Loaded up with a full complement of band, crew and twelve tons of stage set and equipment, the band’s customised Boeing 757, christened Ed Force One by the fans and flown again by Astraeus Airlines Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, will once again be circumnavigating 80,000km around the planet for concerts in 19 cities in eleven countries, making it a staggering 37 countries in total visited on this tour, playing to almost two million fans.

Taking off in early February Maiden will make their first appearances in New Zealand for 16 years via Dubai and Bangalore followed by the long haul journey for a return to Mexico in some even larger venues and then finishing with an extended run through Central and South America to include countries and cities they have not visited before. The dates are as follows –

February 2009:-
Fri 13th - UAE - Dubai Media City Amphitheatre
Sun 15th - India - Bangalore Royal Challenge Rock In India
Fri 20th - New Zealand - Auckland.  Mount Smart Stadium
Sat 21st - New Zealand - Christchurch. AMI Stadium
Wed 25th - Mexico - Monterrey Estadio Technologico.
Thurs 26th - Mexico - Guadalajara Arena VFG Jalisco.
Sat 28th - Mexico - Mexico City Fero Sol Stadium Complex

1st - 29th March 2009 - South and Central America.
Details to be advised soon.
The ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME’ tour revisits the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 ‘Powerslave Tour’ which was featured on the recent DVD “Live after Death”. This is arguably  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.

Comments Bruce Dickinson, “This unique way of touring earlier this year with everyone and all our gear onboard the plane helped to make 2008 easily one of the most successful, exciting and fun years in the band’s career. Taking Ed Force One around the planet and playing to our fans in so many different countries was an incredible experience for all of us.  For me personally, flying and performing was one of the most challenging and satisfying things I’ve ever attempted despite the rigours and all the logistical difficulties we encountered.

In fact it was so much fun we decided to do it again as a final leg of this tour All in all this will be a fantastic way to round off  a tremendous year for the band before we take a bit of time off and then start work on a new studio album.”

Says Steve Harris, “We will once again be loading onto the plane as much of the production and stage set as we can ram in, along with arranging plenty of pyro for all the shows!!  We will also be changing round the set list and replacing some of the songs, mainly with songs from the first four albums as the Early Days tour a few years back didn’t visit any of these places so we thought the fans would like to hear some of that even earlier material. This tour is likely to be the last time we play many of these songs live so we really will be giving it everything we have got!”

The Iron Maiden plane Ed Force One has been back in regular airline service since the end of the first leg in March this year and has been used for the ‘Bruce Air’ fan club flying trips during the European leg of the tour, as well as Bruce flying various missions to bring troops back home from tours of duty in Afghanistan and collecting stranded British tourists in the recent major airline closures. However the Boeing 757 will be taken back into the hanger soon to be completely refitted and its Maiden livery restored, this having been removed due to fears of evil ju-ju spirits– Eddie! -  inhabiting the plane from worried passengers on its summer route from Central Africa!

Iron Maiden have made arrangements with the local promoters to facilitate a special first ticket pre-sale to members of their fan club, which will mean they will be guaranteed to get a ticket, and be able buy the best seats where applicable.

Through this special pre-sale fan club members will also be able to buy the appropriate tickets which would then allow them to enter the exclusive fan club draw  to have special privileged early access to the stage barrier. More info below:

Dubai
On sale dates and details will be announced soon, but registration for more information on how to buy a ticket is now open from www.aegliveme.com

Bangalore
The special fan club pre-sale will be open to the fan club members via www.dnanetworks.com on the 15th December with tickets going on sale to the public and at retail outlets on the 26th January.

New Zealand
The special first ticket pre-sale will be available exclusively to members of the Iron Maiden Fan Club on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th November, before tickets go on sale to the general public 28th November.

Mexico
The first ticket pre-sale available to Iron Maiden fan club members will run Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th November, before going on sale to the public Wednesday 26th November.

South and Central America — full details to be announced very soon

The group’s setlist was as follows:

01. Pictures Of Home
02. Strange Kind Of Woman
03. Hush (with Jon Lord)
04. Wring That Neck (with Jon Lord)
05. Mary Long
06. Highway Star
07. Contact Lost
08. Steve Morse Solo
09. Well Dressed Guitar
10. Smoke On The Water (with Jon Lord and Bruce Dickinson)
11. Black Night (with Jon Lord and Bruce Dickinson)
12. Lucille (with Jon Lord and Bruce Dickinson)

The Sunflower Jam is an evening of rock ‘n’ roll unlike any other. Artists such as Robert Plant, Margot Buchanan, Paul Weller, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice have all come together in the past to support The Sam Buxton Sunflower Healing Trust. The Sam Buxton Sunflower Healing Trust is an exciting new charity that aims to provide integrated, supportive care for cancer patients in the UK. The charity was created in 2006 and since then has supported thousands of cancer patients and their families.

RAF pilots flown home courtesy of Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson, the singer with heavy metal outfit Iron Maiden, has in the past performed for British troops in Iraq. On Sunday, he did his bit for our boys in Afghanistan.

Dickinson, a qualified pilot for British airline Astraeus, was behind the controls of a Boeing 747 that the Ministry of Defence had chartered to transport a group of RAF pilots back home.

“A lot of them recognised him because they are Maiden fans, but he was there in his professional capacity as a pilot,” says an RAF spokesman. “He gave out lots of signatures to the guys.”
And from The Mirror:

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson takes the pilot’s seat of a Boeing 757

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, 50, shocked 106 members of the RAF returning from Afghanistan, when he took control of a Boeing 757 and flew them from Cyprus to RAF Wittering, Cambs, on Sunday.

But don’t panic, he’s a trained pilot.

Bruce hosts his party in a familiar role as DJ.

DJ Bruce

Bruce slices his birthday cake for fans and other attendees.

Bruce Slicing his Cake

Some Videos:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

As you may have noticed, Janick Gers, Andy Carr and Dick Fliszar also appear in the videos!

“Six Foot Under” from Survivors (re-recorded)
“Earth Mother” from Shock Tactics

The it was time for the breakthrough. Bruce was recruited for Iron Maiden. With The Number Of The Beast, Piece Of Mind and Powerslave, the five piece build the foundation for becoming one of the best known Metal bands of all time. A highly regarded Live album would follow, and four more studio albums until 1993 Dickinson left the band.
Iron Maiden “22 Acacia Avenue” from The Number Of The Beast
And formed his own posse. After his solo debut in 1990, he now focussed his concentration on his solo career. Ball To Picasso and Skunkworks were as different from his former musical tradition as one could have imagined, but suddenly he returned to the old style with Accident Of Birth, having recruited Adrian Smith to his band. Many regard this album as the best Iron Maiden style album that does not bear the band’s name.

Bruce Dickinson “Solar Confinement” from Skunkworks
“The Road To Hell” from Accident Of Birth

In 2000, he helped out Arjen Lucassen, mastermind of Ayreon, on his Universal Migrator Part II epos. Not only is the song the best on the whole album, his singing is a spowerful as ever.
Ayreon “Into The Black Hole” from Universal Migrator Part II
Time for a reunion? Yes, it was. Iron Maiden was not too successful without Bruce, and his return to the old style after having tried to expand his musical boundaries only to find that what he did before he did best, and obviously enjoyed, too, freed the way for another Iron Maiden album with all the old members, plus one additional guitar player. Brave New World marked a mighty return for the Maidens.

Iron Maiden “Brave New World” from Brave New World

A Best of Album was inevitable, and Bruce releases a double album with two unreleased tracks and lots of obscure versions, quite fitting for the legacy. But the solo discography was far from finished. In 2005, he returned with Tyranny Of Souls.

Bruce Dickinson “Silver Wings” from Best Of Bruce Dickinson

“Power Of The Sun” from Tyranny Of Souls

The latest release from Iron Maiden, again and still with Bruce at the microphone, is called A Matter Of Life And Death. It is the most progressive of all Iron Maiden albums, but the original style is ever present.
Iron Maiden “For The Greater Good Of God” from A Matter Of Life And Death

The lastest sign of life is a recording with British band Pig Iron, done for his own BBC 6 radio show that he hosts. The band and Dickinson played a nice version of Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’”. Enjoy! Bruce Dickinson and Pig Iron “Space Truckin’”

taken from Metal Express Raio

Well, it’s old news, but interesting enought to be featured here. Enjoy!

Sea Angler Magazine Aug 2005

Heavy Metal Man

If heavy metal music is your bag, then you will know all about Bruce Dickinson, front man for rock band Iron Maiden. You might not know that he is a keen sea angler. Here he takes his sons conger fishing in the Bristol Channel aboard Lady Helen - an experience he describes as ‘uplifting’

The five-star hotel consierge at he plush McDonald Hotel in central Cardiff was horifried. Within a matter of hours Cardiff’s newest and possibly most prestigious was to play host to the Manchester United football team, due to play Arsenal, and naturally he did not want any disruption in the smooth day-to-day running of ‘his’ plush hotel.

Then, without prior warning, in walked a scruffy-looking man dressed in a pair of grubby shorts and a stained T-shirt that was emitting dubious fishy odours. He made a beeline for the smart reception desk and grabbed an apple from the overladen fruit basket as he walked past. I was that man.

I’d almost made it when jobsworth intercepted me with the panache and skill of a Premier League defender, while demanding to know what I wanted. The tradesmen’s entrance was, he informed me, around the back of the building and would I immediately move my vehicle from outside the hotel; it was blocking the access for hotel guests.

Struggling with the aftermath of an especially vicious hangover, a result of a night of excess in the same hotel just a few hours previous, I started to explain that I was there to pick up some friends who were staying at the hotel; in the Presidential Suite, actually.

Clearly he did not believe me, but thankfully a loud ‘ping’ from the main elevator announced the arrival of one of the lifts and out walked Bruce and his boys, who were all smiles as they saw me standing forlorn in the lobby.

The man in the smart monkey suit and starched shirt breathed a sigh of relief as we tumbled in my motor and headed for Penarth marina.
The charter boat Lady Helen was waiting for us. We were still laughing as the boat slipped out of the marina and into the barrage lock.
Many of our readers may remember the article I wrote last year
charismatic front man, when he flew us to Reykjavik, Iceland, aboard a Boeing 737 for a couple of days of cod fishing. Bruce is a skilled pilot by the way.

It was a great trip during which we caught plenty of fish and it was during this time that Bruce told me that both of his young boys, Griffin, 12 and Austin, 14, had wanted to catch a conger eel.

“No problem,” I’d foolishly replied, “get yourself down to South Wales in the summer and I’ll guarantee you as many conger as the lads want.”

This might have been a foolish gesture because South Wales is not an area noted for conger fishing, but we do catch plenty of eels up to 30lb-plus and best of all we don’t have to travel huge distances to fish offshore wrecks or reefs in order to catch them.
The Welsh catch their congers from open, mixed ground and often from marks located well inshore, the perfect location for a couple of young lads to cut their teeth on obliging eels.

As we cleared the Outer Wrach buoy and steamed out into the murky, swift flowing waters of the Bristol Channel, the skipper of Lady Helen, explained we would be fishing a mark to the east of the Cardiff Sands sandbank, near to the towering Monkstone Lighthouse.

As luck would have it conditions were absolutely perfect. When Lady Helen came to a stop over our first mark, there was barely a ripple to disturb an otherwise mirror-calm sea and within a matter of minutes the first baits were either cast out or dropped over the side to the bottom.
Austin and Griffin were each given a downtide rod to mind, which they eagerly hung on to with great excitement as they waited for the first bite of the day. Bruce positioned himself on the starboard side, where he patiently waited for the tip of his uptider to register a bite.

Griffin got the first tug on his line, a persistent pluck, plucking that is so characteristic of the dogfish that he quickly reeled in and swung over the gunnels. Not to be outdone, Austin caught his first doggie a few minutes later, and during the trip the pair of them caught an almost constant stream of doggies, much to their delight.

