic Hall
Mon Dec 9 – Okayama, Japan – Okayama Performing Aarts Theatre
Thurs Dec 12 – Yokahama Japan – Pia Arena MM
