For my vacation last week, I took a quick trip to Las Vegas to see one of my favorite bands of all time, the mighty Judas Priest! They hit the Pearl Theatre at the Palms on Saturday, October 17th with Mastodon for a great show!

I've seen Judas Priest many, many, many times, and I love it every time. This tour, the band switched things up a bit, and added some songs they haven't played live in over 30 years! It was awesome to see them play "The Rage" and "Screaming For Vengeance" live, as well as some new songs from their latest album, Redeemer of Souls.

The shows have been highlighting their newest addition to the Priest ranks, Richie Faulkner, who joined the band after KK Downing retired in 2011. I still miss KK, he's one of my favorite guitarists, but Richie is an amazing player.

I first saw Richie play when he was in Lauren Harris' band (Steve Harris from Iron Maiden's daughter). They opened for Maiden a few years ago, and I remember seeing them and thinking, "This guitarist is freaking fantastic!"

Now he's tearing it up in Priest, and they seem to be doing something really cool with him. To me, it seems like they're making sure people see how amazing and talented this guy is, so that when they do retire, he will be known enough to do some more fantastic things after Priest. Which is a pretty awesome thing for the band to do.

Priest is finishing up the touring for Redeemer of Souls, and then is heading into the studio to work on another album, which makes me very happy.

Until it comes out, enjoy these video from the Vegas show!

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