The trek, featuring special guests Megadeth and Testament, kicks off February 13 at Sheffield Arena.

Other lucky venues on the schedule include LG Arena in Birmingham (February 14), S.E.C.C. in Glasgow (February 16), Manchester Evening News Arena (February 17), Trent FM Arena in Nottingham (February 18), Cardiff International Arena (February 20) and Wembley Arena in London (February 20).

Tickets, which are £37.50 plus booking fee, are available at LiveNation.co.uk.

While the band was in the States this summer – touring in support of its latest album, Nostradamus – Pollstar was lucky enough to spend a few minutes chatting with frontman and rock legend Rob Halford, who talked with us about the new album, touring, the state of the music industry, the band’s ever-changing fan base and a couple more personal topics.

How is the tour going?

“It’s going incredibly well. This is our first worldwide trek coming out of two years of studio life. We’re just thrilled to be back out on the road again.”

The new album is doing well too.

“We’re still in the early weeks of the release and of course a double concept album of this size is taking a while to kind of sink in and get its Nostradamus vibe going, as you would expect. An hour and forty minutes is a lot of music and a lot of information to digest. But the initial feedback and reports from Priest fans around the planet are that they’re loving every minute of it, so it’s really solid.”

It was kind of brave to do a double concept album in an age when the album is fading as a format.

“I think that just goes to show that regardless of what’s de rigeur or the flavor of the month in the music world, Priest has never really paid much attention to that. We’ve really been very determined in our own efforts and we had the opportunity to fulfill this dream that we’ve had for making a concept record for a very, very long time.

“Once we understood that we’d got this great man, Nostradamus, to build our music around, we just went into it full throttle. We had a wonderful time in the writing sessions – Glenn and K.K. and myself – and coming up with songs and having such a great time together, still very much on fire from the United Retribution reunion tour. One minute we’re just kicking off and the next minute we’ve gone an hour and forty minutes. So that just goes to show the enormous amount of faith and passion and energy that we still have in Judas Priest as musicians.”

That’s very cool, especially when you consider you’ve been at this for what, 25 years or more now?

“Well, let me see – you know the actual name Judas Priest originated in 1969, so next year it’s 40 years. I think I joined the band in ’71 or ’72, so whatever the math of that is. We’re well past the 35 year mark, but you wouldn’t – you know, time is a strange equation in music because it has absolutely no relativity. It’s like Judas Priest has always been here – like Beethoven. It’s only when I think about it that I go, ‘Oh my God – 35, 38 years later…’ It’s remarkable.”

You guys tour all the time. What kind of changes have you seen over the years? Has it gotten easier to tour?

“Yeah. From the business side of what we do, now it’s a wonderful thing. We’re about to go on this Metal Masters Tour and we’re dealing with a shed environment. It’s a very cool thing to do. I mean, all of the promoters do a wonderful job. The event staff at the venues does incredible work. Every thing runs very smoothly, as it should when you’ve got Priest, Heaven and Hell, Testament and Mötorhead all rumbling into town in trucks and buses. These people at these venues work very, very hard to make it run smoothly. The bands’ crews – everybody is playing an important role.

“So we’ve come from playing the little pubs and clubs of England to these massive sheds all over America. It’s a joy. It’s just a real pleasure to be in that type of environment to play these days.”

Do you think the fact that you’ve toured so much and not relied on album sales puts you in a better position to weather some of the changes that are going on right now in the business?

“I think in our mind we still firmly believe we’re only as good as the last thing we ever did. So we’re always driven. And of course that’s been part of our philosophy.

“As much as I know what you mean with the general condition of the music industry – as we’ve seen it literally turned upside down on its head with the invention of the Internet – I think that more than ever, we’re still determined to get out there as much as we can, on the road, and let people see us in the flesh.

“I think that the actual touring side of what we do – I mean I keep an eye on Pollstar and I keep an eye on the figures and everything – and I know that right now we’re in tough times. There is a world-wide recession and that word has to be addressed. We’re all feeling the pinch. And I think that it’s up to everybody to try accommodate this climate – in ticket prices or whatever you can do.

“Having said that though, whenever there are tough times, people run to entertainment. They run to the movie theatre. They make ‘Dark Knight’ one of the highest grossing movies in the history of the movie business. And it’s the same with concerts. People have the need more than ever, in difficult times, to say, ‘Come on. Get in the truck and let’s go see Priest. Let’s go to the movie theatre. Let’s just go escape the world that we’re in.’

“So that, I think, is exactly where we’re at right now and I hope it doesn’t last too much longer. But you have to accommodate and adjust with the times that we live in.”

Do you think it’s still possible for a new band to get where Judas Priest has gotten?

“No. I don’t think – well, this is probably a very bold statement for me to make – but from my experience, I don’t think we’ll ever have another giant, gigantic, enormous arena act coming along. I just think that’s the state of the world. I hope I’m proven wrong.”

You can’t focus the attention of the world in one place so easily anymore.

“It’s a different world, isn’t it? To some extent it’s come full circle. In one of the Nostradamus packages we’ve done, we’ve actually brought back vinyl – there are three pieces of vinyl in one of the box sets. But we’ve come a long way from that world and we’ll never return to it.

“The speed of life in 2008 – I can’t even comprehend how the music industry was in the early ’70s – it’s just a whole different beast altogether. In those days, with a band like Priest starting out on CBS/Columbia that’s now Sony/BMG, you’d start a band and you’d get a record company that would say, ‘This is a great band that’s going to take three, four, maybe five full album releases before they become established.’ Record companies can’t afford to do that anymore.

