And we’re back!! Priest rehearsals 2022!! Feels so good to be back after so much has happened. Having these US dates has... Posted by Richie Faulkner on Saturday, February 26, 2022
Rob Halford has shared a short video of JUDAS PRIEST rehearsing for its upcoming U.S. tour.
On Monday (February 28), the 70-year-old singer took to his Instagram to post a short clip of him and his bandmates running through a rendition of the PRIEST classic "The Sentinel", and he captioned it: "kicking the metal tires maniacs".
Two days earlier, JUDAS PRIEST's Richie Faulkner, who underwent a life-saving surgery five months ago after the band's performance at the Louder Than Life festival, posted a photo of three of his guitars leaning against an amp, and he included the following message: "And we're back!! PRIEST rehearsals 2022!! Feels so good to be back after so much has happened. Having these US dates has really given me something to aim for as part of my recovery process, and the guitar, as always, has been my medicine throughout.
"It's gonna be emotional to see all those faces out there once again next week and I’m really looking forward to seeing you all. Thanks for all your support through all of this and see you all soon. Hopefully I can remember the stuff!"
On September 26, 2021, the 42-year-old British-born guitarist suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during the Louder Than Life performance, just a short distance from Rudd Heart and Lung Center at UofL Health - Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. It took the hospital's cardiothoracic surgery team, led by Dr. Siddharth Pahwa and also including Drs. Brian Ganzel and Mark Slaughter, approximately 10 hours to complete the surgery, an aortic valve and ascending aorta replacement with hemiarch replacement.
Two weeks after his surgery, Faulkner, who spent the last few months recovering at home in Nashville, told reporters that he experienced a sharp pain as he was stepping off the stage. "That's when it exploded," he said.
"The more I read about it, the more astonishing it is to me to think that I even made it to the hospital," he added. "The amount of time when I actually go the pain and when I turned up in the hospital and when we were actually operating, it was quite a lot of time. The more I read about it, the more unbelievable — that amount of time — I don't know how I'm still around today."
Pahwha told reporters that the chance of survival for anybody with Faulkner's ailment is about 10%.
"There are about 70% to 80% patients who have their aorta ruptured and never make it to the hospital," said Pahwa.
Faulkner said he had no history of heart complications and that the aliment came completely "out of the blue."
"My point is I don't even have high cholesterol and this could've been the end for me," he said. "If you can get yourselves checked — do it for me, please."
Aortic aneurysms are "balloon-like bulges in the aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the heart through the chest and torso," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Dissections happen when the "force of blood pumping can split the layers of the artery wall, allowing blood to leak in between them."
Doctors said Faulkner will continue to be monitored and will receive a CT scan every six months for the first year.
After Louder Than Life, JUDAS PRIEST postponed the remainder of the U.S. dates on its 50th-anniversary tour, dubbed "50 Heavy Metal Years". The shows have since been rescheduled for March and April 2022.
Faulkner joined PRIEST in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist K.K. Downing.
Richie was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.
Faulkner and his girlfriend Mariah Lynch, daughter of former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch, welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Daisy Mae, in July 2020.
