JUDAS PRIEST Announces Fall 2015 North American Tour

British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have announced a dozen or so North American dates that are scheduled to begin October 16 in Paso Pobles, California and wrap on November 12 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Support on most of the shows will come from Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON.

Asked how JUDAS PRIEST decides which songs to includes in its setlist after a four-decade recording career, the band's lead singer, Rob Halford, told Creative Loafing in a 2014 interview: "Well, here's the deal: We are thrilled to be out promoting our new record, 'Redeemer Of Souls' — it's the 'Redeemer Of Souls' tour. So there's an opportunity for us to play those songs live to the fans that have already got the record, and are digging the music. Also to introduce the songs to some of the fans who maybe haven't made their mind up. And then you balance it out with the rest of the material, and it is a nightmare. [Laughs] I tell you, it's just… [sighs] Where do you start? You've got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of songs to choose from."

He continued: "When you see a band — you're probably aware of this — there are dynamics. It's like going to see a Broadway show or a ball game. There are dynamics: The way it starts, the way it motors through, the way it climaxes towards the end. So, you've got to have all those dynamics in your thinking when you're putting down a set list. Tempos, how the songs are going to be delivered with the visuals that you match up, the lighting, the video screens. There's a lot of thought that goes into it. But we've got this pretty solid."

Halford added: "I think any band, when they start the first week of tour and you're kind of kicking the tires on songs to see whether or not they're going to work or whether you've got to change the running order or bring in some new material, but we seem to have got in right on the first go. So by the time we [hit some of these new places], there'll be a lot of fans that have probably caught a glimpse of it on the Internet and know something about the setlist that's happening. And there will be fans eagerly waiting to get those songs live and in the flesh."

Newly announced JUDAS PRIEST tour dates:

Oct. 16 - Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Ampitheater
Oct. 17 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl
Oct. 20 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield Theater
Oct. 21 - San Jose, CA @ City National Civic
Oct. 27 - Vancouver, B.C., Canada @ Hard Rock
Oct. 28 - Vancouver, B.C., Canada @ Hard Rock
Oct. 31 - Regina, SK, Canada @ Brandt Center
Nov. 01 - Winnipeg, MB, Canada @ MTS Center
Nov. 03 - Peoria, IL @ Civc Center
Nov. 06 - Huntington, N.Y. @ Paramount Theater
Nov. 07 - Newark, N.J. @ Prudential Center
Nov. 10 - Halifax, NS, Canada @ Scotiabank Center
Nov. 12 - Halifax, NS, Canada @ Air Canada Center

Halford recently told the "Sixx Sense With Nikki Sixx" radio show that JUDAS PRIEST "can't afford to wait three years, or five years now, to make" the follow-up to "Redeemer Of Souls". He explained: "The clock is ticking, you know. And especially while the band is buzzing and the energy's there creatively. We had so much stuff happening in the studio, we had to put the blocks on because we were on a time schedule with the label. So we do have some stuff kind of left over from 'Redeemer Of Souls'. We'll be heading out for the rest of this tour 'till Christmas time, take a break, and then more than likely in the studio early of 2016 and see how quickly we can turn this around. It won't be a rush job, because we treasure everything that we do. But I think that the mindset is there to make this record efficiently and hopefully have it out there for our PRIEST family as soon as we can."

"Redeemer Of Souls" was released in July 2014. The follow-up to 2008's double-disc concept album "Nostradamus" was billed as a return to JUDAS PRIEST's heavy-metal roots.

"Redeemer Of Souls" sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.