In the early 1980s, Iron Maiden was still in opening band status. They often opened for then big band Judas Priest. Things got off to a rocky start when then Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno announced "they would blow the bollocks off Judas Priest". Eventually, both bands came to terms with the issue and now are the best of friends while also being the two biggest names in metal. The whole idea of Priest and Maiden touring TOGETHER would be something out of the best dreams of most metal fans.
During an interview with Audio Ink Radio, Priest bassist Ian Hill had this to say. "There’s always the big question of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great! You run into these people over the years. We’ve played with quite a few of them, but we’ve got to get together with Iron Maiden."
Maiden's first outing with Priest was in 1980. Priest was out touring British Steel while Maiden was out touring as "opening band" for their debut album Iron Maiden. The opening band had, once again, played opening band to Priest again in 1981 as Priest was touring Point of Entry and Maiden touring Killers. The tour was dubbed the World Wide Blitz. To get back to the current day, Judas Priest is still touring their Firepower album while Maiden is embarking on their Legacy of the Beast tour. The Firepower tour is the first Judas Priest tour to not feature guitarist Glenn Tipton, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years prior. To play in Tipton's spot is famed producer and musician Andy Sneap, who is known for working with bands like Dimmu Borgir and Amon Amarth.
During an interview with The Void with Christina, Sneap had this to say. "I'm just filling in, really. They asked me to help out, so it was a case of jumping in and doing what I could do. I'd had a year in the studio with them — I was doing Accept and Saxon at the same time — so it's been good for me to step away from the studio, because mentally, I was getting a little bit burnt with that, if I'm honest. To be able to step back and still do something this size and musical has been great. Where it's going to go? I've got no idea. We haven't even discussed it. It's been, 'Andy, can you do this tour? Can you help us out here?' That's fine."
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