Judas Priest Rocks Irving on the Last Night of The ‘Invincible Shield’ Tour

From the front barrier to the back of the lawn, the crowd at Pavillion at Toyota Music Factory belted out the lyrics to Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” A few moments later, the house lights went down and a banner dropped, revealing the leather-and-spike-clad British metal band, Judas Priest.

Saturday's date in Irving was the band’s 84th and last stop on their “Invincible Shield” tour, commemorating a new album of the same name. Just four days before, they'd canceled a date in Sugar Land, near Houston, with little warning, leading some to speculate that frontman Rob Halford was sick.

The band offered Houston ticket holders special discount tickets to the Irving show to make up for the cancellation. At least some of them made the trek, as the band announced that the show had sold out just hours before doors opened.

The band opened with “Panic Attack,” the blistering first track on 2024’s Invincible Shield, followed by two ‘80s hits, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” and “Rapid Fire.” Guitarist Richie Faulkner played straight into the band’s biggest radio hit, “Breaking The Law,” and there was no turning back. Halford deserves a ton of credit for still reaching the screeching high notes of his youth. He’s still able to touch those notes, particularly at the end of “Sinner” or at the beginning of “Victim Of Changes.” It was a smart decision to use a looping effect on his voice after he hits some of those notes, though, as they protect him from having to sustain them, and it added a catchy hook to some of his choruses. A few times, his looped voice faded into a guitar hitting the same high-pitched note.

As the 73-year-old Halford bolted across the stage, the rest of Judas Priest around him played like the platonic ideal of a rock show. Long-haired, leatherbound guitarists Faulkner and Andy Sneap traded solos and hair flips. Bassist and sole founding member, Ian Hill, largely took a backseat to the duo.

The video production during the entire set was fantastic. It was shot like an MTV-produced concert film, and you could even catch stray glances at the cameramen themselves, all belting out the words to the songs as if they were on stage. Advice to venues and touring artists: hire fans — it makes every show better.

“What do you wanna hear?” shouted drummer Scott Travis as the rest of the band had exited the stage.

“Painkiller!” the audience shouted back, nearly unanimously.

Travis obliged, of course, and slammed into the iconic drum intro of the 1990 hit that marked his first studio recordings with the band.

The band performed a three-song encore, beginning with “Electric Eye.” On “Hell Bent For Leather,” Halford entered the stage on a Judas Priest-branded motorcycle, revving it up between verses and whipping the back of it like a horse. They closed with “Living After Midnight,” the band’s version of a “Rock and Roll All Nite” send-off.

As the band left the stage, an ‘80s slasher movie-esque message was shown on every screen. “The Priest Will Return,” it said, and if the return is half as good as Saturday night’s show, we will too.