British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST launched the “Shield Of Pain” tour Thursday night (June 12) at Rockfest in Turku, Finland.

The band’s 19-song setlist included seven tracks from PRIEST‘s 1990 album “Painkiller”, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

In addition to performing the “Painkiller” title track, PRIEST also played “All Guns Blazing”, “Hell Patrol”, “A Touch Of Evil”, “Night Crawler”, “One Shot At Glory” and “Between The Hammer And The Anvil” from the same LP.

When PRIEST first announced the “Shield Of Pain” tour last fall, the band promised a “rare” and “unique set” which would include “beloved classics” and would “be defending the metal faith in a truly memorable experience throughout Europe”.

The setlist for the Rockfest concert was as follows:

01. All Guns Blazing (performed for first time since 2019; first time as an opener)
02. Hell Patrol
03. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
04. Freewheel Burning
05. Breaking The Law
06. A Touch Of Evil
07. Night Crawler (first time since 2012)
08. Firepower
09. Solar Angels (first time since 2005)
10. Gates Of Hell
11. Metal Gods
12. The Serpent And The King (live debut)
13. One Shot At Glory
14. Between The Hammer And The Anvil
15. Judas Rising
16. Giants In The Sky (live debut)
17. Painkiller
18. Hell Bent For Leather
19. Living After Midnight

Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen in the YouTube playlist below. (Note: After each song, the YouTube player automatically jumps to the next song in the playlist.)

PRIEST‘s 2025 European tour will next hit Hamar, Norway on Saturday, June 14 and will conclude at the O2 in London, United Kingdom on July 25.

Last December, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford told Heavy Consequence about the setlist for the “Shield Of Pain” tour: “It’s still in the works, but we’re gonna go and show [‘Painkiller’] off. Not in its entirety. I haven’t figured out yet whether we’re just gonna do a clump of ‘Painkiller’ songs — this is the ‘Painkiller’ section — or we’re gonna go, a ‘Painkiller’ song, a couple of others, a ‘Painkiller’ song, a couple of others. It’s all in theory in my mind at the moment, but, however, I think it’s gonna be a real thrill and a treat. And, again, a once-in-a-lifetime thing for the band. You’ll only see the show once. You’ll only see the ‘Shield Of Pain’ show once. So, we hope our fans will be on the rail and banging their heads to it.”

Rob also reflected on PRIEST‘s mindset while going into the recording process for “Painkiller”. He said: “The importance was we had to really go into a huddle and say, ‘We really need to show off what this band’s true heart and soul and spirit is about.’ And I’m using that in reference to some of the previous albums and some of the previous songs. Our attitude was, ‘We’re gonna make the hardest, heaviest, strongest, most energized metal album we’ve ever done,’ and we did that — we achieved it. It’s full-on. It only pulls back a little bit for ‘A Touch Of Evil’. The rest of it is just non-stop, non-stop, non-stop. We did it in Miraval Studios in the south of France. It was very isolated, so, unlike Ibiza [where ‘Screaming For Vengeance’ and ‘Defenders Of The Faith’, among others, were recorded], where we were going into the clubs every night, it was very, very isolated, so we really got into the work in a very, very strong way with no interference. And so the exercise of achieving all of the components to make that album as strong as we wanted it to be was a success. And, again, a band will tell you we’ve done everything we can. Let’s see what happens. The world embraced that album.”

He continued: “It’s a beloved, revered metal album. A lot of our friends in different bands will say, ‘If you wanna hear what a metal album is all about, put on ‘Painkiller’.’ And that’s pretty cool. But our fans, as well, recognize that of all of the 19 albums that this band has ever made, ‘Painkiller’‘s still very heavily under the spotlight. And here we are, 35 years [in 2025].”

PRIEST‘s 12th album, “Painkiller” was recorded at Miraval Studios in Brignoles, France, and was mixed at Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, the Netherlands. It was the first LP to feature drummer Scott Travis following the departure of Dave Holland.

In a 2023 interview with “The Jeremy White Show”, founding JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth “K.K.” Downing spoke about how the addition of then-new drummer Travis affected PRIEST‘s sound and songwriting on “Painkiller”. He said: “I think with the addition of Scott, because we knew his capabilities from his former band, RACER X, which were a great band… After so many years, having Scott in the band with those double kicks again, it just opened doors for myself and Glenn [Tipton, PRIEST guitarist] to write rhythmically and musically. And we knew that Scott could play anything that we could — as fast as we could play on guitar, we knew he could match us on the kit, which helped a lot, really, because it meant we could expand writing after so many years, really, in respect of the faster side of metal, if you like.”

In 2022, Travis spoke to “Drumtalk”, the video podcast by German drummer and videographer Philipp Koch, about the fact that the intro to the title track of “Painkiller” has become one of the most iconic drum intros of all time. He said: “Me personally, I always loved the drum intro of certain songs. We all know ‘Rock And Roll’ by LED ZEPPELIN and ‘Walk This Way’ by AEROSMITH, and, of course, ‘Hot For Teacher’, which is VAN HALEN. So, anyways, I grew up like that, always understanding that, ‘Man, if ever I could come up with a signature drum intro — no guitars; just drums — and make it really impactful.’ And sometimes I get emotional, now that I’ve been playing for so long, that I was able to come up with something.”

He continued: “[I recently saw a video featuring] ‘Top 15 drum intros’. And, of course, it’s subjective. I don’t know who made the list; I think it was some rock magazine. So, naturally, I watch it, and it had ‘Where Eagles Dare’ [by IRON MAIDEN], it had ‘Rock And Roll’, and number two was ‘Painkiller’. And I was, like, ‘Oh my God. Thank you so much.’ And number one, which I’m happy to take a backseat, was ‘Hot For Teacher’ — Sir Alex Van Halen. If I’m second place to old Alex, then, man, that’s fantastic. Again, that’s one opinion and one little something someone made up. But nonetheless, I didn’t make it, so I’m happy that people appreciate ‘Painkiller’ and it has become a signature JUDAS PRIEST song, which I never in a million years would have imagined that.”

Back in 2020, Travis told Invisible Oranges that he wrote the “Painkiller” intro at Miraval Studios in early 1990 as producer Chris Tsangarides and engineer Patrice Roullion were testing microphone placements.

“We were set up at the studio… Studio Miraval in Nice, France,” Travis recalled. “The drums are all set up and they’re in a big room and then, of course, the control room is at the other end of the studio. I used to just go and warm up first thing in the morning and just work on the next song we were gonna do the next day, and just start playing it with my own headphones on. It was just a cool place — very comfortable to just go and play whatever you wanted. I knew we were gonna be working on the ‘Painkiller’ song and it was meant to be a fast-paced upbeat song. And I was just messing around doing the intro type stuff.”

He continued: “I don’t know what those notes I play with my feet [are called]… between my feet and my hands. Technically, it’s four with the feet, one with the hand. So it’s not a quad but I don’t know, septuplet, quintuplet… Shows you how educated I am on drumming, right? [I was] just out there messing around, doing a flurry of things like that, exercises and whatnot. I had the ‘Painkiller’ idea in my head and they really liked what I was doing and they said, ‘Hey, just do some more of that, some stuff like that.’ And I just kind of whipped it up…

“As a young drummer or just as a drummer, period, I always… I don’t wanna say dreamt because that sounds corny, but I always was hoping that I could come up with a signature drum intro, and I think every drummer wants that. Rarely does a drummer get to do an intro and especially one that really sticks. Given the fact that it exists now, I’m kind of blown away. It’s cool.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries