CONCERTS

There are few heavy metal bands that have managed to scal the heights that JUDAS PRIEST have during their nearly 40 year career. And despite their popularity and influence being at an all time high ( as evidenced by the groups 2010 Grammy Award win for Best Metal Performance - their last studio album being highest charting of their career - and recently being a VH1 Rock Honor recipient) - JUDAS PRIEST will be going out on a high note after storming the world for nearly 40 years and taking their very special brand of heavy metal to all four corners of the planet, JUDAS PRIEST - one of the most influental heavy metal bands of all time, have announced this will be their final world tour.
However, the mighty PRIEST will certainly be going out strong as they rock the planet - having started the tour in the summer of 2011 on the massive EPITAPH tour - bitting all the major cities troughout the world, they are playing the songs that helped make the name JUDAS PRIEST synonymous with heavy metal!
With all guns blazing and amps cranked to eleven, the band will be giving all their fans one last chance to witness the ultimate experience that is JUDAS PRIEST.
So start getting prepared to rock one final time with ROB HALFORD, GLENN TIPTON, RICHIE FAULKNER, IAN HILL and SCOTT TRAVIS, the incomparable JUDAS PRIEST!
The EPITAPH show will include songs from throughout PRIEST's career plus songs they have never performed on stage - and of cours all the old favorites!

With a new album planned for release this year, the Metal Gods are touring the planet once more - heavy metal at its beste complete with lasers, lights, bikes and hellfire ! It's a show not to be missed!
JUDAS PRIEST origninally formed in the early 70's in Birmingham, England ( an area that many feel birthed heavy metal) By 1974, longtime PRIEST member and guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill welcomed singer Rob Halford into the fold- he was soon followed by the arrival of guitarist Glenn Tipton. It would be this nucleus of musicians (along with several different drummers over the years) that would go on to change the face of heavy metal. After a feeling out period of albums, 1974's Rock and Rolla and 1976's Sad Wings of Destiny the Rob, Glenn K.K. Ian line up truly hit theire stride. The result was a quartet of albums that separated JUDAS PRIEST from the rest of the hard rock pack - 1977's Sin After Sin - 1978's Stained Class and Hell Bent for Leather and 1979's Unleashed in the East which spawned such metal anthems as Sinner - Diamond and Rust - Hell Bent for Leather and The Green Manalishi ( With the Two Pronged Crown). Also PRIEST where one of the first metal bands to exclusively wear leather and studs - a look that began during this era and would eventually be embraced by metalheads throughout the world.
It could be said that PRIEST simply owned the 80's as they were second to none as far as pure metal goes - releasing such all-time classic albums as British Steel, Point of Entry, Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith. Once more these titles spawned countless enduring metal anthems including Breaking the Law - Living after Midnight - Heading Out on the Highway and You Got Another Thing Coming. The 80's were also a decade where PRIEST became a global arena headliner, and also offered show-stopping sets at some of the worlds biggest festivals including the first ever Monsters of Rock Festival (1983) in the United States and Live Aid (1985) in the United States. The remainder of the 80's saw PRIEST embrace more melodic hard rock sounds on 1986's Turbo Lover and Ram It Down (1988) ( in addition to their second live set 1987's PRIEST Live) before releasing arguably the heaviest release of their entire career 1990's Painkiller ( which saw the arrival of Scott Travis on drums) JUDAS PRIEST where special guests on the 2004 Ozzfest appearing alongside of Black Sabbath - before issuing Angel of Retrebution a year later.

2008 saw the release of the double disc concept album Nostradamus, which peaked at number 11 on the billboard 200 and a year later Touch of Evil Live was issued (which led to the groups aformentioned Grammy Award win due to a killer rendition of the classic Dissident Aggressor)
In 2009 PRIEST began a celebration of the 30 year anniversary of the release of their classic British Steel album, which included a tour that saw a group perform the album in its entirety and was followed up by an expanded double disc version of British Steel in 2010 plus a DVD of their Live show.
In November 2010 K.K.Downing decided to retire from the band, but fate stepped in and deliverd the perfect replacement, 31 year old British guitar player Richie Faulkner - he had blended into the band perfectly and is a great talent who is helping to set stages on fire across the world on this tour.
Fans troughout the world will have one last chance to experience the ultimate heavy metal concert experience with JUDAS PRIEST at a venue near you, so start getting prepared to rock one final time with the incomparable JUDAS PRIEST!

