Metal
Ian Hill didn’t play with Judas Priest on Monday at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London. “Ian has a badly damaged tendon in his left arm, so unfortunately he won’t be able to play at our Eventim Apollo Hammersmith show on Monday 21 September,” the band announced that same day. He was replaced by Davey Rimmer, bassist of Uriah Heep and Richie Faulkner’s bandmate in Elegant Weapons.
Hill joined the band in 1970 and has been the only member to feature in every line-up since. According to setlist.fm’s records, Monday’s show is the first time in fifty-six years that Judas Priest’s bass slot has gone under another name.
The night’s setlist ran from «The Ripper» and «Victim Of Changes», from 1976, to «Panic Attack», off the latest album, taking in «Metal Gods», «Breaking the Law», «Desert Plains», «Turbo Lover» and «Lightning Strike» along the way. They closed with «Painkiller», «Electric Eye», «Hell Bent For Leather» and «Living After Midnight». They were preceded by Nevermore, who this same week announced their own European tour for 2027 with a Barcelona date.
The “Faithkeepers” tour, in support of «Invincible Shield», the band’s nineteenth studio album, began on 25 July at Germany’s BOBfest, and the London show was its last date of the year. Nothing has been said about how long Hill will be out.
Text by Roger Estivill