JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford recently admitted to Billboard that it was his idea for the band to head out on the next leg of their 50th-anniversary tour as a quartet.
“That all came from me, it didn’t come from the band,” Halford taid, explaining that he thought since the band was founded as a four-piece it would be appropriate to return to that for a 50th-anniversary celebration. “Of course, that blew up in my face, didn’t it? To have done something like a four-piece now would’ve been just not right, ridiculous, insane, crazy, off my rocker, have a cup of tea and relax. It’s kind of water under the bridge now. I think my heart was in the right place, but I’m not the first musician to have a crazy idea.”
On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST revealed that they would perform as a four-piece when they returned to the road in March. A few hours later, the band’s touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group’s 2018 album “Firepower”, released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was “incredibly disappointed” by PRIEST’s decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the Halford-fronted outfit for the “mind-blowing” opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. This caused quite the uproar from fans who just couldn’t imagine experiencing JUDAS PRIEST without the dual guitars.
On January 15, JUDAS PRIEST released a statement announcing that they would be reversing their decision to tour as a four-piece, explaining that the bandmembers “decided unanimously” to continue their live shows “unchanged” with Rob, Ian Hill (bass), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Scott Travis (drums) and Andy.
Last November, JUDAS PRIEST announced the rescheduled “50 Heavy Metal Years” North American tour dates for March-April 2022. Support will come from QUEENSRŸCHE.