The PRIEST is BACK!!!!
 

First Bruce Dickinson goes home to Iron Maiden and now The Metal God returns to the Priest!!! From the official website:

ROB HALFORD REUNITES WITH JUDAS PRIEST

WORLD TOUR COMING IN 2004

SEVERAL PROJECTS ARE IN THE PLANNING STAGES


After more than 12 years apart Judas Priest and original lead vocalist Rob Halford have reunited for a global live concert tour in 2004. The definitive Judas Priest lineup of Rob Halford, lead guitarist Glenn Tipton, lead guitarist K.K. Downing, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis are back.

The original band members have been re-establishing their personal and professional relationships since 1999 along the way sparking hundreds of reunion rumors.

Several exciting projects, in addition to the 2004 world tour, are in the early planning stages.

The long-awaited reunion of Judas Priest and Halford will thrill fans around the globe, and once again provide them with the opportunity to see and hear the band that defined Heavy Metal as we know it today.

Judas Priest rose from the gritty, working-class steel town of Birmingham, England, and became one of the biggest bands in the world. Judas Priest are considered the groundbreaking inventors of true Heavy Metal music. From their debut release 'Rocka Rolla' through monumental albums such as 'Sad Wings of Destiny,' ''Sin After Sin,' 'Stained Class,' 'Hell Bent For Leather,' 'Unleashed in the East,' 'British Steel,' 'Screaming for Vengeance,' 'Defenders of the Faith' and 'Painkiller,' titanic songs like "Victim of Changes," "Sinner," "Exciter," "Hell Bent for Leather," "Living After Midnight," "Breaking the Law" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin' '' were born. Judas Priest defines and epitomizes both sonically and visually the Heavy Metal genre.

Next year's reunion tour will also celebrate the band's 30th anniversary.

Judas Priest and Ripper Owens, who replaced Halford, have parted amicably by mutual agreement. The band is very grateful for Ripper's work in helping them to continue to bring Judas Priest's music to their millions of fans and they expect big things for him in the future.

Updates will be posted regularly at www.judaspriest.com




I can't be the only one excited by this?

question..

did the other members have a problem with Rob coming out..?

From what I understand they've always known about it and kept his secret until he was ready to come out. Keep in mind that they were very close friends for over 20 years when they first split.

I know this is tantamount to heresy, but I kinda preferred Rippers vocals over Halfords in recent years. Just something about the way Halford has been singing since he went solo I guess. Hope he finds a good band to join, he definitely sounds great on stage.

Mordred

Yeah, I read about this on cnn.com! Rockin' good news!

Yes! \m/

I'll finally get to see the real Judas Priest.

And IIRC, didn't another member of JP recently come out of the closet as well?

No. :)

I'm sure they were just as shocked as the rest of the world.

That's excellent! I refused to follow Priest's music without Halford -- I didn't listen to them with Ripper even once.

Priest was fabulous when I saw them about 20 years ago in concert. Probably the best concert I've been to -- the view of the entire floor of the arena pumping their fists in unison was an unforgettable sight to see from the upper loge.

I knew it was just a matter of time before a reunion happened, glad to hear it though. I saw them on the Painkiller tour with Megadeth, great show.

Title of the thread explains it all.......I will be there.

People have never given Ripper a chance. I saw Priest twice with Ripper and he kicked @$$. I saw Halford with his new band and they didn't compare to the mighty Priest.

However it is great to have Rob back. I was really upset when he left the band and never really forgave him for it.

Hopefully Ripper can continue, he really is a great vocalist. I heard a rumor that he might actually hook up with some of the formor members of Pantera. That would be cool

Now that would be the perfect place for him. Here's hoping it happens.

Mordred

This is Soooooo cooool.

I've seen Rob live with Priest and on his own in Halford and both time were great. He has such a stage presence it's unreal. Unfortunately, when I saw Halford there were some STUPID asses yelling anti-gay slurs but they were in the MINORITY....

If Maiden and Priest tour again I'M SO THERE!!!!!!!

:)

I don't think that'll ever happen. Maiden adopted a strict policy of never opening for anyone ever. I don't think Priest would be willing to open, nor should they. They'll have quite a buzz surrounding them and they could probably put together a great bill with other acts just like Maiden. The similarity between the two bands is almost eerie sometimes.

Two weeks ago I heard a rumor that he was going to replace Matt Barlow in Iced Earth. *shrug*

That would be interesting.

Sweet!

One of my favorite concerts from the 80s

"Green Manalishi" :up:


I will get get first coupla row tix anywhere around here to see that again!

now if Chris DeGarmo would return to Queensryche...

