In a recent interview with Portland, Oregon's XRAY.FM, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford spoke about the illness that forced him and his bandmates to cancel their June 5 concert at Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "This is the side of what we do that can be quite challenging," Rob said. "There's been something floating around in America that finally got to me. Where was it now? Let me think. I think I was in Austin, Texas when I started to feel sick, and then by St. Louis, it was really, really bad, and it turned out to be bronchitis. So, for the first time in living memory, I had to cancel a show down in Colorado, which I hate doing — I hate canceling shows. Because we love our fans so much and we know it's a major disappointment. But my doctors told me that if I didn't take the break that I needed, then it could have gotten a lot more serious, which, God forbid, it did, because I was flat on my back in bed for four days in Denver, filling the blood stream with every antibiotic and every kind of medication known to man. I'm still not completely over it. My voice is in decent shape. It's never as good as I want it to be, because I'm a perfectionist. I'm never totally happy with my performance — that's just the way I am. If I get one note wrong, it pisses me off. But I'm happy, man — I'm healthy, the band's healthy." JUDAS PRIEST's 32-date North American tour with URIAH HEEP wrapped on June 29 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. PRIEST's current touring lineup consists of Halford, guitarists Andy Sneap and Richie Faulkner, drummer Scott Travis and bassist Ian Hill. This past March, Halford was asked by Australia's May The Rock Be how he keeps his voice in shape. He responded: "If I knew, I would be, like, 'It's a dollar! Take a sip each night.' I don't know what it is; I really don't know what it is. I think one of the big life-changing moments is when I quit my drinking and my drugs 33 years ago because vocals is a physical performance. You have to get your rest and have all the right components in place to be able to give the performance you can give either in the studio, but primarily, on the road. And the roadwork is grueling, as far as the travel. You notice when you go on a holiday, you take one flight and you're away from a week and you come home and you go, 'I can't do that again. I need a year to recover.' Imagine doing that pretty much every other day for your life in 50-odd years. You do have to acclimatize and make the right adjustments for your physical performance in the voice. It's technique more than anything else."
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