Rob Halford has been sober for over 30 years now, and his first sober gig was apparently ‘euphoric.’
In a new interview with Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar on AXS TV, the Judas Priest frontman talked about sobriety, and how it saved his career with the band. He recalled his first-ever clean gig and talked about how nervous he felt:
“My first ever clean and sober show was at the tingly Coliseum in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1986, I think it was. I walked on stage that night and I was terrified because I hadn’t been on stage without a drink for all those years as a performer. I was terrified but as soon as I started to perform I felt something that I was never feeling before because I had nothing kind of getting in the way chemically or whatever.”
He then detailed what came over him during his performance:
“It was just the great joy and feeling of the human voice and how it makes you feel. You know when you sing in the shower and you feel great. I suddenly got in touch with this thing in my body that my mind and body must feel. I was literally floating on air it was so euphoric and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve been missing this for all of my life as a singer as a performer.’ I’m so blessed to have it now because I have so much more to do.”
Earlier in the same interview, the frontman discussed how it felt to be sober now:
“I was doing that to get through a show and it it kind of fills me with a little bit of regret and remorse. My performance, as I hear it, wasn’t that greatly affected but mentally I’m so happy to have left that place behind now.”
Sobriety Keeps A Band Together
In an earlier interview, Halford talked about the challenges of maintaining and running a band for over 50 years. Even though he had some difficult times running it, staying sober was one of the things that helped him keep the band together. He explained:
“I’m sure being sober has been a big part of my understanding of this. You’ve gotta try and find your own internal peace and harmony. And that’s tough. It’s hard work. You can’t let it go. You’re working at it all the time. So it’s a lot of that. But truly, I’m just so, like I said, grateful and honored to be in this band doing the work that I love to do, understanding the power of metal, understanding the power of rock and roll.”
You can watch the rest of the interview below.