![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey.jpg)
Train keeps a rollin’
Japan and North America tour dates have been announced.
The North American tour starts on August 21 in Cincinnati and will continue throughout the rest of August and all of September, visiting a total of 25 cities and wrapping up on September 30 in Sacramento, California. It will be a double header bill with Judas Priest. Presales for many of the shows start tomorrow, April 24, general sales following a few days later.
The short but sweet 5-date Japanese tour is scheduled for October this year. Ticket presales (where available) start tomorrow, April 24th, via the venerable promoter Mr. Udo’s website. Sales to the general public will follow in May.
Full details in our calendar.
Thanks to Akiko Hada, Bo Olsson, Akemi Ono, Randy Engman, and Lutz Reinert for the heads up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great bill but Purple needs to do better than the Alice Cooper USA tour last year. Priest is high energy, loud, with a large audience. My advice to Purple is is don’t leave anything on the table. High energy boys! Open with fireball and close with highway star. Bloodsucker, strange kind if women, bedlam ( minus the talking which sucks the sir out of joint) , birds of prey, uncommon man, women from Tokyo, knocking at backdoor, hush, Black night, perfect strangers, lazy, space trucking in the middle.
Another idea….during smoke…. instead of doing all the other bands riffs Steve scrolls through, how about a tribute to Blackmores riff….man on silver mountain, long live rock, burn, storm ringer ….trust me…place will go nuts.
Lastly, Bruce Payne…. get Ian some wardrobe advice. The faded T-shirt looks kinda weird.
I was at the cooper show last year. Half the venue left when Purple played. I felt bad for them. Purple played fine but cooper was so much energy that when Purple did come out and after highway star… it was s downward energy spiral. As I was walking to car I didn’t hear any good things said about Purple….lots of bad.
April 23rd, 2018 at 21:20Any idea on ticket prices in Canada?
April 23rd, 2018 at 22:24Really disappointed in this.The band should have done a longer tour of The States playing smaller venues on their own and giving the fans a full 2 hour goodbye show.
April 23rd, 2018 at 22:31I’ll go the day of the show (Sept. 29th) and either find the old fashioned street scalper or a buy a ticket for the lawn. If DP are opening, I’ll definitely skip out before JP.
April 23rd, 2018 at 23:10Deep Purple and Judas Priest Together ? Is like water and oil.. The most dispaired conjunction ever.. People tend to be crazy when they get older…
April 24th, 2018 at 00:04New zealand and aus????
April 24th, 2018 at 03:26Why are they not coming to Ottawa Ontario Canada?????????
April 24th, 2018 at 03:39Now there’s a juxtaposition if ever I saw one!.
April 24th, 2018 at 08:37Agreed, tribute to Blackmores riffs….man on silver mountain, long live rock, burn, stormbringer, and any other riff of a song they’re not playing in full
April 24th, 2018 at 11:01Can’t wait!! Amazing bill. This will be the tour of the year!!
April 24th, 2018 at 16:19Why DP are pairing with a heavy metal act. No sense in doing so and it will a disaster if they can’t keep the energy level up for the crowds. I think the days of DP as a main act are over. One hour of DP on stage is what people will get. Short, intense and sweet but who came up with this crazy idea of rock/metal double act.
April 24th, 2018 at 16:56This just in the Deep Purple train will roll on for the next 20 years……..then to be replaced, only…by the ( WHITE WALKERS )….LOL!
April 24th, 2018 at 17:16Ron,great call on Steve paying tribute to Blackmore. You are absolutely right,the place will go nuts.However I disagree on Uncommon Man, it needs to be dropped. They need to be high energy like you said so bring back Bad Attitude, Hard Lovin Woman,Nobody’s Home,Gypsy’s Kiss along with the hits.These songs were popular on rock radio in the 80’s and that’s Priest’s audience right there.I sure hope the guys learned a lesson from last year.
April 24th, 2018 at 17:39I am having trouble understanding Purple management’s strategy on this one. Is it management’s belief that Deep Purple itself no longer has the drawing power to fill larger venues on its own and therefore is co-booking them with other acts?
