This is a page header.
Wednesday, February 20th 2008
Iron Maiden’s “somewhere Back In Time” Tour…back In America
From onstage February 19th, amid the pandemonium in front of 14,000
screaming fans at a packed Los Angeles Forum, Iron Maiden announced the first
leg of their eagerly anticipated North American summer tour. For this special
moment, they were joined on stage by their mascot Eddie resplendent in Lakers
colours in honor of the halcyon days the team played at the Fabulous Forum. At
14 ft tall, Eddie could be the tallest player ever to wear Laker’s colors!
With tickets for Iron Maiden’s current “SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08”
dates at the Los Angeles Forum and New Jersey’s Izod Centre sold out months in
advance, the band are delighted to announce they are coming back for more major
USA concerts this summer which will take them to a number of cities they have
not played in many years along with a return to the Los Angeles area with 2
nights at the 16,000 capacity Verizon Amphitheatre on Friday May 30 and Saturday
May 31. Tickets for the majority of these shows will go on sale to the public on
Saturday, March 1st. A special pre-sale will be made available exclusively to
members of the Iron Maiden fan club, who will also be eligible to enter to be
‘First to the stage barrier’. Full details can be found on www.ironmaiden.com.
SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08’ USA TOUR DATES:
(International dates can be found on ironmaiden.com)
Wed 5/21/08 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless on sale 3/1 10am
Thu 5/22/08 Houston, TX Woodlands on sale 3/1 10am
Sun 5/25/08 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion on sale 3/1 10am
Mon 5/26/08 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion on sale 3/15 10am
Wed 5/28/08 Concord, CA Concord on sale 3/9 10am
Fri 5/30/08 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on sale 3/1
10am
Sat 5/31/08 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on sale 3/1
10am
Mon 6/2/08 Seattle, WA White River Amph on sale 3/8 10am
The “SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08” was inspired by Maiden’s recently
released DVD, LIVE AFTER DEATH (New Door Records/Ume). Filmed and recorded over
four spectacular nights at Long Beach Arena on the “Powerslave Tour” in 1985,
this has long been a benchmark for rock concert videos and live albums, and the
CD remains one of the biggest-selling live albums ever with sales in excess of
six million worldwide. With the video having been largely unavailable for many
years, the fan’s massive interest in this legendary concert continues to this
day with the DVD debuting at No. 1 on charts around the world (including The UK,
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand,
Denmark and Finland), as well as No 2 on the Billboard USA Chart and in Canada.
This tour revisits the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on their
classic 80’s period in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is
based around the legendary Egyptian Production of that ‘Powerslave Tour’ as
portrayed on the Live After Death DVD. This will arguably be the most elaborate
and spectacular show the band have ever presented. Furthermore the band intends
to bring along for this summer leg of the tour the colossal mummy of Eddie, as
featured on the Live After Death DVD, along with various other elements of the
show that would not fit on their 757 on the first leg of this tour, which
included the shows at the Forum and Izod Centre. Sadly no jumbo has a door big
enough to fit in such a massive and imposing monster!!!
Says vocalist Bruce Dickinson ; “We are all greatly looking forward to getting
back to see our fans in places like Texas, the South West and Seattle where we
haven’t played for quite some time. And for this leg we will be able to bring
along all Eddie’s toys which we couldn’t get on our plane during the first leg.
We are all having a great time on this tour and really can’t believe the
excitement it is creating round the world and the huge numbers of people who are
turning out to see us. It makes for a really very exciting time for all of us,
fans and band alike”
Maiden kicked off their record-breaking SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR 08 in
Mumbai, India on Feb 1st, before it rolled into Australia and Japan earlier this
month – their first visit to the country in 15 years. Sky News joined the band
from departure in the UK through the Indian leg to document Maiden’s enormous
international profile They received an unprecedented amount of coverage which
rolled across the network for two whole days. View the links below to experience
the Maiden Boeing 757, the fan hysteria and exclusive footage of the first night
of the tour in Mumbai. Channel 9 News in Australia also caught up with the band
landing in Sydney and cameras around the world are expected to follow the band
throughout this tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniMHcNR30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQw4fG8RxU
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=377726
This tour, during which Maiden is expected to play to more than 1.5 million fans
in the next six months, sees Iron Maiden consolidate their reputation as one of
the greatest live acts on the planet and also one of the biggest ticket-selling
bands ever.
‘Maiden Mania’ is currently gripping countries around the world as tickets for
the 2008 World Tour flew out of box offices everywhere when they went on sale
last year. On the first leg in Feb/Mar alone, tickets in San Paolo, Brazil, at
the 42,000 capacity Palmeiras Stadium sold out in just a week ; Mexico City’s
22,000 capacity Sports Arena sold out in a record-breaking four days leading to
the show being moved to the 51,000 Foro Sol Stadium, which is already sold out
too; a first ever visit to Colombia, where first day ticket sales were the
biggest for any music event there ever, saw the Simon Bolivar Stadium in Bogota
sell out the 30,000 original capacity in 10 days and this has now been extended
to 50,000; 14,000 capacity arenas in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, sold out
in less than half an hour with second shows being added in both cities and the
band playing to 70,000 fans there; 25,000 fans in each of Argentina, Chile and
Costa Rica have already snapped up all available tickets with the promoter
asking the venues if he can get more fans in to see the show.
The story continues in North America where shows in major arenas in LA, New
York, Toronto sold out weeks in advance; and in the summer, when Maiden take
the show around the stadiums of Europe, 125,000 tickets were sold in just over 2
hours last November for three stadium shows in Sweden and Finland!
Being able to tour the Southern Hemisphere in such a concentrated way is all
due to the band taking their own plane – along with their entire 50-man crew, 12
tons of equipment and stage set – around the world with Astraeus Airline Captain
Bruce Dickinson at the helm. As The Age in Australia reports:
“Some bands achieve such colossal levels of success that they get to ride in
their own jet. But very few actually fly the damn things themselves. British
heavy metal kings Iron Maiden have taken the DIY ethos to a new level – albeit
with a much bigger budget than most heavy metal bands – when singer Bruce
Dickinson flew his band into the country this week in a specially refitted
Boeing 757.”