Australia's LORD have issued the following announcement:

"Hi everyone,

We're pleased to announce that the rescheduled SAXON tour from last year is now back on and now includes an extra Brisbane date, and Lord is the support for all three shows!

May

5 - Brisbane, Australia - The Arena
6 - Melbourne, Australia - Billboard
7 - Sydney, Australia - The Forum

To book tickets for these shows, head over to the KMW Productions website.

Following is the official press release for the tour:

A collective moan echoed across the land in October last year…it was with much sadness that one of metal’s most influential bands, Saxon, was forced to re-schedule their pending tour of Australia.

Murray Engleheart - "We've had the cream of metal here in Australia over the last few years but the visit by UK vets, Saxon was going to be something really special; a fist pumping, heart thumping, hell, I'll say it, maybe even tears of joy type experience. It'll still be all those things but now in May 2008 rather than October. A few more months after almost a 30 year wait will be a breeze. Besides, it gives us more time to save up for that second t shirt."

To say that Saxon are one of metal's most influential bands would be no understatement. The band who along with Iron Maiden and Motorhead begun the movement now known as The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, have been sited by no lesser luminaries than Metallica and Slayer as a primary influence.

Being the trailblazing pioneers in any walk of life has its hazards and so it was that Saxon's over the top shows also inspired a young filmmaker by the name of Rob Reiner who made the world's first full length mocumentary, This Is Spinal Tap!

Despite having enough history to deserve a faculty dedicated to them at Oxford or Cambridge, Saxon has never been the kind of band to rest on it laurels. Their pioneering ways continue with the announcement of the band's first ever tour of Australia.

Tickets purchased for the original Sydney show will remain valid for the revised date.

Tickets purchased for the original Melbourne Hi-Fi show remain valid for Billboard.