We already saw last year how Alice Cooper and Deep Purple together was a mismatch, because for the most part, both groups have quite different fan bases who have different expectations of what it is they want to see and hear in a concert.
Once again Purple will be up against some stiff, high energy competition with a visual element to its show. And therefore a large portion of Judas Priest fans will not even stay for the Purple portion of the event.
And once again, Purple will have to trim back on the length of its show to conform with curfew requirements. In effect they will probably tailor the show to their most well known songs only, and will also cut back on soloing in order to shorten the running time.
As much as I do in fact like Judas Priest too, I really think this pairing of acts is a strategic error and will detract from what should be the main event, Deep Purple’s swansong.
I was seriously considering buying tix to see Purple again this year (have seen them almost every year since 2010) if they were to return to North America again. Now however I am having serious doubts. Not so sure I will go now. Disappointed.
April 24th, 2018 at 18:48Damn, my girlfriend told me about this yesterday but did not notice that our So. California date was 9/27 and we will be on the way up to the Mammoth/June Lake area for the annual June Lake Autumn Beer Festival on the 29th (my B-Day). I am trying to get her to agree to shoot over to Sac Town for the Sunday night show but I don’t think that will happen.
That being said, I find myself agreeing with Steve Hunt @ #3. After the last tour and the shorter set that went with it I was also wishing for a smaller solo, or at least a non double headliner tour so that they could stretch it out and give us a proper farewell.
April 24th, 2018 at 19:26That’s an odd pairing, Priest are highly theatrical in terms of stage production, costume, lights, Harley’s etc., quite the opposite from Purple. Agree with all the other comments, they’ll need to up the game visually against all that!
April 24th, 2018 at 19:45I too saw Purple last year with Cooper. It was interesting to note that they did The Surprising and the very next night they replaced it with Pictures of Home. Priest will be even higher energy than Cooper so there set list should needs to be high octane. Here is my suggested set list, not in any particular order.
April 24th, 2018 at 21:43Speed King, Bloodsucker, Fireball, Highway Star, Lazy, Space Truckin, Smoke on the Water, Smooth Dancer,Perfect Strangers, Hell to Pay, Time for Bedlam, All I got is You, Johnny’s Band and Hush. If there’s time Knocking at your back door and or Black Night. Even though I like them you can’t do songs like Birds of Prey, Uncommon Man or The Surprising after following Priest. I will say this the venue was full when Purple played where I saw them. No one left after Cooper.
@14: Maybe not so much belief as facts? I’ve said it before and I will probably say it again: we might think Purple is the biggest band in the world but the market, especially in North America says something else.
I am surprised that there apparently is so different audiences for Priest, Cooper and Purple in the US. Although different bands, I would lump them together in same “old legendary hardrock bands” category. They regularly play the same festivals here in Europe. I think these double bills would work here too.
April 25th, 2018 at 10:29Come on, you all know instinctively that Deep Purple will go on stage & do exactly the same act, in exactly the same way that they always do. It’s a fact.
April 25th, 2018 at 11:18Your comments remind me of when it was announced that RB was putting together the new band for the 2016 Rainbow live shows.
People kept on & on about how they imagined & thought it was going to be…. Only to discover that the old guy just went on stage in the most average sort of way possible. He didn’t really give 2 hoots about anyone else’s expectations.
DP is the other old beast in the same paddock… they are just running down the clock to retirement. Judas Priest will blow them off the stage. Same as Alice Cooper did….
Frowns to ya all.
I marvel at those people that find Purple & Priest an ill fit – I’m a fan of both bands and I think there is a reason for that: they have musical commonalities, open your ears and ignore the leather outfits. When Priest first got itself heard in Germany in the late 70ies they were even mocked as “yet another (after Uriah Heep) poor man’s Deep Purple – only this time they sold the organ for some leathers …”. : – ) One rock critic groaned when they opened for AC/DC: “It’s like Deep Purple all over again, banshee screams, metronomic rhythm section and neo-classical metal guitar – only Jon Lord is missing.”