SAXON WEBSITE

 The Heavy-Metal band Saxon had its roots in a band that started life as SOB during 1976 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire ENGLAND, with founder members guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve Dawson. This band joined forces with another local band, Coast, featuring Biff Byford on vocals and Paul Quinn on guitar. The two bands then finalised with a line-up comprising of Graham 'Oly' Oliver, Steve 'Dobby' Dawson , Paul 'Blute' Quinn, Peter 'Biff' Byford and drummer Pete 'Frank' Gill. The name of the band was Son Of A Bitch; that name was dropped a few years later and the band re-christened themselves Saxon. They were at this time playing the usual Rock clubs and concert gigs supporting Ian Gillan with his band, playing all their own material.
The group caught the attention of Claude Carrere who decided to offer them a contract after hearing a band's demo tapes.

Saxon's self-titled debut album was issued on Carrere Records in May 1979; the first single taken from the album, "Stallions Of The Highway", reached #1 in the Powerhouse chart two months later; their second single "Back To The Wall" also reached the top in the Powerhouse chart in January 1980, the single was released to coincide with a nationwide tour as special guests of Motörhead.
The sophomore album, "Wheels Of Steel", was released in May 1980, it reached the top 5 of the U.K. Albums chart.
Saxon quickly recorded another album, titled "Strong Arm Of The Law" and released it in November of the same year; it contained two singles the title-track and the JFK assassination-based "Dallas 1PM".
In 1981 the band had been on the road for most of the year with little time for recording a follow-up, but in October they churned out their fourth LP, dedicated to their fans and their usual style of dress: "Denim And Leather". The disc went silver in the U.K. and charted all over Europe; two singles, the fan favorite "And The Bands Played On" and "Never Surrender", were released from the album. Founding drummer Pete Gill would shortly depart to join Motörhead and Nigel Glockler, an old friend of Saxon, replaced him.
For the British Heavy-Metal pioneers, the prime objective of 1982 was the conquering of the United States. On their second tour of 38 dates, travelling from New York down to Florida, through Texas to the West Coast, the band finished with four sell-out shows at the 'Whiskey' in Los Angeles and three in San Francisco. The success of this tour prompted the rush release of "Strong Arm Of The Law" in the U.S. on May 21. Saxon recorded a live album at the end of 1981 and released it on May 14, 1982. The fans were asked to name the album and the overwhelming choice of the title was "The Eagle Has Landed".
Their next studio album, "Power And The Glory", arrived a year later; in U.S. it sold 15,000 copies first week and entered The Billboard 200 at #155; the disc hit the top 20 on the British Albums chart and even generated a top 40 U.K. single in the form of its title-track.
Unfortunately, 1983 was the year that saw Saxon's departure from Carrere, the original label that signed the band. This was due to some inside discrepancies on the part of Carrere regarding the actual sales of the band's albums. They were subsequently picked up and signed by EMI.
Recorded in Los Angeles, "Crusader" was the first album for Saxon to be released through EMI in 1984, although this was also the last album that Carrere handled. That year the band visited the States to tour yet again, this time in conjunction with Mötley Crüe. The album went top 20 in U.K. and reached #177 on the American Billboard Top 200.
Although the band had stopped leading the New Wave of British Heavy-Metal with its aggressive biker anthems, in September 1985 Saxon churned out their seventh studio LP, "Innocence Is No Excuse", reaching #133 in U.S. but barely scraping the bottom of the British Top 40; two singles were released, the minor hits "Back On The Streets" and "Rock N' Roll Gypsy".
1986 was quite a year for Saxon with the departure of Steve Dawson, long-time bass player and key songwriter; he left, because of problems with his wife. They recorded a new album titled "Rock The Nations" where Biff Byford actually handled all the bass parts, although the credit went to new bassist Paul Johnson. The disc was another U.K. top 40 for the band and reached #149 on The Billboard 200 list. Three singles were taken from the album: "Waiting For The Night", "Rock The Nations" and "Northern Lady". All of these songs entered the lower rung of the U.K. chart; perhaps the only thing of any interest on this LP is a guest piano performance by Elton John, who was recording next door, on the aptly titled "Party 'Til You Puke".
One year later Glockler left the band and was replaced by drummer Nigel Durham; Saxon then recorded a sort of desperate album, "Destiny", which was released in 1988. However, the band's spirited cover of the Christopher Cross hit "Ride Like The Wind" did revive their fortunes temporarily, as the single became a nearly U.K. top 40. It wasn't enough though and EMI dropped the band.
Following a new extensive international tour, came the anticipated return of drummer Nigel Glockler to the Saxon fold. Paul Johnson left and was replaced by then 22-year-old Tim 'Nibbs' Carter.
Saxon signed with Charisma for their tenth studio album, "Solid Ball Of Rock". The record, released in February 1991, saw another stylistic U-turn, but missed the charts completely in Britain.
One year later they delivered a new effort, "Forever Free", again, to little or no notice.
In 1994 Saxon had been working on material for their next album. The disc, "Dogs Of War", hit the shelves in early 1995, but immediately after the recording, long-time guitarist Graham Oliver left the group; Nigel Glockler's friend and guitarist Doug Scarrat stepped in to fill Oliver's shoes.
"Unleash The Beast" followed in October 1997; adding some gothic overtones and slightly darker lyrics than its predecessors, the album also saw Saxon touring America for the first time in almost a decade. An injury prevented Glockler from continuing to play drums for the group, but he still wrote new songs with the band for the next album. German drummer Fritz Randow was chosen as his replacement.
Despite all naysayers, and whatever the price, Saxon continued to persist year after year, label after label, through think and thin. They've continued to stubbornly wave the flag of British Heavy-Metal and in September 1999 put out their fourteenth studio album, "Metalhead" and continued to tour the world in support of this opus for the next two years.
Somewhere in amongst this busy schedule for "Metalhead", Saxon found the time to record "Killing Ground", releasing it in September 2001.
Three years later, followed "Lionheart", the only album recorded with drummer Jörg Michael.

