Judas Priest and Exodus Planning Special Anniversary Celebrations

Two of metal’s elder statesbands are reportedly planning big celebrations of the fact that they’re still alive after so many years.

First up is Judas Priest, who will turn fifty in 2019. Asked by Philadelphia’s WMMR if the band were planning to do anything special for the occasion, frontman Rob Halford replied…

“We are, yes. We’re already having these discussions every now and again in the band and with our label and with our promoters and management. We have some ideas and when we get close to [announcing it], we’ll let you guys know. It’s gonna be a great year. What a celebration. Another incredible milestone for Judas Priest that we’re looking forward to sharing with everybody.”

Hopefully “everybody” includes guitarist K.K. Downing, who left the band in 2011, and who very vocally wondered why he wasn’t asked to re-join when Glenn Tipton was forced to step down from touring due to Parkinson’s Disease. As it stands, only one member of Judas Priest will actually have been in the band for fifty years, and that’s under-heralded bassist Ian Hill. In other words, this is dangerously close to be a celebration of a brand’s anniversary, not a band’s anniversary.

Meanwhile, Exodus will turn forty in 2019, and vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza tells Noisecreep that they’re planning residency in the Bay Area, which, of course, is their home turf:

“I think that we’re gonna do something in San Francisco next year. We’re gonna do a residency there, back at home, for forty years. We’re talking about it right now. Maybe three or four nights at a certain place. We played there last year two nights, called The Chapel. Probably bring old members up — that sort of thing — and see what happens. It’s in the talks; [it’s] definitely in the works right now.”

Again, it would be interesting to see what “old members” actually show up for this thing. Rob Dukes, Rick Hunolt and Paul Bostaph all already re-joined the group live last year; the big get, of course, would be Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who provided a guest solo on the Exodus track “Salt the Wound” in 2014. As long as there’s no hologram of the late Paul Baloff, it should be a good time.