Priests music – the groove and the way the (very Yuropean) harmonies are employed – is much more Deep Purple Mk. II than it is Led Zep or even Black Sabbath. The metronomic driving-the-bus rhythm section (the critic was right). Tipton is much more schooled on Blackmore than he is on Page, KK Downing’s noisy solos are lifted from the Book of Hendrixisms (from which Blackers read a few pages by his own admission too). There are even similarities in Gillan’s and Halford’s vocal approach – both are not really blues shouters in the Paul Rodgers, David Coverdale and Robert Plant vein. (And both write better lyrics than Plant ever did in Zep times where he would “ooh-ah babiiiiyiiii” himself through half the set.)
That Glover gave Sin After Sin (my first Priest album and how I loved it!) its commercial sheen as a producer is in the public domain. A fledgling Judas Priest – circa Rock’a’Rolla also opened for Mark III on British dates way back. It will be a homecoming of sorts.houghts.
I tell you a secret: When Purple were devoid Blackmore and it was clear that Satriani wouldn’t stay, I even thought to myself why no-one from the Purple camp ever gave Glenn Tipton a call who at that time wasn’t doing much with Priest who were rudderless without Halford. I think he would have been an excellent match!
April 25th, 2018 at 11:58Heading to Biloxi to see them on September 16th. Before that will be at Glenn Hughes on the 13th in Illinois. Before that gonna be at Whitesnake in St. Louis on July 18th. Going to see Steve Morse and the Dreggs this Friday and am working on going to Blackmore’s Night in July. Plus just attended a Deep Purple Tribute Band “Perfect Strangers” concert with STOFFER in Illinois…… 2018 the year for ALL THINGS PURPLE!!!
HELL YEAH!!!!
April 25th, 2018 at 12:56MM#6 perhaps a tour downunder after Japan, they’ve done it before, fit nicely before Xmas.
April 25th, 2018 at 13:32Perth on 27/11 or 28/11 would fit my travel plans nicely!!
Oil and water?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QWmmLm-Ojc
I’ve heard worse. And according to his sister, a young Rob Halford drove everyone at home mad with endlessly listening to DP’s Child in Time over and over practicing Gillan’s screams.
Highway Star with its chugging rhythm guitar was a blueprint for Priest chestnuts such as Hell Bent For Leather and Riding On The Wind.
And Glenn Tipton – the thinking man behind Priest and a guitarist of razorsharp precision (Parkinson’s disease is especially harsh for him) – even had similar tastes to DP when it came to covering Stones numbers, so there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIM7oZY76XM
April 25th, 2018 at 14:14Thinking about it: They should encore with Child in Time, Gillan does the verses, Halford does the screams! : – ) I always thought that Priest’s Beyond The Realms of Death owed a nod or two to CIT in dramatic structure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeKuH114EiA
April 25th, 2018 at 14:25Well,the touring train leaves the station again in May,after a 4 month break.
April 25th, 2018 at 14:57In North America,Purple will,from here on,probably be part of Summer shed tours with multiple bands,or as co-headliners..Better than nothing,but I’ve skipped the last 2 Toronto stops for that very reason.Not likely I’ll see another Deep Purple show.
DIsturbing the Priest?? DP support acts have been Heep, Quo etc. in Europe plus local acts (Europe (!) etc.) Festivals are different to double bills when it comes to attracting crowds and I think they should have gone for some kind of support act whereas JP will probably steal the attention in this setup. ANd what about WS & Foreigner +Bonham as a package…Another funny blend.
April 25th, 2018 at 19:02The market over in the US as Svante says, is a different beast indeed! With Glenn Tipton’s unfortunate illness & of course KK Downing not in Priest, do they ‘need’ a push perhaps for publicity also? I think any of these sort of pairings should be fine. I also thought Purple with Alice Cooper seemed ok. Not that I attended of course, but reading between the lines, it seemed to work out alright. Personally, I sometimes find a support band mismatched to the main act & I will not watch the support act.
April 25th, 2018 at 23:15Different scenarios for different times I guess.
