Judas Priest launch their Faithkeepers tour with a career-spanning
The British legends have launched their 2026 Faithkeepers European tour with a 17-song set celebrating over 50 years of metal history. The opening night took place at BOBfest in Mönchengladbach, Germany, on July 25, before the tour continued through several major European arenas and festivals, including a headline appearance at Wacken Open Air.
Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner, Andy Sneap, Ian Hill and Scott Travis opened the show with “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”, immediately followed by “Metal Gods” and “Breaking the Law”. It is a direct, unapologetic opening: three songs that leave very little time for polite introductions.
The setlist moves across almost every era of the band, from early classics such as “The Ripper” and “Victim of Changes” to “The Sentinel”, “Desert Plains”, “Turbo Lover” and the inevitable closing run of “Electric Eye”, “Hell Bent for Leather” and “Living After Midnight”.
There are also some welcome surprises. “The Ripper” and “Delivering the Goods” have returned to the set after several years away, while “Steeler” and “Halls of Valhalla” offer something beyond the usual festival collection of greatest hits. More recent Priest is represented by “Lightning Strike”, from Firepower, and “Panic Attack”, one of the strongest tracks from 2024’s Invincible Shield.
The centrepiece remains “Painkiller”, a song that was hardly designed with the human voice—or the passage of time—in mind. Halford is now 74, but apparently nobody has informed him that this is supposed to be difficult.
Judas Priest’s Faithkeepers 2026 setlist
You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
Metal Gods
Breaking the Law
The Ripper
The Sentinel
Desert Plains
Lightning Strike
Turbo Lover
Steeler
Delivering the Goods
Panic Attack
Victim of Changes
Halls of Valhalla
Painkiller
Encore:
The Hellion / Electric Eye
Hell Bent for Leather
Living After Midnight
Spanish fans will have two opportunities to witness the Metal Gods this month. Presented by Madness Live, Judas Priest will perform at the Navarra Arena in Pamplona on August 18 and the Roig Arena in Valencia on August 20.
Both shows will feature an impressive supporting bill. Australian hard-rock wrecking crew Airbourne will bring their usual mixture of sweat, volume and airborne beer, while Dirkschneider will deliver a set built around the unmistakable voice of former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider. Tickets are available through Madness Live.
After completing the remaining European dates, Judas Priest will return home for the final scheduled concert of the tour. The band will play London’s Eventim Apollo on September 21, joined by Nevermore—a suitably historic venue in Hammersmith for the closing chapter of another major Priest run. The date is listed on the band’s official tour schedule.
Fifty years after helping to define the sound, image and vocabulary of heavy metal, Judas Priest are still doing considerably more than looking back. The armour remains polished, the engine is still running and the Faithkeepers are back on the road.
The Riff Collective
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