Classic Rock caught up with Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford for an intimate and in-depth chat about his career and the band's legacy, which is now celebrating its monumental 50th Anniversary

Halford: “You never really grow up in a band, you’re just having a laugh. And you’ve got to be able to laugh, because you’re about to go through some life-changing experiences, for good and bad.”

Q: Was there ever a time when you thought of quitting music? 

Halford: "No, never. Even when me and Ian (Hill / bass) were stuck in the back of a broken-down van in Germany, and it was minus-30 Celsius outside. The guys had gone off to get help, except they hadn’t, cos they were at some local club getting pissed and having a knees up while me and Ian nearly died of hypothermia. They got back at nine or ten in the morning, and we’re covered in frost. Ian looked like a cross between Chewbacca and a yeti. He was pulling icicles out of his beard. But the hard times are the memories you cherish the most."

Q: British Steel, in 1980, was the band’s big leap forward. What was it like being in Judas Priest around that time? 

Halford: "That was a special time. It took exactly thirty days to make that whole album, from the day we went into the studio to the day it was mastered. And of course that’s when Priest became a household name in the UK. But there was never any intent on our part to write songs that would take us to that place. We were just having a blast. Every day was a good day."

Q: You were out of the band for eleven years. Did you think: “I don’t need those guys, I can do it on my own”, or did you miss them? 

Halford: "I missed them from the very start. I never once had that 'I’ll show you...' mentality. I remember talking to the guys around the time of the Turbo album, saying: 'I’ve got this idea of doing some stuff on the side.' They were like: 'Yeah, we might do that ourselves. Just make sure it doesn’t clash with the band.' That was the green light we gave each other back then. So I felt that once I’d made the Fight album, War Of Words, to me that was it: 'I’m ready to come back, let’s go.' But there were some people working for me who were not making the appropriate things happen in terms of communication, so it wasn’t to be." 

Read the complete interview here.

Judas Priest were the Sunday headliner at Bloodstock Open Air 2021, which took place at Catton Park, Walton-on-Trent, England this past weekend. Fan-filmed video from their set is available below.

The setlist on the night was as follows:

"One Shot At Glory" (live debut)
"Lightning Strike"
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'"
"Exciter" (first time since 2005)
"Turbo Lover"
"Hell Patrol" (first time since 2009)
"Halls of Valhalla"
"The Sentinel"
"Rocka Rolla" (first time since 1976)
"Victim of Changes"
"Desert Plains"
"A Touch of Evil" (first time since 2005)
"Dissident Aggressor" (first time since 2009)
"Blood Red Skies" (first since 2012)<
"Invader" (live debut)
"Painkiller"
"The Hellion"
"Electric Eye"
"Hell Bent for Leather"
"Metal Gods" (with Glenn Tipton)
"Breaking the Law" (with Glenn Tipton)
"Living After Midnight" (with Glenn Tipton)