Judas Priest coming to Cedar Rapids on Sept. 21

CEDAR RAPIDS — Heavy metal powerhouse Judas Priest is heading for the Alliant Energy PowerHouse on Saturday, Sept. 21. Tickets, starting at $50, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, June 14, at CREventsLive. Opening act is Swedish power metal band Sabaton.

Judas Priest is embarking on Leg 2 of its “Invincible Shield” tour. The British rockers brought their 50th anniversary tour to the Vibrant Arena at the Mark in Moline, Ill., in October 2022, and also were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that year.

The band rocked the Cedar Rapids arena, then known as the Five Seasons Center, in 1984 for its “Defenders of the Faith” tour and in 1986 on the “Turbo” tour. I saw both of those shows, as well as the 50th anniversary tour, and frontman Rob Halford sounds just as fantastic now as he did then.

Being among the first wave of bands with concert razzle dazzle, Halford still rides in on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and the show still gives fans plenty of eye candy in addition to vintage hits and new music, which now will include cuts off the “Invincible Shield” album released March 8.

As heavy metal trailblazers, they’ve sold more than 50 million albums, and often are referred to as “metal gods,” an homage to the “Metal Gods” single off their 1980 album “British Steel.”

Nominated for “best metal performance” Grammys for “Painkiller” in 1991, “Bullet Train” in 1999, “Visions” and “Nostradamus” in 2009, the band won the award in 2010 for “Distant Aggressor.”

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