Judas Priest European Tour to Be a 35th Anniversary Celebration for Painkiller

With Judas Priest having just announced their 2025 European tour a few days ago, we now get more details that the tour will be celebrating 35 years of their classic 1990 album Painkiller on what is being dubbed the “Shield of Pain” tour. A shield that causes pain seems like a pretty useless shield, but at least the tour sounds cool.

Judas Priest made the announcement on social media yesterday that the upcoming tour will be celebrating Painkiller, saying on Instagram:

“This rare unique set including beloved classics will be defending the metal faith in a truly memorable experience throughout Europe this summer.”

The post doesn’t explicitly say that the band will be doing a full album play of Painkiller on the tour, so it’s possible that it will just be highlights from the album. Regardless, Painkiller is one of Judas Priest’s best albums and any tour highlighting that record is bound to be a lot of fun.

For those who don’t remember, Painkiller was the final album to feature frontman Rob Halford until he returned for the album Angel of Retribution in 2005. While the record saw the dissolution of the band for a few years, it got rave reviews at the time and remains one of Priest’s most popular albums.

Those European tour dates again, for what is now being dubbed the “Shield of Pain” tour:

Judas Priest tour dates:

6/14 Tjuvholmen Arena, Hamar, Oslo, Norway
6/17 Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, Germany
6/18 Hessentag Festival, Frankfurt, Germany
7/1 Summer Festival, Ferrara, Italy
7/3 Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
7/7 Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland
7/10 Dalhalla, Rattvik, Sweden
7/13 Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany
7/15 Festival De Carcassone, Carcassonne, France
7/17 Sion Sous Les Etoiles, Sion, Switzerland
7/19 Rockhal, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
7/20 Rudolf-Weber-Arena, Oberhausen, Germany