Please don’t fall for the dirty rumor that Judas Priest are packing up their heavy metal suits and calling it quits. While the band’s current Epitaph World Tour is being billed as their last showing, the British metal kingpins are merely staying away from any overly ambitious, global tour after Epitaph, but they still plan to make music and play shows.
"
This is our last world tour, but that doesn’t mean it will be our last live performances, and we’ll certainly do more albums," guitarist
Glenn Tipton told Noisecreep.
The men of Judas Priest are having a killer last bout on the worldwide front. "It’s been incredible," Tipton said. "... We’re fortunate across the board, really. We’re obviously popular in America and throughout Europe – we’ve just done a great European tour – and a lot of the Latin countries, Spanish-speaking countries. We go to these far corners of the planet, places like Turkey or Chile, and 15,000 or 20,000 kids show up, so we’re very lucky, really."
When asked whether politics in certain countries have any negative effect on the response from fans, Tipton replied an unequivocal, "No."
"I think what people do is they underestimate the popularity of heavy metal," he said. "Let’s say we go to places like Turkey or Chile – these far reaches of the planet – and thousands of kids show up. If there are any differences between countries, they’re all forgotten. They’re all there for one reason, and that’s for metal."
Thanks for the report to Anne Erickson, Gibson.com.
