JUDAS PRIEST’s ROB HALFORD: ‘Free Ukraine!’

Rob Halford

During JUDAS PRIEST‘s performance at the Mystic Festival in Gdańsk on June 3, Rob Halford publicly voiced his support for Ukraine in its war with Russia during the band’s concert in Poland earlier in the month.

While performing the song “Blood Red Skies,” Halford said into the mic “never surrender” and repeated the phrase “Free Ukraine!” three times, as can be seen in the fan-filmed video below.

In a 2020 interview with Metal Hammer, Halford was asked if politics have a place in metal, to which he responded: “Absolutely they do and I’ve been putting my two penn’orth into PRIEST‘s music for most of my life, but it’s concealed by smoke and mirrors. Take a song like ‘Evil Never Dies’ [from 2018’s ‘Firepower’ album]. I make some digs there and I know what I mean, but here’s the thing, especially for a band like PRIEST: music is about escapism.

“If I hear one more thing about Brexit, I don’t know what I will do. To me there’s a place for politics and I applaud bands that make it important in what they do, but with me the clues are there if you want to look for them.”