| MUMBAI:
British metal band Iron Maiden will be starting their 'Somewhere back in time'
World Tour 2008 with the first show in Mumbai on 1 February at the MMRDA Grounds
in the Bandra Kurla Complex. The
band will fly into Mumbai from the UK on a specially commissioned and customised
Boeing 757, flown by Astraeus Airline Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The
band will leave for Australia the day after the show. The 757, decked out in Maiden
and Eddie artwork, will carry the band, road crew and other personnel of around
70 people plus over 12 tons of equipment. |
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|  After
opening in Mumbai, the first leg of the 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME' World Tour will
continue through Australia, Japan, Los Angeles and Mexico and on to the band's
first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Columbia. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto
Rico and New York follow before finishing in Toronto, Canada, on 16 March 2008.
Over the 45 day period, it is anticipated that Maiden will play to well over 400,000
fans in 21 cities in 10 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially
refitted plane.
Comments
Bruce Dickinson, "I have been flying commercial passenger jets for Astraeus
Airlines for a few years now and we are commissioning an Astraeus Boeing 757.
It will go in for overhaul, painting and conversion in November which will then
give us time to ensure we have all the necessary safety documentation, especially
with regard to fire safety. It also means it could possibly be flying commercial
air routes decked out in Maiden colours for a couple of months before we start!
"Looking
at the list of places we would like to play we have always had problems joining
up the dots. With sea containers in various places it slows down the whole touring
process, which is fine if you want a holiday but not if you want to play. It's
great to see places but we don't want to sit around for a week waiting for gear
to get from, say, Australia to South America, so this way we can get to more fans
in more places en route in the same time period." To
tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic 'LIVE AFTER DEATH'
concert video this tour will revisit the band's history by focusing almost entirely
on the 80s 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; " We made our first ever visit to India in March earlier
this year to Bangalore and received an absolutely tremendous welcome from all
the fans there and thoroughly enjoyed our time in the country. The fans there
were simply brilliant and so when we were planning this tour we wanted to make
sure we were going to get back again quickly to another city in India. I'm sure
the fans there will very excited and I'm certain no one who will be seeing us
in Mumbai has ever seen these songs performed live before so it's going to be
a very special night. l always loved the Powerslave show which I think was arguably
our most spectacular ever, so it will be a pleasure to take it to Mumbai . We're
all going to have a great time, and what a great place to start to the tour !!"
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