JUDAS PRIEST's Spring/Summer European Tour Moved To 2022

JUDAS PRIEST's European tour, which was scheduled to kick off in late May, has once again been postponed due to "ongoing COVID-19 vaccine issues." The trek will now run from May 27, 2022 in Moscow, Russia until July 31, 2022 in Oberhausen, Germany.

Earlier today, PRIEST issued the following statement: "Unfortunately due to ongoing COVID-19 vaccine issues in Europe we have been advised that our 2021 dates will not be able to take place as planned - all dates have been rescheduled to 2022 as detailed here - all tickets will remain valid for the new dates - further dates will be announced shortly.... However we are pleased to confirm our UK headline show at Bloodstock Open Air 2021 is still scheduled for this coming August where we look forward to celebrating 50 years of JUDAS PRIEST and 20 years of Bloodstock."

Last November, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford addressed the COVID-19 crisis in an interview with Canada's iHeart Radio. He said: "We're gonna have to learn to live with this thing. It's like the flu. And this vaccine is just one tool in the way of recovery. But the facts are, believe the scientists, 'cause they are the experts. This is what they do. They are committed to making lives better for people. And the prognosis is that everything should be secure enough for us all to start going out again.

"Whoever made this choice or decision [to push back the PRIEST tour], I think they made the right move, because I think it's gonna be very tricky for bands to try and go out on January the 1st of 2021," he continued. "I think by the summer, everything will be settled, and hopefully the vaccine will have been administered to hundreds of millions of people. I think we'll still have to go through some protocol, which is a small price to pay — getting the temperature done and maybe wear a mask. It doesn't matter. We'll be back with each other again."

Last September, JUDAS PRIEST and Rufus Publications announced the publication of the first-ever official JUDAS PRIEST book documenting the band's extensive history over the last 50 years. Titled "Judas Priest - 50 Heavy Metal Years", the book has been put together by David Silver, Ross Halfin and Jayne Andrews.

The U.S. leg of PRIEST's "50 Heavy Metal Years" tour is still due to launch September 11 in Orlando, Florida and wrap up on October 30 in Mashantucket, Connecticut.