Part 2 of the Maiden / Queensryche / Halford tour, but this time with Judas Priest instead of Halford solo.

The 3 vocal gods of metal together again.

Speaking of... during the last tour, Tate, Dickinson and Halford were talking about a project called "Trinity," where the 3 of them would collaborate on a record. Did any more ever come of that?

He already did, dude.

Halford getting back with Priest is not only great for us fans, but for Metal music in general. The Priest is back and I can't wait to seem em' again. It's been a long time, almost 20 years. This is just great news!

HELL YES !!!
I just listened to "Sad Wings of Destiny " I thought to myself that Halford is the Master of Metal vocals & now i read he's returning to Priest.
I will defintly be at these shows.
This is the best news in a long time !

Ripper is a great singer, but Glenn Tipton never let him write the vocal parts - Tipton did that himself, and he's not very good at it. Priest without Halford became the Glenn Tipton band.

Halford's last two solo albums were really good, and SOME of the music on Jugulator and Demolition was really good too, so I'm expecting a really good album from Priest next year.

I'm sure that the tour will feature some great opening bands, much like Iron Maiden has Dio and Motorhead on the bill for this summer's tour.

Now an Iron Maiden/Judas Priest co-headlining tour with Dio opening up - THAT would be my dream tour!

The only bad thing from this is that we are loosing two great bands and replacing them with just one.

There will probably be a lot of gay fans at the Priest concerts now.

<small> </small>:confused: I know plenty of people that liked Halford's work in and out of Priest. AFAIK it didn't matter to any of them what his orientation was.

I wonder how many Queen fans went off the band when Freddie died....

Someone being gay has absolutly nothing to do with the music they create. Rob Halford has co-written some of the greatest metal tunes of all time. Him being gay does not change that.

whatever....

Quote:

---

Originally posted by benedict
<small> </small>:confused: I know plenty of people that liked Halford's work in and out of Priest. AFAIK it didn't matter to any of them what his orientation was.

I wonder how many Queen fans went off the band when Freddie died....

---

That's sad if someone let's an artists sexual orientation get in the way of being a fan of some kick ass music...

[hijack]

Queen is, was, & will continue to be one of the best rock bands EVER.

[/hijack]

And don't forget, although Rob probably isn't the only Gay rocker in Metal music, the genre is still dominated by straight males.

Chris is not touring with Queensryche as JestersTear was hopeful for.

Also not an official member of the band even though he "has credits" on the new album.

I read an interview with one of the 'Ryche guys, either Michael or Scott, and they essential said that Chris helped write and record the album and that's all. He was given a choice to continue and decided he'd rather not. So technically, he never re-joined the band, they simply "collaborated" together on an album. Go figure.

Anyway, back to Priest, many questions are still unanswered. What will happen the Halford band? What about the Halford Quorum? Is the Halford live dvd still in the works? What's this retrospective box that Priest is releasing? What are the specs of the two dvd packages set for release by Priest?

Let's see, Bruce finds metal again; Black Sabbath reunites; Bruce rejoins Maiden; Rob finds metal again; Metallica find their balls; Queensryche is a complete unit for one more album; Dio releases a live dvd; Led Zeppelin put out an awesome live dvd and album; Rob rejoins Priest; tons of dvd product due from a ton of bands...these are good times indeed, my friends, good times indeed :)

pi$$ on this. Ripper gave Priest something back Live that has been missing for a long time.

If anybody needs replacing, it's Glenn. His last two Priest albums have been abysmil.

Well, they better do METAL GODS and THE GREEN MANILISHI like they were meant to be done. Turbo Lover would be cool too.

I used to live next door to Rob... his friends and bandmates would congregate at his house all the time. Nice folks.

I remember he said he lived in AZ because it was away from all the craziness.

Supposedly he co-wrote 3-5 songs on Tribes, but who knows.

He used to live (actually, I don't know - he might still live there) near Lincoln and 40th Street in Paradise Valley. We were on hillside lots, so we had nice views of the city.

Unless they are deaf, blind, mad, simple, stupid, ignorant, and completely self-obsessed, they would have know probably before the band had even written one song, and certainly LONG before now. As a gay member of a rock band - the fact that I had no desire to bone a groupie, nor discuss chicks, or any of that other str8 boy stuff, was a dead giveaway. Thankfully, they didn't care as it left more chicks for them!

T

A good friend of mine called me as soon as he heard the news.

This is great news!!!

I'll be there for sure in '04! :up: