Just recently Judas Priest bassist/founding member Ian Hill stated that he would like to see Judas Priest and Iron Maiden join forces for a tour. Hill said, “There’s always the big question of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great!” Hill said. “You run into these people over the years. We’ve played with quite a few of them, but we’ve got to get together with Iron Maiden.”
The tension between the two bands stemmed from their tours together in early ’80s when Paul Di’Anno still fronted Iron Maiden. During the British Steel era, Iron Maiden was tabbed as the supporting act for Judas Priest, which led to animosity and disses in the music press, and Di’Anno would admit to that in his autobiography.
Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing remembers when the tension between the bands came into play:
“I read in a music paper that [Iron Maiden] said something like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna blow the bollocks off Priest,’ or something like that. And I went, ‘What the hell is this shit?’ We were still in the recording studio, tidying up the last mixes or something. And I said, ‘Well, who are these guys?’ Why should we have [them] on tour if they’re gonna create this type of vibe before we’ve even met them, let alone done a show together?’ … But they came on the tour [anyway], and they created upsets, is what they did, for different reasons and it led to a confrontation and it got a bit ugly. I don’t know how it all happened, but I did meet Paul Di’Anno so many years later, in about 1995, and he said, ‘Hey, K.K., we’re sorry about that quote in the paper.’ And that’s all you need.”
So this joining of forces with Judas Priest and Iron Maiden sounds like a fucking dream come true. Both bands are playing at the top of their games these days and putting on some of the best shows of their career and Ian Hill does make a good point: nobody’s getting younger so why not give the fans a fucking metal bill to end all metal bills? I love the thought but you know what I DON’T love? I hate it when websites report unconfirmed news from “anonymous sources.”
The site www.metalwani.com reported this on May 30th:
Our folks at Metal Addicts have heard from the “anonymous source” that IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST are planning to embark on a U.S. tour next year. Support acts expected are TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, and THE RAVEN AGE.
No dates have been announced thus far, but the trek is tentatively titled “The Metal Legions Tour”. It will include performances at arenas and amphitheaters taking place in the spring and summer of next year.
Ok, so while I think the posibility of a Maiden/Priest bill is a strong possibility, this whole “anonymous source” crapjust kind of rubs me wrong so for now I’m calling bullshit until something is announced officially. Even with this rumor mill shit, I have to say that if this is actually going to be a bill, I don’t see this working well. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Raven Age is on the bill because they’re pretty much playing for a tourbus and and sandwiches but Obituary? Really? In an ideal Great Southern Brainfart world, they’d scrap The Raven Age and take out a great up and coming band that very well could be torch carriers. How about Holy Grail? Enforcer? How about even Sabaton (who has opened for Maiden a few times).
Testament has already opened for Maiden and they have a fanbase of their own but in reality, the more I think of it, these days show aren’t about breaking bands, they’re about not breaking the bank. If they were to do this Metal Legions Tour, in order for it to be successful, I would like to think that if they were to do this kind of traveling festival thing, here’s what I would consider a great lineup:
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sabaton, Testament, Exodus
Now that’s what I call a Metal Legions lineup. I just don’t see The Raven Age or Obituary actually being much of an enticing draw for this kind of tour. If anything, maybe a band like Opeth or (Satan forbid) Ghost would be more of a lucrative decision. Whether this tour happens or not, I can only hope that it would be done right but in all honesty, just to see Priest and Maiden together would be just fine by me. Everything else would be icing… except for Ghost.
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