After years of disputes and some not-really-nice words, KK Downing finally reunited with former Judas Priest bandmates to perform in the band’s induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. However, during a chat with Gabbing With Girlfriends podcast, the act’s longtime manager, Jayne Andrews, said that the guitarist seemed a bit down while reuniting with the band.
“To be honest, I probably shouldn’t really say this,” Andrews said. “[Downing] seemed a little bit nervous and almost out of his depth. And when we talked about it afterward, we thought, ‘Well, Priest have carried on touring all these years; he hasn’t. So he’s probably lost a bit of confidence, coming to a big event like that, obviously, [and] having to confront all of us.’”
She continued, “He didn’t know how we would be… I said, ‘We’ve got to see one person. He’s got to see six people, really, five [without] me….’ But it’s just a shame that once he realized that there was no animosity from our side that he didn’t just stick his head around the door and say ‘thank you.’ But there we go. He didn’t, so never mind.”
Downing seemed a bit anxious to reunite with Judas Priest after years of not performing and not seeing the band members. However, the manager stressed that there was no animosity against the guitarist from Priest’s side, so it could have been a more emotional reunion. Nonetheless, K.K. Downing was distant, and his former bandmates and manager felt like they were underappreciated.
