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 Iron Maiden's "Somewhere Back in Time" Tour...Back in America By Newsferatu, Writer Wednesday, February 20, 2008 @ 12:42 AM
From onstage last night (Feb 19), 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. 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:
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.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniMHcNR30
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 availa ble 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.”
mattymattmat - 3/1/2008 12:29:46 PM
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