Tour by Judas Priest | |
Location | |
---|---|
Associated album | Point of Entry |
Start date | 13 February 1981 |
End date | 14 December 1981 |
Legs | 5 |
No. of shows | 115 (116 scheduled) |
Judas Priest concert chronology |
The World Wide Blitz Tour was a 1981 concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest where the band toured in Europe and North America from 13 February to 14 December 1981 in support of the album Point of Entry.
For the first European leg of the tour, the band was supported by Saxon, who were promoting their album, "Strong Arm of the Law."
Savoy Brown supported the band for the first month of the leg until the end of May. Iron Maiden, who were promoting their album Killers, supported the band after that. Humble Pie would co-headline all of the June dates with Priest and Maiden. Whitesnake would then be the co-headliner throughout most of the July dates. Joe Perry opened a couple of the later shows in July.
The only official Judas Priest track recorded during this tour, a performance of "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" from a show at Palladium in New York City, is featured on the "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" single released in February 1984. The same track is found on the Metalogy box set.
The final European leg was supported by Def Leppard, who were promoting their album, High 'n' Dry, and Accept. [1]
The setlist varied throughout the tour. The European leg had a setlist of: [2]
The typical setlist for the North American leg and second European leg
Also occasionally played were:
City | Venue | Tickets sold | Gross revenue (adjusted for inflation) |
---|---|---|---|
South Bend | Morris Civic Auditorium | 2,274 [4] | $55,812 [4] |
St. Louis | Kiel Auditorium | 5,700 [5] | $134,466 [5] |
Kansas City | Memorial Hall | 1,850 [5] | $41,332 [5] |
San Bernardino | Swing Auditorium | 6,655 [6] | $168,923 [6] |
Oakland | Civic Auditorium | 4,891 [6] | $133,367 [6] |
Long Beach | Long Beach Arena | 10,090 [6] | $238,269 [6] |
Portland | Memorial Coliseum | 6,831 [7] | $175,756 [7] |
Seattle | Center Arena | 6,000 [7] | $160,163 [7] |
Pittsburgh | Stanley Theater | 3,347 [8] | $89,261 [8] |
Johnson City | Freedom Hall | 4,982 [8] | $114,570 [8] |
Memphis | Ellis Auditorium | 3,722 [8] | $84,256 [8] |
Rochester | Auditorium | 2,574 [9] | $64,341 [9] |
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with poor record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when their sixth studio album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
Point of Entry is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 27 February 1981 by Columbia Records. Following the commercial success of their previous album British Steel (1980), Priest pursued a more radio-friendly direction on Point of Entry. Following the conclusion of the British Steel Tour, the band began work on their next project. By this time, the band possessed sufficient funds to fly all their equipment to the state-of-the-art Ibiza Studios in Spain. This gave Point of Entry a louder, stronger, more "live" sound than previous Judas Priest albums.
Killing Machine is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in November 1978 by Columbia Records. The album pushed the band towards a more commercial style while still featuring the dark lyrical themes of their previous albums. At about the same time, the band members adopted their now-famous "leather-and-studs" fashion image, inspired by Rob Halford's interest in leather culture. It is the band's last studio album to feature drummer Les Binks.
Unleashed in the East is the first live album by the English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1979 on Columbia Records. It was recorded live over two nights in Tokyo during their Hell Bent for Leather Tour in February 1979. Upon release Unleashed became the band's best-selling album up to that point, reaching the US Top 100 and the UK Top Ten, eventually the album became one of the five Judas Priest albums to gain a RIAA platinum certification. It is the first Priest album to be produced by Tom Allom who would remain at the helm for the next decade for the band, and the last release to feature drummer Les Binks.
Priest...Live! is the second live album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, recorded at The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia on 15 June 1986 and the Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas on 27 June 1986.
Electric Eye is a compilation DVD by Judas Priest released in 2003 and certified Platinum by the RIAA. It features music videos, BBC performances, and the first official DVD release of a concert filmed in Dallas, Texas during the 1986 Fuel for Life Tour, previously released as Priest...Live! on VHS and LaserDisc.
Metalogy is a four CD + single DVD boxed set released by heavy metal band Judas Priest in 2004. The CDs come in card sleeves and are housed in a faux-leather box, which has studs around the center. The box was re-released in 2008 in a cardboard long-box containing the same 4 CDs as the original release, but not the DVD, which is sold separately. It was re-released for a second time in September 2013 as a hardback mediabook, again without the DVD.
"The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" is a song written by Peter Green and recorded by Fleetwood Mac. It was released as a single in the UK in May 1970 and reached No. 10 on the British charts, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks, and was the band's last UK top 10 hit until "Tusk" reached No. 6 in 1979. "The Green Manalishi" was the last song Green made with Fleetwood Mac before leaving the band.
The Best of Judas Priest: Living After Midnight is a compilation album of Judas Priest's hits, dating from their 1978 album Killing Machine through Painkiller (1990). This album was released in 1997. In 2009 the album was reported to have sold 564,000 copies in the United States.
The Metal Masters Tour was a 17 date concert tour of arenas across North America in August 2008 featuring Judas Priest promoting their album Nostradamus, Motörhead promoting Motörizer, Heaven & Hell promoting The Rules of Hell and Testament promoting The Formation of Damnation.
The Epitaph World Tour was a concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, at the time intended to be the band's farewell tour. The tour commenced in June 2011 and concluded in May 2012. The tour was named after the 6th track from their Sad Wings of Destiny album.
The Mercenaries of Metal Tour was a 1988 concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, in support of their most recent release, Ram It Down. Unlike their other tours of the 1980s, no official Judas Priest release includes any live recordings from this tour. It was the final tour the band did with longtime drummer Dave Holland. The week before the tour started, the band visited Stockholm, Sweden for full production rehearsals at Hovet. Before the official tour start, the band played a few warm-up shows including one in a club in Amsterdam, Netherlands in early April 1988, where the footage for the Johnny B. Goode video was shot. On 24 September 1988, just before the band was about to perform a show in Dallas, Texas, they were greeted backstage by the sheriff with a subpoena, leading to the infamous subliminal message trial in the summer of 1990.
The Fuel for Life Tour was a 1986 concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, to support their album Turbo.
The World Vengeance Tour was a 1982 concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest where they toured throughout North America from 26 August 1982 until 21 February 1983 in support of the 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance.
The Metal Conqueror Tour was a concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest in support of the album Defenders of the Faith. It ran from 20 January until 13 September 1984.
The Painkiller Tour was a concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest which was in support of the album Painkiller. It ran from 18 October 1990 until 15 April 1991.
Operation Rock & Roll was a 1991 concert tour featuring Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, Dangerous Toys and Metal Church. It ran from 9 July 1991 until 19 August 1991 in the United States and Canada. This tour was in honor of the US forces involved in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War. This would also be Judas Priest's final tour with Rob Halford until 2004.
The Reunited Tour was a 2004 concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. It ran from 2 June 2004 until 2 September 2004. This tour celebrated the return of Rob Halford since his departure in 1992, replacing vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens. The band also began performing in E♭ tuning during this tour, which would since be their primary sound.
The Retribution Tour was a 2005 concert tour by English heavy metal band, Judas Priest, which was in support of the album, Angel of Retribution. It ran from 23 February 2005 until 3 December 2005.
The Firepower World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, in support of the album Firepower. It ran from 13 March 2018 to 29 June 2019.