The ‘double’ bill concert is nothing new! Back in the 90’s if I remember correctly, Jethro Tull toured for a little while with ELP or was it Yes, or was it Yes with ELP. There have been other pairings also back in the day! Why not & surely anyone worried about one act blowing the other act off stage as the saying goes, those times have surely passed. It isn’t the 70’s anymore & I doubt this would have ever happened back in those days.
George @ 17- that set list you came up with, I doubt that Gillan would attempt too many of those early In Rock to Machine Head era songs, not all in the one set list, surely. There is no need for Purple to ‘up the anti’ to match it with Priest. The songs say it all! I do agree though that Purple’s set list will be interesting to see. Cheers.
I was at the Alice Cooper/ Purple gig last summer and it was mind blowing! Venue was jammed to the max and we had fun dancing in tbe aisles! Newsflash: Woman from Tokyo Digs Turbo Lover Baby! Exciting rock and roll shows ahead this summer! Thank you Beautiful Purple for showing America Double Love 2 years in a row! Woohoo! Xx We love you
April 26th, 2018 at 00:24And P.S. ………….. America Loves Ian’s Popeye shirt! Hahaha Xx
April 26th, 2018 at 00:29Purple and JP aren’t so different. “Oh no, rock and metal together?!” They’re all about the same age, they all play guitar oriented heavy rock. Sure, one’s a little more aggressive than the other, but don’t forget Priest has plenty of ballads, mid-tempo rock, and even some prog. Open your minds a bit you old codgers! Sabbath and Yes toured together in the ’70s!
April 26th, 2018 at 00:54Svante @18 – I agree with what you say about the American market. And that is due in large part to either poor marketing, or to indifferent music industry media who have fixated upon other acts such as Zeppelin et al, to the exclusion of Purple for whatever reason (perceived snubs of journalists by band members, journalists’ difficulties with Ritchie, or other issues). The whole RRHOF debacle (ie: nomination and induction about 2 decades too late) was simply a symptom of the inherent bias within the American rock music industry / media complex. I could expand further on that particular topic but for brevity’s sake will stop here.
So back to the matter at hand, yes the USA has been a challenge for Purple for a long time (versus their widespread popularity in Europe & Japan). I am not sure how many festivals Purple has done in Europe vs. stand-alone shows through the years. Knebworth 85 comes to mind, as do various Montreux appearances. However, I believe Purple has generally been the main and sole act there most times, as well as in Japan.
In the USA, Cal Jam 74 is certainly a noteworthy example of a festivel wherein Purple stole the show, albeit with some addtional pyrotechnics courtesy of Ritchie. And I believe they have in past been teamed up with other acts such as Aerosmith or Lynyrd Skynrd. Those 2 bands are examples of “Classic Rock”, a genre in which Deep Purple apparently falls squarely within. However Judas Priest is quite a different beast, it is metal or heavy metal, and not necessarily is it all Purple fans’ cup of tea, and vice-versa, Purple is viewed as somewhat staid by many Priest fans. The 2 genres and bands’ styles are quite dissimilar.
So that brings me back to what I said earlier. It seems to be a mismatch putting a highly visual Priest against Deep Purple on the same bill. I don’t think it enhances Purple’s appearance in any way, and in fact could detract from their performance….they are forced to abbreviate their show to fit in with curfew regulations, which also cuts into the soloing which therefore stifles any sponteneity, the band’s trademark. And as is remarked in post #1 by Ron, as well as in my own experience at a US concert last summer; the Alice Cooper show with its visual elements has its own fans who are not necessarily Purple fans and vice versa. And yes after Alice’s show last summer, there were lots of empty seats for the later Purple portion. And though Purple did perform mightily in the battle of those bands, it was an uphill battle, and a significantly shorter show than usual.
I am wondering if it wouldn’t be a wiser strategy to let Purple play solo in some smaller venues where they could stretch out their shows. Perhaps the band’s bean counters don’t see that as financially viable though.
April 26th, 2018 at 02:47I forgot about the 1998 Purple tour with ELP & Dream Theater. Also, it was Yes that toured with Kansas, not ELP in 2000 . Ah, the memory, well helped by the internet of course! Cheers.
