Richie Faulkner says he was willing to step aside during Judas Priest‘s reunion of guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Instead, he got to participate in an unforgettable moment during the show, as Downing appeared alongside his former bandmates for the first time since an acrimonious departure in 2010.
“From my point of view, I offered to opt out. I didn’t need to be there,” Faulkner tells Metal Rules, in the video below. “The guys wanted me there as part of the band. I’m part of the band in 2022. They wanted me there, even though I wasn’t inducted. … So that was really nice of them, and from my point of view, I was just happy to be there supporting them and being a part of the band in 2022. So it was just a great night.”
Faulkner describes himself as “a huge Priest fan,” so “to be part of a three-guitar attack team, which Priest has never been before, as far as I’m aware … it was an experience. If it was a one-time experience or whether it was something for the future, who knows? But even if it was a one-time experience, it was just something to relish and just to remember forever, really. It was fantastic.”
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford hailed Faulkner in a separate interview with KSHE, praising his ability to go forward despite huge health issues.
“He’s a miracle man,” Halford said, before adding that Faulkner “needed to be there because originally he said, ‘I don’t think I should be on stage.’ I go, ‘Richie, you have to be on stage. It’s important. I can’t properly express the words – it’s a feeling for me. I feel you need to be on that stage with us,’ and so did everybody else. Everybody else felt that way.”
Halford said “it was important that he was on that stage and showing people the wonders of survivability and the great things that the medical profession and the healing and the health world can do, and [with] the Lord’s divine intervention, all of these things kept Richie with us. I said, ‘Richie, you need to be on that stage, especially if you can do some hair whipping with K.K.’ They do their hair whip!”
Watch Ritchie Faulkner’s Interview
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