Judas Priest’s Rob Halford explains why he kicked fan’s phone at recent US show

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
last updated

After footage of Rob Halford kicking a phone out of a fan's hands appeared online, the Judas Priest frontman explains why he lashed out

Judas Priest's Rob Halford (Image credit: Scott Dudelson - Getty)

Judas Priest (opens in new tab) vocalist Rob Halford has explained why he lashed out at a fan who was filming him during their recent show in Illinois.

The incident occurred at the Rosemont Theatre last weekend, with recently released video footage (opens in new tab) showing Halford kicking the phone of a fan who was filming the band’s performance.

It was reported that the situation came to a head when the fan in question turned on the light on his phone, which distracted the Priest frontman.

Now Halford has given a statement about the incident to Loudwire (opens in new tab).

He says: “The facts are we love our fans and you can film us all you like and watch our show on your phone rather than in the flesh.

“However, if you physically interfere with the Metal God (opens in new tab)’s performance, you now know what will happen.”

Judas Priest’s North American tour with Uriah Heep (opens in new tab) continues tonight (May 31) when they’ll take to the stage at the Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.

Scott Munro
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.