April 26th, 2018 at 04:27Heavy rock (DP) and heavy metal (JP) are like eggs and omelettes. Broadly, heavy metal bands are all influenced by three 70ies behemoths: Purple, Zep & Sabbath. There is hardly any Zep in Priest (thankfully so) and only a little Sabbath (the Sabbath influence was more prominent early on in their career), but pleanty of Purple.
I think the combo will do just fine.
April 26th, 2018 at 18:49The biggest dif between the two bands is that DP live is essentially a jam band – whenever I listen to the Allmans live I am automatically reminded of Purple and vice versa – while Priest live is a non-improvisational act aiming to perform its stuff to record sound perfection, but ultimately musically rather static. Priest don’t take chances, they are a well-oiled crowd-pleasing mean machine that wants to ambush your senses – DP wants to take you on a trance-like journey. And while Purple have left their early 70ies improvisational heydays behind (not that everybody swooned over 30 minutes of Mandrake Root!), they have become a lot more jammy again ever since Don Airey joined who has liberated himself as an improviser during his Purple tenure. He is by now their driving improvisational force.
April 26th, 2018 at 19:00I was at the Cooper/Purple show outsideWashington DC. Cooper had the place going nuts. Most everyone returned from the break for Purple. All down hill after Highway Star. A steady stream of people leaving. No kidding, by the end….no encore….the place was half the audience. Further, show was not near a sellout. It was probably 60% sold to start.
If Purple goes on first, keeps it to high tempo hits, they will fine. If they headline and mix in a bunch of songs not known in the US market they will not fair well.
April 27th, 2018 at 08:14@ 32-MacGregor-That ELP/DT/DP triple bill was really something.20 years ago,I was younger,stronger and far better equipped to deal with crowds.Steve & Jon had really hit their stride as far as playing together.The Toronto show was on Big Ian’s birthday.Lots of smiles on stage,& in the crowd.A great memory.
April 27th, 2018 at 11:52JP is a very loud & heavy band ,Purple is more a hard rock band.Halford is a screamer with a good stage presence and Ian Gillan’s singing is painful and his stage presence (barefoot & poor t shirt) is minimal..Don’t think they’ve made a good choice.
April 27th, 2018 at 13:48As a matter of fact,I remember Tipton opening for Purple (74) with his previous band ,Flying hat band.
2017 years -66 concerts, 2018 – 50 / current /.
April 27th, 2018 at 15:07For “Boys” in the best years” … very good !!
See you in the city of opera .. Verona / Maybe .. and Ritchie came? .) /
Got 2nd row floor!! https://www.facebook.com/events/1615795101870256/?ti=cl
April 27th, 2018 at 15:54mike@ 36- glad you managed to witness & enjoy that gig. Good ole Jon Lord eh, bless him. ELP were just about to finish for good around that time, that ’97 gig of theirs on dvd Live at Montreux is exceptional. Also, Dream Theater were putting out good albums then, I own a couple from that era, the only DT I liked in the end! Cheers
April 28th, 2018 at 10:23Will make a trip to Kansas City to see the guys, after seeing them in St Louis last year. Tracy Heyder and I wondered when we talked at the Perfect Strangers in Edwardsville IL gig if they would tour the states again? Well here they are!! I dont expect much to change as far as set list or stage props and thats ok I just dont want to miss them on what could be their last US tour! There will be fans after the show saying DP is too old, too slow or dressed like a garage band (an actual part of a St Louis review from last year), but true DP fans are there to hear the excellent musicianship of this band. I’m looking forward to seeing JP for the first time, and they will probably dominate with a high energy stage show much like Alice Cooper did last year. DP is not the 70’s or 80’s version of the band, they are what they are and thats just fine with me! BTW if you get a chance to see the tribute band Perfect Strangers (with the current lead singer of Head East as the front man) DON,T miss them they are very good!! Tickets are very reasonable and their version of Child In Time was spot on AWESOME! Ask Tracy!… see you at Whitesanake in St Louis brother!!!!
April 28th, 2018 at 12:02It’s interesting that Purple have sold around three times the amount of albums compared to Priest (150 million – 50 million), yet in the US, where they were once huge, they are not seen as much of a draw on their own. Priest aren’t able to play the big arenas over there either (or they wouldn’t be doing this double-bill thing) but Halford’s voice is in better shape than our Ian and the metal thing is more appealing it seems to Purple’s brand of hard rock. I hope I’m wrong, but I think that, for the most part, JP will come out on top on this tour. Not sure a US audience at these gigs will be particularly interested in improvisation, humour, finesse or class, and will only be interested in the classics rather than the latest material (which will probably mean very little after ‘Perfect Strangers’), which will be a sad for Steve and Don. Purple are still very popular in the rest of the world, and therefore get big money for playing bigger venues, and to me, perhaps it’s not wanting to play the smaller places and having less of an income that has driven the management to seek out this deal with Priest. Personally, I think we will be seeing a lot of disappointing reviews, with audience not particularly in to Purple. I think it would’ve been better playing 4000 and 5000 seater theatres with a band like Europe as support. Purple could then carry on doing their thing to a more appreciative audience.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:02Not seeing this as a good bill for Purple. JP will blow them off the stage.
May 3rd, 2018 at 11:16perhaps a tour downunder after Japan, they’ve done it before, fit nicely before Xmas.
Perth on 27/11 or 28/11 would fit my travel plans nicely!!
Should have looked at the list of dates as IP has gigs in December and RG is doing the circus thingy. Bugger. Maybe next year eh!!
May 4th, 2018 at 09:37Having Purple on the bill will help Priest draw at least some women – their audience is almost all-male (I’ve been to gazillions of Priest gigs and, yeah, I’m male too), more male than, say, an Iron Maiden audience. But I guess Robbie likes it that way. Let him.
A Priest gig and a Purple one are two different kettle of fish altogether, but I would enjoy both equally:
Priest is for me pure escapism – what do you expect from a band that sings of “Redeemers of Souls”, “Metallians”, “Jugulators”, “Grinders”, “Sentinels”, “Painkillers” or “Jawbreakers” (and whatever other comic book creature the Brummies wish to draw out of their front man’s leather cap), it’s like watching a Marvel movie. It’s a primal experience for me when Robbie growls and sneers: “Up here in space, I’m looking down on you, my lasers trace, everything you do …”. I love that to death, but I don’t take it serious for a second. (My ringtone is “Breaking the Law” and I’m a lawyer so there!)
Purple otoh is for me closer to a jazz concert, it’s a musical experience. I go to see Purple live to hear their improvisations (and perhaps a Gillan quip during announcements), because – quite unlike Priest which you can record at four consecutive nights and the performance of any one song will be almost identical – even when they do the umpteenth rendition of an overplayed chestnut like Black Night, there is always a twist.
A good Purple gig to me is interesting and entertaining in that way; a good Priest one is an adolescent-emotional (hey, I’m 57!) assault on the senses that leaves you feeling a bit foolish, but endlessly pleased.
I’d go to see (even several) of those doubleheader shows in a heartbeat and, hey, I’m jealeous as (a) Hell(ion)!!!
May 4th, 2018 at 21:15I still say what’s gonna make or brake this for Purple is the set list. This is not a night for anything the least bit mellow. Go out there and ROCK!
May 5th, 2018 at 01:12I’d say that as far as the sheer aural onslaught goes, Purple have nothing to fear. Priest have a very tidy, disciplined and unmessy, compressed metal band sound, but they don’t have the sonic cinemascope effect of Purple live. Even two well-played heavy metal lead guitars can’t match the force of Morse’s heavily processed sounds and Airey’s “fortress of solitude”-keyboard armada. Steve Morse takes up more space in Purple’s live sound than Blackmore with his intentional underplaying (playing little to nothing in verses and chorus parts, but grandly soaring in during his solos) ever did and Don Airey is more dominant than Jon Lord (especially in later years where Jon would play more and more economical too) in the live sound as well. Old badgers they may be, but the “Purple Wall of Sound” is still intact. No amount of leather studs can compete with an unleashed Hammond.
