Judas Priest The Metal Gods Brought Their Shield Of Pain To Hamar

Tjuvholmen Arena, Hamar, 14th June 2025

IMAGES KENNETH SPORHEIM / WORDS THOMAS V. KIRKEBY

Judas Priest

When Judas Priest visits, expectations are always high. The Metal Gods always deliver a great performance, and today they were visiting Tjuvholmen Arena in Hamar, a couple of hours’ drive from the capital, Oslo. The arena was set up on a car park, and I must admit, I wondered how much my feet would hurt after standing on asphalt for several hours. I’ll save you the suspense – they felt a little sore five hours later, but I’m fine now. Promise!

I had never been to Tjuvholmen Arena before, but I knew a few bigger bands had played there in the past. And since it was an outdoor arena, the festival feeling kicked in the moment I entered the area. The air smelled of baked potatoes and grilled burgers, and the sun was shining, reflecting in Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway. It really was a perfect evening for an outdoor hard rock and metal fest!

The Norwegian band Audrey Horne took to the stage at seven o’clock, while people were still entering the area. I overheard someone saying that this band was at their best in a smaller, darker and more intimate venue, but the guys did an amazing job opening the show. We already had the sun, food and beverages, and adding great hard rock songs delivered with enthusiasm and punch felt just perfect.

The second support band, Spidergawd (also from Norway), went on stage at eight, continuing the evening of heavy rock. The band started as a side project of Motorpsycho back in 2013 but has since taken on a life of its own, complete with the characteristic saxophone blasting along, adding both depth and atmosphere. It was obvious the band had quite a few fans in the audience, who sang along and responded enthusiastically throughout the set.

Around nine, the sun was almost at the horizon, making it necessary to move closer to the stage to avoid being blinded by it. But as Judas Priest entered the stage only a few minutes later, that was the perfect place to be. The first song was “All Guns Blazing”, off the 1990 Painkiller album. Rob Halford entered the stage with a walking stick. I don’t know if anybody actually thought he needed it. I immediately thought he was poking fun at his own age, and when he threw it away a couple of minutes in, I was glad my suspicion had been right. From then on, Halford walked around the stage in his usual manner.

Starting off with songs from Painkiller was no coincidence. It turned out a lot of the evening was dedicated to the album, with a total of seven songs from Painkiller making the setlist. A blast, for sure, for everyone who considers the album one of their favourite Judas Priest records. But I could sense some impatience among a few audience members around me when it took a bit too long between the more classic hits.

The band wrapped up their previous tour, Invincible Shield, in Mexico on the 7th of May – a tour with a setlist more centred around the hits, as well as songs from their latest album. This night was their second show on the Shield of Pain tour, which had started in Finland two nights earlier. I guess people who had checked out the setlist from Mexico might have felt a bit disappointed to find that it had changed quite a lot.

What certainly didn’t disappoint was Halford’s voice. The man turns 74 in August, but he can still scream like he always could. Perhaps choosing so many songs from Painkiller was a way to prove that he still has the stamina and the voice intact. There’s no way he could have pulled it off like that if he could no longer scream like he did 35 years ago.

As Halford sang “Gates of Hell”, the sun was still fighting the stage spotlights for attention, making it a little hard to ignore. But it only took a song or two before the sun had set, allowing the stage visuals to really shine in the dusk. With dusk, however, came mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds (I’m exaggerating, of course), making people wave their arms out of sync with the beat. But when “Judas Rising” hit the audience, it was easy to ignore the bloodsuckers buzzing around our heads.

After “Judas Rising”, Rob addressed the audience for the first time that evening, thanking everyone for coming and for being loyal to the band through all these years. He also pointed out that this was the second show of the Shield of Pain tour and mentioned that changing the setlist always led to a couple of stumbles in the beginning. Perhaps that’s why they added “Electric Eye” to the setlist for the night, following the Finland show two days earlier.

After “Hell Bent for Leather”, Judas Priest sent the audience home with “Living After Midnight”. And by then, I’m sure most people had already forgiven the band for not playing all their personal favourites. And if someone still felt slightly disappointed in the end, there’s always a next time. There were no signs of wear or fatigue in their performance tonight, so I’m sure the Metal Gods will be back again before long.

SETLIST

1/ All Guns Blazing

2/ Hell Patrol

3/ You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’

4/ Freewheel Burning

5/ Breaking the Law

6/ A Touch of Evil

7/ Night Crawler

8/ Firepower

9/ Solar Angels

10/ Gates of Hell

11/ Metal Gods

12/ The Serpent and the King

13/ One Shot at Glory

14/ Between the Hammer and the Anvil

15/ Judas Rising

16/ Giants in the Sky

17/ Painkiller

Encore:

18/ Electric Eye

19/ Hell Bent for Leather

20/ Living After Midnight

FOLLOW JUDAS PRIEST

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM