Judas Priest promise “something special” for 50th anniversary celebrations

Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner says the band are planning “something special” to mark their 50th anniversary in 2019.

Last month, frontman Rob Halford told Philadelphia radio station 93.3 WMMR Rocks! that discussions were taking place on what the band should do to celebrate the “incredible milestone.” (opens in new tab)

And while Faulkner won’t give too much away at this point, he reports that it’ll be “an event that the fans will really remember.”

He tells Metal Kaoz (opens in new tab): “Obviously, I do have some idea of what's being talked about, but it’s at the very early stages at the moment – and I don’t want to give anything away. 

“But, as Rob said, this is a fantastic milestone for the band and, again, the fans have put Priest there for all this time. This acknowledges the fans more than anything, so it will be all about giving back to them – an event that the fans will really remember. 

Faulkner adds: “It’s in progress and we’re talking about what we want to do, but in true Judas Priest fashion, it’s going to be something everyone will remember. 

“We want to give back to the fans because they have put the band there for nearly 50 years and they’re still coming to the shows. They still love the band, so it will be something special.”

Judas Priest are currently on the road across North America (opens in new tab) in support of their latest album Firepower (opens in new tab)

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that they’d be special guests of Ozzy Osbourne on the UK and Ireland leg of his No More Tours 2 run of shows in early 2019 (opens in new tab).

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.