Watch: QUEENSRŸCHE Plays First Show As Support Act On JUDAS PRIEST's North American Tour

QUEENSRŸCHE played the first show of its North American tour with JUDAS PRIEST last night (Friday, March 4) at Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Queen Of The Reich
02. Warning
03. En Force
04. NM 156
05. Empire
06. Blood Of The Levant
07. The Whisper
08. Operation: Mindcrime
09. The Needle Lies
10. Take Hold Of The Flame
11. Screaming In Digital
12. Eyes Of A Stranger

Fan-filmed video of the entire concert can be seen below.

QUEENSRŸCHE was originally set to support SCORPIONS on their rescheduled "Sin City Nights" Las Vegas residency in March-April 2022 but pulled out of the dates in order to take part in the JUDAS PRIEST tour. SCORPIONS have since tapped SKID ROW as the new opening act for the Vegas residency.

Last November, QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre discussed the band's tour with PRIEST in an interview with Canada's The Metal Voice. Regarding QUEENSRŸCHE's decision to withdraw from SCORPIONS' Vegas residency and do the PRIEST tour, Todd said: "The SCORPIONS, we really like them as people. We're friends with them and we've gotten to tour with them several times. It's one of those things where it's, like, 'Gosh, what do you do?' People that aren't in the business don't understand how things work sometimes.

"I think it's great for [QUEENSRŸCHE] to go out with [JUDAS PRIEST]; the optics are great. And we're very honored to have gotten that."

Last October, QUEENSRŸCHE's Michael Wilton confirmed that returning guitarist Mike Stone will contribute guitar solos to the band's next studio album.

Since last May, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."

Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.

For the past five years, Casey Grillo has been filling in for QUEENSRŸCHE's original drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band's touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.

In early October, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against the band's fellow original members Wilton and Eddie Jackson (bass),alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge.

QUEENSRŸCHE spent the last two months recording its new album for a tentative late 2022 release.