JUDAS PRIEST’s Glenn Tipton - “I Would Think This Would Be Our Last Tour..."

November 2, 2014, 9 years ago

Greg Prato

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JUDAS PRIEST’s Glenn Tipton - “I Would Think This Would Be Our Last Tour..."

Judas Priest easily could have rode off into the sunset once their mammoth Epitaph Tour wrapped up in 2012. But the desire to issue a new album soon returned - resulting in this year's Redeemer Of Souls (their seventeenth studio effort overall). And once the album became their highest charting debut ever in the US (peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200), a supporting tour with arranged…which will now stretch worldwide throughout 2015. The band's guitarist, Glenn Tipton, recently spoke with BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato about the current tour, where Priest will play next, and the likelihood of an eighteenth studio album.

BraveWords: How has the tour been going thus far?

Glenn Tipton: "It’s been great. The production has worked out really well. We’ve got big LED screens that we’ve never used before. You can show so many things on there - like in 'Halls of Valhalla,' we've got red seas swelling and Vikings and swords. It's good to display the album covers and take the audience back to where each song came from. It's given us a lot of options."

BraveWords: How has the crowd's reaction been to the new tracks?

Glenn Tipton: "It's been excellent. I think the reason why is the album came out three months before the tour, so by the time you get on the road, the kids know the songs and they're ready to sing along with them. In the past, many times, we've toured in conjunction with a release, where the release in some cases was even after the start of the tour. And so the kids aren't that familiar with the material. But this time around, they've been really familiar with the new songs and they've gone down so well. It's really pleased us."

 

 

BraveWords: Were you taken aback by Redeemer of Souls becoming the band's first US top-ten album?

Glenn Tipton: "It was fantastic. It was our highest entry in most countries, really. At this time in our career, to get a chart position like that - if you can say chart positions anymore - is just incredible."

BraveWords: I was lucky to catch a recent performance at the Izod Center in New Jersey, and it was great to hear such rarely performed songs as "Devil's Child" and "Love Bites."

Glenn Tipton: "I think it's a good set. It's very difficult to get the set right, but particularly with Priest, who've got so many songs and albums to choose from, that we always miss somebody's favorite…and forget somebody else's favorite. But everybody seems to be really satisfied with this set - probably for the first time!"

BraveWords: Are there any older songs you'd like to see find their way back in the setlist at some point?

Glenn Tipton: "There's a lot. But it still is very difficult. We're not doing 'Electric Eye' this time, the reason is we've played it and played it, and it is a favorite song, but you've got to move out some of the old ones and move in some of the new ones, and that's what we've intended to do this time. And it's good to bring back songs that we haven't played for a long time, like 'Love Bites' and 'Devil's Child.' It's very difficult, even now, to get the set right. But I think we're close."

BraveWords: It's impressive that Priest - at this stage of their career - is still putting on great shows.

Glenn Tipton: "I just think we genuinely love our music and metal, and love to perform with the fans out there. As I've said many times, it's not a 'Judas Priest concert,' it's 'Judas Priest and the audience.' They literally sing along with everything and have a great time. It's just an event for everybody. And I think the genuine reason for going out there and playing - at my age, anyway - is purely a fact that I love to be on that stage performing Judas Priest songs with the audience."

 

 

BraveWords: Once the US leg of the tour wraps up, what are Priest's plans for 2015?

Glenn Tipton: "We're doing the Far East - Japan, Australia, New Zealand. And we're doing South America; we've got European dates. So the dates are still going in, but that's the rough schedule. And then there will be a few gaps to fill in. It looks like it's going to be an extensive tour, after all. We didn't intend it to be."

BraveWords: Is the reason for adding more dates mostly because of the album's success?

Glenn Tipton: "I think it's a combination of lots of things. Really, really pleased with the success of the album and excited, and wanting to play the songs, and you can't play them unless you go out and tour, and that was part of it. And then the early parts of the tour, the reaction has been so overwhelming, why not do it? It could be our last time."

BraveWords: Would you like to see Judas Priest do another studio album?

Glenn Tipton: "Again, you get to the end of an extensive tour and you think, 'Well, that could be it.' But when you've had two or three months off, you start thinking, 'I've got some ideas together, let's get together in a studio and put everybody's ideas down and see what we've got.' And before you know it, you've got an album, and then before you know it, you're thinking of touring again. So I don't really know. My honest answer would be I would think this would be our last tour…but you can never be sure."

 

 

 

(Glenn Tipton live photo credit: Mark Gromen)



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