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.
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 !!"