JUDAS PRIEST's RICHIE FAULKNER Reveals More Setlist 'Surprises' For Upcoming Tour

Richie Faulkner has revealed more of the newly added songs that fans can expect to see in JUDAS PRIEST's setlist when he and his bandmates return to the United States this spring for a run with fellow classic heavy rockers URIAH HEEP. The 32-date trek will kick off on May 3 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida and wrap on June 29 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Speaking about PRIEST's plans for the coming months, the guitarist told "Tone-Talk" in a brand new interview (see video below): "We're gearing up for the next, and I think final, run of the 'Firepower' tour, barring the rescheduled Ozzy [Osbourne] dates. We're gonna get back to the U.K. at some stage of the 'Firepower' tour — to the U.K. and [rest of] Europe — but we're gearing up for the last U.S. run at the moment. So that's starting in Hollywood [Florida] on May the 3rd.

"We've got some surprises," he continued. "It's the third time we're in the States this cycle, so we've gotta do some different things. Some people have seen the show before, so we don't want them to see the same show again. So we're looking at new songs. I think Rob [Halford, PRIEST singer] [revealed] a few [of the] songs [already]. We're doing songs like 'Out In The Cold', 'Killing Machine', 'The Sentinel' we're bringing back. We're doing songs like 'All Guns Blazing', and some songs off the new record, like 'Traitors Gate', 'Necromancer' — songs like that. Hopefully they don't fire me for saying that.

"The great thing about this tour so far is that we've been throwing in new tracks as we go through the tour," Richie added. "So if anyone's got any suggestions on the socials, reach out, throw out some suggestions and tell us what you want.

"But we're gearing up for that tour at the moment. We kick off on May the 3rd and then we go right through… we go through Canada, North America, and then we finish in [Las] Vegas at the Joint at the end of June. So we're coming through L.A. as well. So, yeah, it'll be great. As I said, it's a new production, new stage set, new songs. So it's exciting."

Halford recently told the St. Louis radio station Real Rock 99.3 that PRIEST is rehearsing "close to 15" new songs for the upcoming trek, including "Rapid Fire" (from 1980's "British Steel") and "(Take These) Chains" (from 1982's "Screaming For Vengeance").

Back in January, JUDAS PRIEST performed "Killing Machine" live for the first time since 1978 during a concert at Zénith de Paris in Paris, France.

During last year's "Firepower" U.S. tour, JUDAS PRIEST's set included rarities like "Running Wild", "Bloodstone" and "Tyrant", plus "Saints In Hell", which had never been performed live before.

Bassist Ian Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and guitarist Glenn Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003.

JUDAS PRIEST's latest album, "Firepower", was released in March 2018 via Epic.