“So it’s a multi-dimensional situation that we’re in that affects the growth of bands. And it’s a shame, really, because there is incredible talent out there, but if they don’t meet the figures on the first release, they’re kicked out the back door and the next one’s brought in. Which is rather sad, but that’s the reality of life.”

Even though the label system has pretty much died off, the Internet has made it possible for bands to connect directly with fans and there’s more variety because you don’t have someone sitting at the top deciding what people are going to hear anymore.

“Yes, exactly.”

How have you seen your audiences change over the years? Do you see the same fans, but now they bring their kids?

“Yes! It’s amazing. We had the day off yesterday, but the day before that we were in Edmonton [Alberta] and we all came off stage and we were all looking at each other and going, ‘Did you see the amount of young metal-heads in that crowd!?’ It was absolutely mind blowing – and I guess that’s one of the advantages of the Internet.

“These young metal-heads have multiple choices of metal bands from our generation to pick and choose to go see a concert by or listen to the music of – and they’re choosing Priest. I can’t quite figure it out. I mean, I’m sure it’s all about the music at the end of the day.

“What I really need to do is grab a bunch of them and stick them on my tour bus and say, ‘Why Judas Priest?,’ just get it directly from them. And they’re not coming there by themselves. They’re piling into a car – 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds – and they’re just showing up and having a great night out with the Priest. So we’ve got that incredible demographic now that we never had 15, 20 years ago.”

Unquestionably, you’ve been an enormous influence on other bands, both bands that were your contemporaries in the ’70s and ’80s and younger bands that have come after. Is it a bit strange when you meet members of young bands and they’re in awe of you?

“Well I suppose you pass it on, don’t you? Because I can remember standing in a bar in awe, looking at Robert Plant – and now he’s a friend of mine. So you pass it on, same in the sports business and the movie business. There are people that you admire and you aspire to be. I think that’s the life that we’re living now. It’s a wonderful feeling that the vast majority of hard metal acts that we get to work with all reflect on the fact that ‘Hey man it was us or a Priest show’ or ‘When I was a kid I bought your record and you’re the reason I do what I do and now I’m in a band myself.’ That’s a wonderful thing to have told to you by a fellow musician.”

It sounds very rewarding.

“It is.”

Spending so much time on the road, how have you managed to preserve your voice and avoid some of the problems that other people have had?

“It’s an instrument like everything else, so you have to take care of it. Rest – physical rest – is the best thing that any singer can do. If you give it a good night’s sleep, it’s usually in decent shape the next day.

“We’re still doing three or four shows in a row, which is quite an effort. Today we’re doing Saskatoon and then we have a 10 hour drive to Winnipeg and we have another show there, so it’ll be an early rise in the morning. And then we’re going overnight from Winnipeg to Kansas City, which is a 16 hour bus ride. It’s not comfortable sitting on a tour bus for 16 hours – believe you me. It might sound it, but if you’ve been doing that for 40 years…there’s no such thing as absolute comfort unless you throw down $30 million for a Gulf-Lear jet.

“I’m not complaining. I count my blessings. We all do. There are so many stories of people who don’t make it in the music industry, so I’ve got absolutely no right to bitch or moan about anything.

“So having said that, the voice is the voice. I don’t really ponder on it too much. It seems to have a life of it’s own. I feel like I’m the heavy metal version of Jekyll and Hyde. That’s what some people say I am because off stage I’m this nice, cool friendly guy and then when I get on stage, I turn into this evil monster – which is not true. I’m blessed. I thank the lord that I’ve got this wonderful voice that gives me great pleasure to use and listeners as well.”

So this last thing isn’t really a question. I wanted to tell you personally, as an out gay man myself, how much respect I have for you and for what you did by coming out.

“Well thank you. Thank you.”

Do you have an idea as to why more people in the industry haven’t done that? I mean, we know that there are other people in the industry.

“Yeah, and I think, as you and I have experienced, it’s down to your personal needs and wants. Some people are prepared to live their life in kind of an invisible way. There are millions of people like ourselves that keep their lives private and are happy to do that. And there are some of us who realize that if you have the strength – and I do believe it’s a matter of strength – you’ve got to step forward and tell everybody who you are.

“I mean, you go to places like Amsterdam and it’s like, ‘What are you talking about? You’re gay. So what’s that got to do with anything?’ I wish all the world was like that, but it’s not.

“I think particularly in metal still, there is a degree of misunderstanding. There’s still a degree of phobia and intolerance. But for myself, and for us in Priest, we’ve never really – suffered’s not the word – we’ve never been exposed to that kind of reaction. Because we still have millions of fans that love us. So there you go. Maybe I’m the only – do you know the show ‘Little Britain?’ Maybe I’m the only gay in the village.”

Somehow I doubt that.

“I’m talking about in metal. Maybe I’m the only singer. I don’t know. Maybe somebody else will come forward, maybe somebody won’t. That’s not part of what I’m about. I’m not really much of a spokesperson. I don’t go standing on a box.

“I’m aware of the significance of it and it makes me feel very humble when I meet people like I did the other night. This guy whispers in my ear, ‘You changed my life man’ and I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Because of what you did, I was able to come out.’ And I thought that was great and we shook hands. You’re not aware of the peripheral stuff, but it’s all relative. It’s all important.” –