Legendary rockers Judas Priest held a press conference on May 24, 2011 in Hollywood, California to introduce Ritchie Faulkner as a new member of the band. Faulkner will be replacing original guitarist and founding member, K.K. Downing who last month announced he was retiring.
 
Along with the introduction, Judas Priest also released tour dates for the first Leg of their North American tour scheduled to begin in October. Here are some pictures of the the press conference along with the tour dates… Special thanks go out to Chip and Jen at Chipster PR for making this happen for METAL SHOP! -Ralph

• Oct. 12 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
• Oct. 14 – Corpus Christi, TX – Concrete Street Ampitheater
• Oct. 15 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
• Oct. 16 – Allen, TX – Allen Event Center
• Oct. 18 – Tucson, AZ – Ava Ampitheater
• Oct. 19 – San Diego, CA – Cricket Wireless Ampitheater
• Oct. 21 – Phoenix, AZ – AZ State Fair
• Oct. 22 – San Bernardino, CA – San Manuel Ampitheater
• Oct. 23 – Las Vegas, NV – Hard Rock
• Oct. 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Gibson Ampitheater
• Oct. 26 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
• Oct. 29 – Seattle, WA – WaMu Theater
• Oct. 30 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
• Nov. 01 – Edmonton, AB – Shaw Conference Center
• Nov. 02 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
• Nov. 04 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
• Nov. 05 – Denver, CO – 1st Bank Center
• Nov. 12 – Chicago, IL – The Venue At Horeshoe Casino
• Nov. 13 – Detroit, MI – Joe Louis Arena
• Nov. 18 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center