ROB HALFORD Says JUDAS PRIEST's Upcoming North American Tour Will Be 'A Roller-Coaster Ride Of Sheer Metal Power'

In a new interview with Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco Bay Area radio station 107.7 The Bone, Rob Halford was asked how JUDAS PRIEST's upcoming North American tour with Alice Cooper and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY came together. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah. I wish it was a lot easier. [Laughs] Back in the day, it was so easy to put these two together. Now they're a little bit corporate, and blah, blah, blah. But does that really matter? No. 'cause eventually we get the opportunity — we get the opportunity to be in each other's company and to share the stages with each other. And this is a real event — this is a real event. Will this ever happen again? I don't think so. So if you wanna see an event where you've got The Metal Gods, and you've got the original shock rocker, 'cause he started it all, baby. And CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. And I'm so, so happy that that band has stayed together. They've been through some tough times, like we all have. But Pepper's [Keenan, C.O.C. frontman] such a great guy. It's a great band, great music, great albums. So, bang, bang, bang, one after another."

After Blakk jokingly asked if PRIEST and Cooper were arguing over who gets to hit the stage first and go to bed early, Halford said: "Well, we're flipping it. We're flipping it. It is a co-headline. So, I don't know how many shows — is it 30 shows? — we split [it]. 15 Alice closes, 15 PRIEST closes. I've gotta say, from my angle, I'll go on at nine o'clock in the morning. Not really, but what I'm trying to say is I don't care, as long as we get to play, as long as we get to see our beautiful metal maniacs again, see the people that have given us this great life in rock and roll and just party. It's a reunion, and it's such a great, great way to celebrate both bands, rather all the bands. And so yeah, just a lot of good vibes, a lot of good feeling and incredible music."

Regarding PRIEST's setlist for the upcoming tour, Rob said: "We're still promoting this 'Shield Of Pain' tour idea, because, as you know, [PRIEST's 1990 album] 'Painkiller' celebrated a big anniversary last year. So we're sharing a great set. It's a big selection of the 'Painkiller' album and some [of PRIEST's latest album] 'Invincible Shield'. So you've got your 'Invincible Shield', which is still roaring on all cylinders, and the obvious celebration of 'Painkiller', which is the album for PRIEST and the album for a lot of metalheads, in and out of the PRIEST world. It's such a beautifully blessed and respected album. So it's just great. We come out of the box just roaring… It's just a roller-coaster ride of just sheer metal power from the PRIEST side of things."

Halford went on to say that "it's tough" coming up with a setlist at this point in PRIEST's career. "It's real tough," he added. "As I said, thankfully, because of the 'Painkiller' [35th-anniversary] angle, that kind of gave us a good chunk of the setlist that we took out recently in Europe; we did all of the festivals over there. And for the fans in Europe, they were just going nuts to hear these 'Painkiller' songs one after another — 'All Guns Blazing', 'Hell Patrol', 'Night Crawler', 'A Touch Of Evil'. It's just a great display of metal power in its truest sense. But, yeah, I'm sure Alice is the same. This is a problem. C.O.C. —all of these bands have got all of this music, all of these songs. Where do you start? You try and cover all of the dots, so to speak. If PRIEST didn't play 'Breaking The Law', everybody [at the venue] would be breaking the law. And we love playing those songs that are such an important part of the music fabric of America, because you know what music's like. We can say firsthand how much music is important in our lives, because all of these songs are a reference point, all of these songs are a reference point to the first date, to the first metal show we went, the first metal album we got. So it really is a larger-than-life experience on all levels for this upcoming tour."

Produced by Live Nation, PRIEST's 22-city tour with Alice Cooper kicks off September 16 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi and stops in Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping October 26 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas.

During the European leg of JUDAS PRIEST's "Shield Of Pain" tour, the band's setlist included seven tracks from PRIEST's 1990 album "Painkiller", which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

In addition to performing the "Painkiller" title track, PRIEST played "All Guns Blazing", "Hell Patrol", "A Touch Of Evil", "Night Crawler", "One Shot At Glory" and "Between The Hammer And The Anvil" from the same LP.

When PRIEST first announced the "Shield Of Pain" tour last fall, the band promised a "rare" and "unique set" which would include "beloved classics" and would "be defending the metal faith in a truly memorable experience throughout Europe".

PRIEST's 12th album, "Painkiller" was recorded at Miraval Studios in Brignoles, France, and was mixed at Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, the Netherlands. It was the first LP to feature drummer Scott Travis following the departure of Dave Holland.