Richie Faulkner opens up about Glenn Tipton’s health struggles and strength

Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Judas Priest, was asked in a recent interview with Igor Miranda of Brazil’s Rolling Stone magazine if the songs he and his bandmates performed in Europe and North America last year would be different on the band’s upcoming South American tour, which begins on April 16 in Brasilia, Brazil.

It’s a good question. We’re always thinking about how we can improve the setlist. It’s always difficult these days because the fans, they see the setlist online, so they’re expecting certain things. I think the set we have at the moment is quite a refined setlist. It covers a lot of different Priest material, and the dynamic of the set is really well. So it starts off well, it’s a quick set, it is a fast-paced set, the dynamic works really well. So we’ll see. We’re gonna go into rehearsals before we come down and we’ll try this set and see if we can make any changes. But the set we’ve got at the moment is a pretty good one, so I think it will be more or less the same as what we’ve been playing in Europe.

Faulkner also discussed the health of Glenn Tipton, the guitarist for the band who was struck by Parkinson’s at least six years prior and was diagnosed with the disease ten years ago. Tipton occasionally performs “Metal Gods,” “Breaking The Law,” and “Living After Midnight” onstage with Priest during their encores.

Doing okay. He was out — was it last month? It was in February. We did the Grammys. So we went out to Los Angeles for the Grammys, and Glenn was there. And he is doing okay. Everyone knows Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease, so as it gets worse, I think you can kind of keep it at a certain level, but over time it does get worse. But he’s in good spirits. He’s a fighter — Glenn’s a fighter, he’s a warrior, and he’s doing what he can to keep going. So, big respect to Glenn. And I’ll tell him that the fans asked. He will appreciate that.

He was asked if there were any preliminary preparations or conversations in place for a follow-up to Priest’s “Invincible Shield” album from 2024.

We talk about it all the time. It’s funny — I joined on the farewell tour, as you know. So I joined on the farewell tour. That was gonna be the last world tour. But you get so excited when you’re out and you’re traveling and you go to different countries and seeing different people and playing these great songs, we ended up going into the studio to record ‘Redeemer Of Souls’. And then we got excited over that record and we wanted to go out and play it live. And then the same thing happens. You get excited, you go in the studio again, record ‘Firepower’, tour, ‘Invincible Shield’, we’re touring. So the pattern seems to be, after a tour, there usually comes an album. So we never say never because that seems to be what happens. We’re still on the ‘Invincible Shield’ tour and we’re coming down to South America, coming to Brazil. It’s one of the most exciting places in the world to play. So that might fire us up for another album. But we talk about it and we never say never. It would be the 20th record, right? If there was another one, it would be number 20, which is a good number. And the pattern throughout history seems to be album, tour album, tour, album. So we’ll see. But I don’t know. But we’ll see.