Following the massively successful Final Frontier World Tour 2010-11, Iron Maiden are back on the road this summer with a series of Arena, Amphitheatre and Festival shows in Canada and the U.S., opening in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 21, and finishing in Houston, Texas, on Aug 18 (dates listed below), to be followed by further dates around the World in 2013. The Maiden England World Tour will closely mirror, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour. This opening section of the World Tour is the band’s most extensive visit to North America for many years and includes a number of cities the band have not played in a very long time, such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Salt Lake City.
In most venues, tickets will go on sale on March 2 and 3, but watch this site or check local venue information for fuller details. Fan Club members should check out ironmaiden.com for exclusive first day ticket pre-sales and contest to be ‘First To The Barrier’.
Maiden England marks the third chapter in the History of Iron Maiden, a journey which began in 2004 with The Early Days DVD and subsequent 2005 Early Days Tour. Part Two followed in 2008 with the Live After Death DVD – the seminal 1984 concert recorded at Long Beach Arena (L.A) during the World Slavery Tour – and the band embarking on their groundbreaking Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008/9, which saw them play to over two million fans in almost forty countries.
Comments vocalist Bruce Dickinson, “We have great fun playing the History of Maiden tours because it gives us an opportunity between new albums to go out and play songs from our earlier catalogue. It’s always fantastic seeing the crowd reaction from a new generation of fans who have never experienced some of these tracks performed live before, and of course we know our longstanding fans will enjoy seeing the original Seventh Son Tour re-visited – with many other surprises! Our intention is to play about two thirds of the original track list of Maiden England (shown below*), including some songs we have not played live in a very,very long time, plus other favourites we just know the fans are going to want to hear! We always try to give our fans a great show musically, but we have always tried to make it as entertaining and memorable an experience as we can visually. And we all feel this show is going to do that splendidly! We can't wait to get started in Charlotte”.
Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that the extraordinary and legendary Alice Cooper** will be their Very Special Guest on all shows up to July 21. After that date, Special Guest will be Coheed and Cambria***, the inspiring, cutting edge band from New York.
Iron Maiden continue to be actively dedicated to ensuring their fans always have full access to the best possible tickets in the fairest possible way. Manager Rod Smallwood comments:
“We are trying to ensure that our fans get the tickets they want in the prime positions without paying over the odds to ticket scalpers. Maiden get infuriated with the way fans sometimes have to pay more than the ticket price to get good positions at our shows. So we will, wherever possible (Festivals excluded), with the assistance of the Promoters, arrange a paperless ticketing system at least for the front sections to try to eliminate as much of the ticket scalping and exchanges as we can. We put this into practice on our North American Tour in 2010; it worked well and we received many positive comments back from our fans, so we intend to increase this where feasible. With paperless ticketing, only those who actually pay initially for the tickets will get into the show so scalping is generally avoided (please see the comments from Ticketmaster below). We are also doing everything we can to avoid any drain of prime tickets going to the Secondary Ticketing sites which we feel make unfair profits from music fans.
As we consider all our fans to be VIPs, no tickets will be held specifically for VIP use. At some venues, the Promoter may provide the option for fans to pay extra for “VIP Parking”, early access, access to “VIP Bar” etc. But these will be purely optional for ticket holders only and will not be tied to ticket locations – the ability to get the best tickets should be the same for everybody outside of the usual presales.
Finally, we are of course once again arranging exclusive ticket pre-sales for our fan club members so they can be quick off the mark for great tickets and will also continue to run the contest in appropriate venues for fan club members so they can be ‘First To The Barrier’ prior to the show. We hope that these measures will help our fans as much as possible and ask that they keep checking for details on our website.”
**ALICE COOPER
With a music career that started over 40 years ago and his 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Alice Cooper just keeps on going and going and going. Always current and in the forefront of entertainment, his most recent album, 2011’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare, which debuted at #22 on Billboard’s Top 200, is a testament to Cooper’s ability to incorporate various collaborations – including global pop superstar Ke$ha – into his own unique musical style. When it comes to touring, Cooper always provides his fans with everything and more, most recently welcoming the eminent guitar prodigy Orianthi to his touring band.
