Tim “Ripper” Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) and Udo Dirkschneider (ACCEPT, U.D.O.) have joined forces for a string of shows in South America where they are performing JUDAS PRIEST and ACCEPT classics.
Fan-filmed video of the April 21 concert at Teatro Cariola in Santiago, Chile can be seen below.
Owens joined PRIEST after being discovered when the band’s drummer, Scott Travis, was given a videotape of him performing with the PRIEST cover act BRITISH STEEL. JUDAS PRIEST at the time was seeking a replacement for Rob Halford.
Owens recorded two studio albums with JUDAS PRIEST — 1997’s “Jugulator” and 2001’s “Demolition” — before the band reunited with Halford in 2003.
“Demolition” and “Jugulator” are included on “50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music”, JUDAS PRIEST‘s 2021 limited-edition box set which contains every official live and studio album to date plus 13 unreleased discs.
Owens recently released a solo EP, “Return To Death Row”. The effort was produced by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Nick Bellmore (JASTA, DEE SNIDER). Players on the EP, which contain Owens‘s “heaviest songs yet,” include Nick Bellmore, Charlie Bellmore (DEE SNIDER, ex-TOXIC HOLOCAUST) on guitar, and Chris Beaudette (JASTA, ENTEIRRO) on bass.
Owens is currently the frontman of KK’S PRIEST, featuring fellow former JUDAS PRIEST member K.K. Downing.
Eight years after announcing that he would embark on a special tour during which he would perform ACCEPT songs one last time under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner before closing that chapter for good, Udo is continuing to play ACCEPT material at select shows.
Dirkschneider said in 2016 that his vow to never play ACCEPT material again came with one caveat. “If the band ACCEPT dissolves one day in the near future and I am still around with U.D.O., then there is a chance that I put ACCEPT songs back in the setlist,” he said. “But currently there is ACCEPT, so go see them [if you want to see those songs performed live]. They are playing these songs.”
Udo previously said the original plan was for DIRKSCHNEIDER to only “a few shows,” and “then [the tour] got bigger and bigger [due to demand].” But, he added, “I don’t want to complain about that.”