It was about this time that Bruce detected a bite on his rod and quickly wound into his first fish. His rod started to bend and nod to the tune of a hooked fish, then everything seemed to lock solid and at first we all assumed he had snagged bottom.As Bruce carefully applied more pressure he gained a few yards of line “Keep pulling, steady pressure,” we suggested, but looking at the now enormous bend in the rod neither of us thought he had any chance of getting his terminal rig back.
“Might as well pull to break,” we conceded, but as Bruce carefully applied more pressure he gained a few yards of line and slowly and surely he started to make some headway.
We were mystifed. We had all seen the bite and nodding confirmation of a hooked fish, but now Bruce’s rod was hooped over at an alarming angle and whatever he had caught was coming towards the boat.

After about five minutes of tug-of-war the line from Bruce’s rod tip pointed vertically down towards the bottom and we could all see that there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to crank whatever he had caught up to the surface, without serious risk of a broken rod.
The skipper disappeared into the wheelhouse and re-emerged wearing a pair of thick leather gloves, which he used to steadily recover line by the slow hand-over-hand method.
By now everyone was fascinated with the ongoing battle, and all eyes watched for that first glimpse of whatever it was Bruce had hooked.
After what seemed an age the leader appeared on the surface and I winced as I expected the huge amount of strain to ultimately pop the knot. Then the leader came on the reel, indicating that whatever he had caught was now just a few feet away.

Was it a huge ray or even a skate? There was much speculation and then suddenly we were put out of our misery. Iron Maiden are one of the most successful heavy metal bands in the world and in a case of perfectly choreographed irony.

Bruce reeled in an 8ft length of heavy steel hawser!

Griffin`s next fish was clearly something more substantial than yet another lesser-spotted dogfish, and the smart money was tipping the youngster to have finally hooked his first conger.
Steadily he played it towards the boat and then after a few minutes Austin, who was fishing alongside him, hooked into what looked to be another decent fish. Side by side the brothers worked at their respective .fish and, in the end, it was Griffin who got his to the surface first. Yes, it was a conger.
But when we got the fish aboard we could see that there were not one, but two baited hooks in the fishes mouth, with the line from the second hook leading back over the side, down into the water? and straight back up to Austin’s rod.
In another bizarre coincidence both brothers who had so desperately wanted to catch their first conger had both caught the same eel.

Conger fishing really rocks - Griffin gives his verdict after catching his first eel

Quick to redeem himself, about half an hour after the heavy metal incident Bruce hooked what seemed a decent fish? it turned out to be the day’s first thornback ray. Impressed with dad’s ray, both Griffin and Austin were keen to catch a ray for themselves.

And sure enough, and again more or less simultaneously, the pair produced a couple of specimen thornbacks.

More rays and lots more doggies followed and then again Bruce hooked what appeared to be something really big. Again the banter rang around the deck as once again he slowly recovered line, only this time the rod was continually thumping as what was clearly a powerful fish attempted to swim off downtide.
With some relief we watched as the leader knot appeared and the skipper slipped on his gloves again. Was it a ray, a decent eel or something else?

Bruce knew what it was his first conger eel, which at around 20lb was a fine mid-summer conger in the eastern Bristol Channel.

On the way back to the hotel I did wonder how the concierge would handle the famous family, now all rather high thanks to the smell of bait and fish? But they did have the key to the Presidential Suite!

Special thanks to Steve Jones

Story and photographs by Dave Lewis , from Sea Angler magazine Aug 2005 issue, thanks to Mel Russ and Sea Angler Magazine for their permission to reproduce from the original. ]]> http://www.brucefans.com/2008/08/02/iron-maidens-bruce-dickinson-fishes-aboard-lady-helen/feed/ http://www.brucefans.com/2008/08/01/bruce-dickinson-fan-club-on-myspce/ http://www.brucefans.com/2008/08/01/bruce-dickinson-fan-club-on-myspce/#comments Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:07:18 +0000 Nando http://www.brucefans.com/?p=70 Just a quick note to say that a Bruce Dickinson fan club, which is run by Tati Viana, a collaborator of this site, is now online on Myspace. Feel free to add it “as a friend”, comment, and tell all your friends about it.

What are you looking at? Go there now!!

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