Judas Priest hit the road for the first time since last October for the start of their Invincible Shield tour. The first show was in Glasgow, UK, and they played a nice variety of tracks. The band has a new album out, so you’d assume they’re highlighting the best tracks from that record, but with recent tours, Judas Priest has sort of split the albums across several legs of the tour. For this first section, they’re playing the highlights. Check out the full setlist below thanks to our friends at Setlist.fm.
So while there aren’t any major earthshaking songs being played for the first time in a long time, the debuts of Invincible Shield tracks was the story of this setlist. Fans in Glasgow got live debuts with “Panic Attack”, “Trial By Fire”, and “Invincible Shield”. Outside of those tracks it looks like a pretty normal setlist from what Judas Priest were playing on the Fifty Heavy Metal Years tour. Songs like “Beyond the Realms of Death” and “Victim Of Changes” are concert staples that everyone wants to hear. Hopefully as the tour goes on, Judas Priest play more tracks off Invincible Shield.
On this tour date, Uriah Heep and Saxon joined them. Saxon also played new tracks off their latest album. For fans of Judas Priest, this seems like a nice balance of old songs, deeper cuts, and new tracks. The only real critique I can offer is that Judas Priest change up how the end of their concerts go. They’ve ended recent concerts with either the trio of “Breaking the Law”, “Hell Bent For Leather”, and “Living After Midnight” for quite a long time. Just for the sake of being varied, maybe end with some other combination of tracks.
The band has a long and varied history to bring in tracks, and I know the British Steel tunes are the most popular among casual fans, but at a certain point, enough is enough. Every band changes up how they build their setlists, even ones with songs as popular as those. Maybe its time to bring back “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” as the show-closer.
Outside of that, it’s pretty hard to complain about this set, though. The Priest ripped through classics and new songs for a room of raging fans. You can check out Judas Priest’s full tour dates here, including a date at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California later this year.
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