Update: According to Richie Faulkner in an interview with East Coast Live, the “non-COVID related illness” that canceled the band’s Lowell, MA, show is a cold in Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford. However, Richie has made it clear that the band will make their next show in Halifax, saying (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“We’re resting up. Yesterday, we had to, unfortunately, cancel the show. And the reason for that is so that we can preserve our health and get better. Rob’s got a bit of a cold. So we can preserve our health, get back on track and do the rest of the shows in Canada. Yeah, that’s what we’re aiming to do.”
Original story:
Bummer for Judas Priest fans in Massachusetts — the band had to cancel their show at Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell last night (April 4th) due to a “non-COVID related illness.”
Priest issued the following statement about the matter:
“It is with regret we announce that unfortunately tonight’s show at Paul E Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA is being cancelled due to non-covid related illness. We hope to be able to make this show up in the near future. Refunds available at point of purchase.”
All tickets will be automatically refunded via credit card. If tickets were purchased with cash at the box office, please visit the Tsongas Center box office for a full refund.
First of all, everyone at MetalSucks hopes whoever is ill in the Judas Priest camp has a swift and full recovery. Now, with those well wishes out of the way, iiinteresting. Without resorting to rampant speculation here (rumours and speculation — at MetalSucks? Certainly not!), what do we think this could be? Did someone just get a really bad flu, or is this something more significant? You might want to keep your eye on this story, as it might unfold in greater detail later on in the day/week.
This has been one fraught tour overall. First, the tour had to be re-rescheduled after Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage, Then, the band announced that they’d be touring without guitarist Andy Sneap and heading out as a four-piece. However, the fan backlash from this announcement was severe, with countless fans saying that they’d rather not see the band at all than see them without duel guitars. This forced Priest to declare that they’d tour as a five-piece after all, with frontman Rob Halford admitting that the Quartet Priest idea was all his idea.
ANYway, you can get tickets for Judas Priest at one of the remaining dates on their tour below:
4/7 – Scotiabank Centre – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada [tickets]
4/10 – Videotron Center – Quebec City, Quebec, Canada [tickets]
4/11 – Place Bell – Laval, Quebec, Canada [tickets]
4/13 – FirstOntario Centre – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada [tickets]