And Scott Travis, with all due respect, is a great heavy metal drummer, but he ain’t no Ian Paice as regards quirkiness and swing. Plus all those Judas Priest fans will for the first time experience how a bass guitar (meaning Roger’s!) can really sound (and that it can play actual notes!) and that it must not be automatically relegated to just layering some tone on a rampant bass drum (that is not putting down Ian Hill who does what he does with Priest well).
May 7th, 2018 at 13:58Got my tickets for Bethel N.Y… @46 I agree, dp gotta keep the intensity up. No sleepers please!! Saw jp on their 1rst leg of the Firepower tour. Every song killed it. Their setlist was amazing!! So looking forward to this show. My 2 favorite bands.
May 7th, 2018 at 17:07This isn’t a competition. Apples and oranges.. Gonna be great!!
May 8th, 2018 at 16:16uwe @ 47 – agree totally with your comments! And as we know, it is also the quality of the songs that really separates these bands! JP had some good songs back in the 80’s, hell I even own Screaming For Vengeance! The Hellion/ Electric Eye is a decent song. Alas, i don’t hear a lot of quality songs from the Priest over the decades, a few here & there. Also as stated earlier, KK & Glenn Tipton are not there. No need for anyone to worry, this double billing will be fine from both sides! Cheers.
May 9th, 2018 at 04:42What a great event this will be ,who cares about styles or if less or more attend this will be 3 hours plus of great music if in doubt have a listen to Priests new cd best they’ve recorded for years, and by the way there is a bit of Purple and Rainbow in the latest Classic Rock Podcast https://anchor.fm/classic-rock-news
May 9th, 2018 at 15:16@49, agreed, not a competition. But do not think for a second either band does not want to one up the other.
May 14th, 2018 at 19:13I’m as much a Priest fan as I am a Purple one, it would be utter bliss for me. Don’t ask me whether I prefer Sauerbraten to BBQ spare ribs (or vice versa) either.
And the new Priest album is indeed a good one – yes, it’s a work of hard labour rather than inspiration, but the result justifies the care that went into it. With the kind of music Priest provide, it’s even harder to grow old gracefully than it is with DP.
May 15th, 2018 at 00:19I wonder what Purple Priest would make of all this hubbub?.
May 16th, 2018 at 02:33Come to think of it, maybe Judas Priest won’t blow Deep Purple off the stage… however, I bet Rob Halford would… blow them off the stage… blow them on the stage… blow them in their dressing rooms… Oops! To much, do ya think?!. Smiles to ya…
May 16th, 2018 at 11:08Daisy Coverdale wears more eyeshadow and make-up than Uncle Rob does!!!
May 28th, 2018 at 18:50Saw Purple with Scorpions a few years ago. Those two were both good but different styles. The concert was still excellent so no problem with the pairing. Name value is huge here in the U.S so that’s probably the draw . It’s understandable why people will prefer one over the other , for me it’s DP of course.
June 4th, 2018 at 14:37An avid fan, I saw Priest in Freiburg last night. Halford was in great voice (best I have seen him in a long time though I have a hunch that a lot of those banshee screams are electronically “enhanced”), the band – now with two youngish guitarists – is even more dynamic than ten years ago when KK and Glenn had become somewhat routined warhorses. Faulkner has morphed into the first lead guitarist (just as Glenn T used to be the first lead guitarist), Andy Sneap is competent (playing what Faulkner leaves to him plus the odd dual harmonic leads), but neither of them is a Glenn Tipton whom I regard as the most gifted Brit heavy metal guitarist coming from the late 70ies era. Priest was highly entertaining and brimming with life, but for anybody rating instrumental brawn Purple will have nothing to fear. Steve’s and Don’s improvisational talents are simply in another league.
And yes, Halford’s voice has still much more range than Ian Gillan’s, but that has been the case since I first saw Priest in 1979 for the first time.
June 21st, 2018 at 22:17