Steel Wheels and Fire: A Fictionalized Chronicle of Judas Priest’s Painkiller Tour*
The roar of a supercharged Harley Davidson split the silence of the night as it rolled down a backstage ramp at the Montreal Forum. It was October 18, 1990—the opening night of Judas Priest’s *Painkiller Tour*—and the crowd of 17,000 exploded in anticipation. The tour was more than a promotional run for their blistering new album *Painkiller*; it was a resurrection, a reinvention, and a declaration that the Metal Gods were not to be dethroned.
### Chapter I: The Thunder Rolls In
Just a year earlier, the band had entered a period of uncertainty. Dave Holland, their drummer since *British Steel*, had left under opaque circumstances. The band knew they needed more than a replacement—they needed a spark.
Scott Travis brought that spark and more. With the precision of a machine gun and the flair of a street racer, his arrival injected the band with renewed energy. Best known for his work with Racer X, Scott brought an American flair to the British metal institution. His drum solo in “Painkiller,” the album’s title track, would become a nightly ritual of fury, hailed as a percussive exorcism that shook arena rafters.
Rob Halford, the Metal God himself, was revitalized. Shav
