Paul D'Anno says that K.K. Downing should return to JUDAS PRIEST for the band's 50th-anniversary tour. The former IRON MAIDEN singer made his comments during a brand new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice. Asked if Downing should be involved in PRIEST's live performances celebrating the band's half-century milestone, Di'Anno said (hear audio below): "Yeah, I think he should [come back] for the 50th anniversary. I don't see why they would say no. I have no idea, really. It would be great, actually, 'cause we've been talking about, once [I've recovered from my health issues], I'm gonna go and do a concert at K.K.'s Still Mill [Downing-owned venue in Wolverhampton, England], which will be good. But, obviously, everything is all on standby at the minute. But I'd love to do that, 'cause I've got a lot of respect for K.K. I think he's a brilliant guitar player." This past November, Downing revealed that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST "to gather their thoughts" on the possibility of him participating in the 2020 tour. According to the guitarist, his former bandmates were "not receptive" to his involvement in the trek and they "do not intend to include" him in the shows. Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior. In 2018, Downing told SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk that the contentious rivalry between PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN developed when the two bands toured together in the early 1980s. "I read in a music paper that [IRON MAIDEN said] something like, 'Yeah, we're gonna blow the bollocks off PRIEST,' or something like that. And I went, 'What the hell is this shit?'" But they eventually patched up their differences, according to K.K. "I did meet Paul Di'Anno so many years later, in about 1995, and he said, 'Hey, K.K., we're sorry about that quote in the paper,'" the guitarist said. "And that's all you need." Di'Anno has battled a number of health issues in recent years. He reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees after getting involved in several motorcycle accidents over the years. As a result, Di'Anno was forced to sit down while performing at his most recent shows.
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