March 2007 saw SPV/Steamhammer release the latest album from Saxon, their first in ten years to feature returning longtime drummer Nigel Glockler; the 10-track set titled "The Inner Sanctum" hit the top 40 on both German and Swedish charts and landed them in the Official British Albums chart for the first time in nearly two decades; it included the single "If I Was You".

VANDERBUYST WEBSITE

Since the day they founded VANDERBUYST, back in 2008, they are on a mission to bring back the Dutch hardrock/heavymetal tradition. Bands like Van Halen, UFO, Iron Maiden and of course Thin Lizzy as inspiratio, the bands produces an contagious mix from classic hardrock and NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) brought with an incredible energy and attitude know of the Bay Area Trashers.
The Trio VANDERBUYST is not only very popular in the Metalcamp, but also the alternative press, even the dutch 3FM radio station, knows what to do with the deeds of this hardrocking guys. As a fact, VANDERBUYST played over a 100 shows, 110 to be precise, during the season 2010-2011, in the Netherlands as well as abroad. No matter what great festival they play at, be it Bospop, Zwarte Cross, Paaspop, Metal Camp (Slovenia) or the German Rock Hard Festival, of somewhere in the middle of nowhere, everywhere they appear, guitarplayer Willem Verbuyst, drummer Barry van Esbroek and vocalist/bassist Jochem Jonkman, know how to convince their audience of their talent. In November 2011, the band released their second album In Dutch, and the triomphmarch of this bunch of old school rockers just goes on and on and on and on !