Iron Maiden - My Love
Since their explosion on the scene in the early eighties IRON MAIDEN have been hailed as one of the UK’s greatest live acts of all time with their fiery brand of music, spectacle and live performance all of which has excited their fans around the planet for over two decades. To date they have sold over 80 million records and their name, imagery and artwork has made them the recognised symbols and Icons for the Metal music genre and its followers.
Iron Maiden the legendary British Heavy Metal Band, were formed in East London in the mid 1970’s. They signed a major worldwide recording contract with EMI Records UK in 1979 when, led by Steve Harris - founder, songwriter and bass player - and with guitarist Dave Murray– they teamed up with manager Rod Smallwood (still managing them today) who widened their gig circuit and ensured EMI talent scouts be present at a sold-out show at London’s legendary Marquee Club. Their eponymous first album in February 1980, featuring their now iconic mascot “Eddie” on its cover, debuted in the UK charts at No.4 after which they embarked on their first European tour, supporting Kiss.
On release of their second album “Killers” (1981) the first of many to be produced by Martin Birch and also featuring Adrian Smith on guitar, the band returned to Europe, this time as headline act, also making their first visits to North America and Japan. It was after this tour that lead singer Paul Di’Anno departed and was replaced by Bruce Dickinson. The ensuing album, the seminal 1982’s “The Number of The Beast”, included the band’s first UK Top 10 single “Run To The Hills” with the album itself debuting at No 1 in the UK. The subsequent “Beast On The Road” tour took the band into sixteen countries playing to over 1 million fans, with a more extensive visit to the USA supporting among others, Rainbow, The Scorpions, 38 Special, Judas Priest and Foreigner.
The success of this tour and album ensured that when the band returned to the US in 1983 on the World Piece Tour with their “Piece Of Mind” album, and new drummer Nicko McBrain, they went straight into headlining 10,000+ capacity arenas and a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. All this was accomplished with virtually no airplay on US radio, a remarkable achievement and unheard of at the time. When the next album “Powerslave” was released 1984, the band undertook a 26 country “World Slavery” tour featuring arguably their most spectacular and imaginative stage show to date. Included in the 192 concerts on that tour was their first trip to South America in January 1985, playing to an estimated
audience of 300,000 fans at the inaugural Rock In Rio concert as special guests to Queen, marking the beginning of a long relationship with that continent lasting to this day. The “Live After Death” album and video were recorded over a record-breaking four night run at Long Beach Arena in L.A and released the same year.
For the rest of the 1980’s Iron Maiden went from strength to strength with the albums “Somewhere In Time” (1986) and “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” (1988) the latter going straight into the UK charts at No.1 and giving them their fifth straight platinum album in the US. The early 1990’s saw Maiden undergo some temporary personnel changes, firstly with the departure of Adrian Smith in 1990. He was replaced by Janick Gers for the “No Prayer For The Dying” album, then in 1993 at the end of the touring their 1992 “Fear Of The Dark” album, Bruce Dickinson announced he was leaving to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by singer Blaze Bayley. Two further albums were released with this line-up, 1995’s “X Factor” and “Virtual Xl” in 1998 when, before the decade had closed, Blaze left and both Bruce and Adrian rejoined, making Iron Maiden a six-piece with three guitarists.
The 21st Century heralded the release of the “Brave New World” album, the first of an on-going collaboration with producer Kevin Shirley, and the tour of which culminated in a triumphant return to Rock In Rio in 2001, this time as the headline act
playing to 250,000 fans. The subsequent
“Rock In Rio” DVD release hit the No1 slots in DVD charts worldwide. This year also saw the band awarded with the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for songwriting achievements. Two more studio albums followed: 2003’s “Dance Of Death” and in 2006 “A Matter Of Life And Death” for which the band took the unusual step of performing in its entirety from start to finish during their tour of USA, Japan and Europe. The gamble paid off – not only was “A Matter Of Life And Death” a Chart
No.1 in many countries Worldwide and
the Billlboard’s No 1 International Album Chart, it received rave reviews worldwide prompting an extension of the tour into 2007 to include territories Iron Maiden had never visited before such as India, and Dubai in the Middle East.
This led the band to consider how they could reach even more fans in hitherto unvisited or rarely visited countries, an idea which developed into their most ambitious undertaking to date, the “Somewhere Back In Time” Tour, a massive stage production based heavily on 1985’s “World Slavery Tour”. Beginning Feb 2008 in India, the first leg alone saw the band fly 75,000km around the world, visiting 21 cities in eleven countries in the course of less than 7 weeks in a
specially converted Boeing 757 airliner (named
Ed Force One by their fans) carrying all the band, crew and 12 tons of stage equipment to India, Australia, Japan, North, Central and South America before finishing in Canada. This achievement was doubly remarkable because
the plane’s pilot was none other than lead singer Bruce Dickinson, a qualified airline Captain with Astraeus Airline. The venture attracted huge media attention worldwide and near riots at airports as fans gathered to witness the customized Ed Force One - complete with “Eddie” emblazoned across the tail fin - coming in to land. Extensive sold out tours of the USA and the Stadiums and major festivals of Europe followed, the tour finishing with another jaunt around the World on Ed Force One in early 2009
The first leg of the tour was captured on a documentary film “Flight 666”made by Banger Films, first shown in April 2009 in over 450 digital cinemas in 42 countries and won Best Music Documentary at the SXSXW Film Festival in Texas. Also released on DVD, it achieved the
No.1 slot in the Music DVD charts of 25 countries including the US and in the UK where the first day’s sales were over twice the combined sales of every other DVD in the Music DVD Top 50. By the end of the Somewhere Back In Time Tour, at a sold-out show in Ft Lauderdale Florida in April 2009,
Iron Maiden had played to two million fans in 38 countries, picking up their first ever UK Brit Award on the way, for Best British Live Act 2009 – an accolade difficult to argue with.
