Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing made his first large-scale live appearance in 10 years when he performed four songs with Ross the Boss at the U.K.’s Bloodstock festival this past weekend.

Downing joined the band to perform “Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown),” “Heading Out to the Highway,” “Breaking the Law” and “Running Wild.” The last time he played on a large stage was Oct. 17, 2009, as Priest completed a world tour. He left the band two years later.

You can watch clips from the new performance below.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind,” Downing told the Unchained Rock Show (via Blabbermouth) after the set. “I don’t know whether I dropped from a helicopter as a bungee jumper. Once I landed, after 20 seconds and realized where I was, I was good after that point.”

He noted that he didn't have much opportunity to rehearse with Ross’ band beforehand. “It was a jam, really," he said. "There was quite a bit of improvisation in there.”

The previously announced guest spot came about after Downing was invited to Bloodstock for a different reason.

“I was just meant to pick up an award,” he said. “The guys said, ‘Well, you’re gonna get onstage. You think you wanna put a guitar on?’ And I said … ‘What about jumping on with Ross?’ First and foremost, I didn't want it to be disruptive to their set. … I think it’s not a bad thing to try and do things like that. Maybe this could be first of many things.”

 

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