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Wednesday, September 5th 2007
Iron Maiden Announce Their Most Ambitious And Extraordinary Touring Plans Ever And Are Very Pleased To Announce That This Will Include Australia For The First Time In 15 Years!
The ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME’ World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting
in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20
selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North
America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia, opening in Perth
on Feb 4 and continuing through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:
SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME, AUSTRALIA 2008
February :-
Monday 4th, Burswood Dome, Perth
Wednesday 6th, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Saturday 9th, Acer Arena, Sydney
Tuesday 12th, Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
The tour then continues with more concerts in North America in late May and June
before finishing with a third leg in July and August encompassing major stadiums
and festivals all over Europe. During the tour the band is expected to play to
well over one and a half million fans and travel close to 100,000 miles.
In an historic first, Iron Maiden, their 60-strong crew and support staff and
over 12 tons of equipment will be travelling around the world en masse for the
first leg of the tour in a specially commissioned and converted Astraeus Boeing
757 decorated with Maiden and Eddie designs! Vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who is a
qualified Airline Captain flying for Astraeus Airlines, will pilot the plane on
its epic mission, flying over 50,000 miles.
Comments Bruce Dickinson, “We had the idea last year of converting a jumbo jet
into effectively what would be a flying 113 ton ‘splitter bus’ for touring and
we have been working seriously on it ever since. It’s pretty complex but in the
end we were able, with a lot of help from Astraeus Airlines, to overcome all the
technicalities of customising the plane for our purposes. We are taking out the
back 10 rows of seats to fit in a customised cargo hold that we can use again in
the future if this jaunt works. This is in addition to all the standard storage
holds. By taking band, personnel and equipment in one form of transport it makes
all the touring so much easier and overcomes the logistical difficulty of people
and equipment going in different planes. We can even work out exactly how big
our carbon footprint is and take care of that responsibility! We will be packing
as much of the show into the plane as we possibly can for this first leg and
intend to give the fans something very special to remember. And it allows me to
combine 2 of my greatest passions, music and flying!!
To tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic ‘LIVE AFTER
DEATH’ and ‘MAIDEN ENGLAND’ concert videos (more details coming soon) this tour,
aptly entitled ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME’, will revisit the band’s history by
focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the
stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the
1984-85 ‘Powerslave Tour’. This will arguably be the most elaborate and
spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key
elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.
Steve Harris comments; “On the last tour we opened the show by playing our new
album ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ in its 80 minute entirety. We thought we
needed the challenge and it proved the right thing to do. However, it can be
hard on the fans playing so much new material and we really appreciated the
superb support they gave us. So now l guess it’s payback time. It’s tremendous
to be able to use the profile of the DVDs to do what is effectively an 80’s
show. It will be enormous fun and by changing the approach to the songs we play
tour by tour it keeps it fresh and interesting for both the band and the fans
alike. l think ‘Powerslave’ was an incredible show with the Egyptian theme and
look forward to seeing it all again myself. We have been planning this for a few
years and hoping to take it to Australia — so we are all delighted that it has
now worked out. I would also like to say that we are all are very grateful to
our loyal fans in Oz who have kept the Maiden flag flying all these years and
we are sorry to have disappointed you for so long. Thanks and see you there”
Rod Smallwood, Iron Maiden’s Manager, further commented; “Following Bruce’s
various hints from on stage this last year about our plans for 2008 (“We are
taking some time off to build some pyramids!”), fans have been pestering me for
details of the tour and especially asking which songs from that era will be
played. That may be as easy as a run in the hills but we will keep our aces
close to our chest on this issue. I know it would only take a couple of minutes
but at this stage of planning, I’d have to be clairvoyant to know what they will
do. I’m sure though it will be no revelation for you that we intend to make up
for those wasted years by visiting a large number of hallowed metal venues
around the world. Historically ‘Powerslave’ was an incredibly important album
for the band and it would be madness if we didn’t give the fans a taste of the
full on Iron Maiden show from that time. With our jumbo there really is no rime
nor reason why the band cannot now visit fans almost everywhere as many have
been real troopers to have waited this long. Heaven only knows what the band
will choose but if l could and did tell you now l would have to shoot you!
You’ll all have to be patient and see. But it will be spectacular. No fear!!”
Historically, this will be Maiden’s fourth Australian Tour having first toured
in 1982 when ‘The Number of the Beast’ was Australia’s number one album, then
again in 1985 with the original ‘Powerslave’ show and most recently in 1992 with
‘Fear of the Dark’. However a great deal has happened with the band since then,
especially in recent years when ticket sales have continued to explode around
the world as the band’s loyal fan base continues to flourish. As Maiden have
never had airplay or much video channel exposure anywhere in the world their
popularity spread mainly by word of mouth on the back of a legacy of many great
albums and an awesome live reputation With the ever increasing power of the
internet the Maiden legend has fired the imagination of new young fans around
the planet, and, although their audience spans two generations, it is now
predominantly a young one, inspired by the massive legacy and influence of this
unique band (and, of course, Eddie).
To allow Iron Maiden fans in Australia to get right up close to the band,the fan
club are organising advance booking of tickets for members and running a special
draw for them whereby 60 winners and friend at each show will be given first
access to the venue and be first to the stage barrier. Full details will be on
www.ironmaiden.com.
Tickets go on sale to the public 9am Thursday 27th September, but members of the
Iron Maiden fan club get exclusive first access to purchase tickets from 12 noon
Thursday 20th September through to 12 noon Monday 24th September. More details
soon!