IAN HILL Names The JUDAS PRIEST Songs He’d Love To Add Back To The Setlist

Judas Priest generally has no problem reaching into the depths of their extensive catalog and pulling out some deep cuts live. But what songs does Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill want to see added back to the setlist? Interestingly, they’re all ones from the ’70s.

Hill said in an interview with the The Break Down With Nath & Johnny podcast that he’d add “Dissident Aggressor” and “Sinner” – both from the 1977 album Sin After Sin – as well as “Before The Dawn” from 1978’s Killing Machine.

“There’s one that we have played live that we haven’t played for a while and that’s ‘Dissident Aggressor’. I still say that’s probably my all-time favorite song. It’s just so raw — it’s just pure rock, really. It’s one of those songs that, even in the studio, I can remember it being — it’s two guitars, bass, drums and vocals. And I think there might be one extra guitar on there through the lead break. Other than that, it’s totally raw. It’s exactly as it would be on stage. And I love that song, apart from it being a great song.

“And there’s always other things. We’ve never really done ‘Before The Dawn’ — from the other point of view, the other end of the spectrum, if there’s a quiet part in [the show]. These days people tend to prefer the more upbeat stuff rather than the quieter pieces. But that would be cool to do as well. It’s only about two and a half, three minutes long anyway, so it wouldn’t take much time.

“But there’s loads in there — there’s loads of them. ‘Sinner’ we haven’t done, so it’d be great to do that again. We haven’t done that for a while. But we’ll see.””

So who knows – Judas Priest is out on the road supporting their new record Invincible Shield and recently played “Sinner” for the first time since 2019, so that’s one down. “Dissident Aggressor” got played once in 2021 and hasn’t been touched since 2009 otherwise, and “Before The Dawn” still hasn’t made it to the stage.