Judas Priest have canceled an upcoming stop on their Invincible Shield Tour just hours before they were due on stage.
The heavy metal band, currently made up of Rob Halford, Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton, Scott Travis and Richie Faulkner, are currently performing across the US to celebrate their latest album, Invincible Shield.
The Breaking The Law singers recently rocked out in Phoenix, Las Vegas, LA, Reno and Portland, and were due to take to the stage at Sugar Land in Houston, Texas tonight.
However, the group – first formed in 1969 – issued a statement on social media, explaining that they had to scrap the planned gig due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’.
‘We are notifying you with an update to your event,’ the message read. ‘Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Judas Priest show on October 22 at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land has been canceled.
‘Refunds will be available at the point of purchase.’
While they didn’t give any further details away, they added: ‘If you purchased from a third-party reseller (Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, VividSeats) etc, please reach out to your point of purchase.’
Judas Priest are slated to perform in Austin on Thursday, before bringing the US leg of their tour to an end in Dallas on Saturday, with no current changes to those dates.
The rockers were first formed in Birmingham in 1969 and shot to fame with the release of their debut album, Rocka Rolla, five years later.
Over the years, they have dropped records including Killing Machine, Screaming for Vengeance, Ram It Down, Turbo and Redeemer of Souls.
Their latest album was unveiled earlier this year and shot to the top of the charts around the world, including Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.
Rob previously opened up about life on tour and shared that Texas has a special place in the group’s heart and history, telling the Houston Chronicle: ‘When Priest first came to America in the late 70s, Houston already knew us.
‘Texas already knew us, Dallas, San Antonio, this part of America had already tuned in and turned on. Texas was waiting, Houston was waiting, through the great works that some of our friends in rock radio were doing, spreading the heavy metal gospel.
‘We spent a lot of time in Texas. We couldn’t believe that there were so many places to go to. Everybody wanted to see Priest, and that never left us, that generous Texas heart. It’s a joy to come back. We’re finishing in Texas.’
He also celebrated the huge reaction that the band have been met with in recent times, sharing that they are ‘thriving’.
During an appearance on Full Metal Jackie, via Blabbermouth, he declared: ‘It’s just this wonderful, wonderful renaissance going around, not only for Priest, but for metal in general, for bands that were there from the start.
‘Our good friends Saxon, who we worked with recently in Europe – we were selling out places all over Europe because people not only are the fans of the band, but there are also people that were maybe on the outside looking and going, “I’ve got to check this out. What is this happening now? Why is there such a buzz about these bands?” And so we’re thriving on that.
‘We’re so grateful and honored and humbled to be in this place all these years later and still have this thing called relevance. We’re a relevant heavy metal band that’s not living on their past glories.
‘And there’s nothing wrong with that. But we’ve always felt that who we are and what we’re about is representative of what we’re doing and saying now.
‘So to have this glorious experience with Invincible Shield, and it’s not dissipating. There’s still tremendous love and interest for that particular album and this band.
‘And so we’re just out there roaring away, giving you all of these moments from Priest right from the beginning of our metal lives to where we are right now with Invincible Shield.’