Alice Cooper’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare is the long-awaited sequel to his 1975 classic Welcome to My Nightmare. The original album was a landmark album for Cooper. It was his first solo release, following a historic string of anthems written and recorded by his original band between 1971 and 1974, including “School’s Out,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Elected,” and “I’m Eighteen.” Welcome to My Nightmare is an all-time rock classic that spawned a worldwide theatrical tour and pioneered a U.S. TV special, and certified Alice Cooper as a visionary trailblazer, whose influence continues today in rock, metal, pop, punk, theatre, television, film and much more.
*** COHEED AND CAMBRIA
Coheed and Cambria officially took root in 2001, embracing a fusion of progressive rock, classic rock, and even pop rock, with highly conceptual album themes. Vocalist/guitarist and storyteller Claudio Sanchez, guitarist Travis Stever, drummer Joshua Eppard and former bassist Michael Todd issued their group's full-length debut, 2002's The Second Stage Turbine Blade, on the New York based label Equal Vision Records.
The band toured extensively for over a year in support of the album, which was created as the second installment (although the band's first release) of a five-part fictional saga about the doomed marriage of two characters, Coheed and Cambria, who are infected with a virus that can destroy the universe.
The band's oft-rocky ascent from there has been well documented: their rise to a major label, being fully embraced by MTV starting with their second album, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" but mostly ignored by mainstream radio and press but the word of mouth of their fans was all they would need. Claudio Sanchez, the introvert who tells his life story through a sci-fi fantasy concept (The Amory Wars), with anthemic choruses and odd time signatures, touches something in so many people of all ages, and makes them fans for life.
The band's ability to rebound, and even come back stronger from adversity has been a symbol of their careers as well. Losing members to drug issues, regaining them, losing them again has been an unavoidable topic, but one that has helped shape the members as musicians and men, and allowed the fans to walk beside them in their journey. A journey which has seen them sell 3 million records worldwide, play main–stage on the world's most prestigious festivals; including Coachella, Lollapolooza, Bonnaroo, Reading, Rock in Rio, Rock Am Park; as well as tours with Soundgarden, Heaven and Hell, Slipknot, Linkin Park and now, Iron Maiden.
2012 brings the band into their second decade, their 6th album (due this summer), and the beginning of a brand new story arc. The band's previous album, "Year of the Black Rainbow", completed The Amory Wars pentalogy and presents Coheed and Cambria (and Sanchez) with a completely clean slate for its newest adventure, which has yet to be revealed…
MAIDEN ENGLAND 2012 TOUR DATES:
June 21 Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
June 23 Atlanta, GA – Aarons Amphitheatre
June 26 Boston, MA – Comcast Center
June 27 Wantagh, NY – Jones Beach
June 29 Philadelphia, PI – Susquehanna Bank Center
June 30 Washington, DC – Jiffy Lube Live
July 02 Newark, NJ 0 Prudential Center
July 05 Chicago, IL – First Midwest Bank
July 08 Quebec, QC – Colisee Pepsi Arena
July 11 Montreal, QC – Bell Center
July 13 Toronto, ON – Molson Amphitheatre
July 14 Sarnia, ON – Bayfest
July 16 Buffalo, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
July 18 Detroit, MI – DTE Music Theatre
July 19 Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Centre
July 24 Winnipeg, MB – MTS Center
July 26 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
July 27 Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
July 29 Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum
July 30 Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
August 01 Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
August 03 San Francisco, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
August 06 Phoenix, AZ – Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion
August 09 Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
August 12 Albuquerque. NM – Hard Rock Pavilion
August 13 Denver, CO – Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
August 15 San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
August 17 Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Pavilion
August 18 Houston, TX – The Woodlands