W.A.S.P. and KK's Priest kick off North American tour with firsts

On Thursday, September 10, 2026, W.A.S.P. and KK's Priest kicked off their joint North American tour at The Magnolia in El Cajon, California. The tour goes by the name '1984 To Headless' and runs through October 31, when the two bands wrap things up in Anaheim. KK's Priest serves as very special guest on the tour, with W.A.S.P. headlining.

KK's Priest, the band built around former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing and ex Judas Priest vocalist Tim 'Ripper' Owens, delivered a twelve song set that gave metal fans plenty to dig into. For the first time in the band's history, Downing and his bandmates performed two Judas Priest classics they had never played before: 'Heading Out To The Highway' and 'You've Got Another Thing Comin''. Alongside those two newcomers, the set also included 'Breaking The Law', 'Living After Midnight', 'Beyond The Realms Of Death', 'The Sentinel', 'Victim Of Changes' and 'Turbo Lover'. Three songs came from KK's Priest's own catalogue: 'Strike Of The Viper' and 'One More Shot At Glory' from the 2023 album 'The Sinner Rides Again', and 'Hellfire Thunderbolt' and 'Raise Your Fists' from the 2021 debut album 'Sermons Of The Sinner'.

Back in December 2024, Owens had already spoken about the desire to perform Judas Priest songs that the band itself never played live, in an interview with Australia's Metal Mal. He mentioned earlier additions like 'Before The Dawn', saying: 'Ken said he's 100 percent [sure] they never played it live ever.' On the challenge of putting together a setlist, Owens added: 'The biggest complaint we actually get is that we don't do more [songs] of my era [of PRIEST]. We do one song, Burn In Hell.' Building a varied set remains tricky for the band, Owens explained, because learning new material on the road is no easy feat.

K.K. Downing founded KK's Priest after Judas Priest turned down his offer to rejoin the band for the group's fiftieth anniversary. Downing left Judas Priest in 2011 following internal conflicts and was replaced by Richie Faulkner. Tim 'Ripper' Owens was Judas Priest's vocalist from 1996 to 2003 and recorded two studio albums with the band. KK's Priest made their live debut on July 6, 2023 at Downing's own KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. The band's second studio album, 'The Sinner Rides Again', was released in September 2023 through Austrian label Napalm Records.

On the headlining side, W.A.S.P., led by Blackie Lawless, also delivered some notable firsts. The seventeen song set drew primarily from the band's first four albums: 'W.A.S.P.' from 1984, 'The Last Command' from 1985, 'Inside The Electric Circus' from 1986, and 'The Headless Children' from 1989. W.A.S.P. opened the evening with a cover of 'Easy Livin'' by Uriah Heep, a song the band had recorded for 'Inside The Electric Circus' but never performed live. The biggest moment of the night was the very first live performance of 'Mr. Cool', a song Lawless wrote when he was around eighteen years old that was once released as a single by his pre W.A.S.P. band Sister. Lawless told the crowd: 'I was about 18 years old when I wrote this song. [...] I have never, ever played this song live. So I'm doing this for me, and I hope you like it.' The song 'Mr. Cool' was later reworked and released as 'Cries In The Night' on 'The Last Command'. In an earlier interview on SiriusXM, Lawless had already revealed that the idea for this tour dated back to 2018 but had been put on hold due to the COVID pandemic.

The tour passes through cities including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Montreal and Toronto before wrapping up on Halloween in Anaheim. For Dutch metal fans there are no European dates announced as yet, but the combination of KK's Priest and W.A.S.P. offers an impressive showcase of both groups' classic heavy metal heritage.