Iron Maiden's Eddie in the new Laker

IRON MAIDEN’S “SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME” TOUR…BACK IN AMERICA!!!
EDDIE, new Laker Makes His First Public Appearance!

From onstage last night (Feb 19), amid the pandemonium in front of 14,000 screaming fans at a packed Los Angeles Forum, Iron Maiden announced the first leg of their eagerly anticipated North American summer tour. For this special moment, they were joined on stage by their mascot Eddie resplendent in Lakers colours in honor of the halcyon days the team played at the Fabulous Forum. At 14 ft tall, Eddie could be the tallest player ever to wear Laker’s colors!
With tickets for Iron Maiden’s current “SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08” dates at the Los Angeles Forum and New Jersey’s Izod Centre sold out months in advance, the band are delighted to announce they are coming back for more major USA concerts this summer which will take them to a number of cities they have not played in many years along with a return to the Los Angeles area with 2 nights at the 16,000 capacity Verizon Amphitheatre on Friday May 30 and Saturday May 31.
Tickets for the majority of these shows will go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 1st. A special pre-sale will be made available exclusively to members of the Iron Maiden fan club, who will also be eligible to enter to be 'First to the stage barrier'. Full details can be found on www.ironmaiden.com .

SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08’ USA TOUR DATES:
(International dates can be found on ironmaiden.com)
Wed 5/21/08 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless on sale 3/1 10am
Thu 5/22/08 Houston, TX Woodlands on sale 3/1 10am
Sun 5/25/08 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion on sale 3/1 10am
Mon 5/26/08 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion on sale 3/15 10am
Wed 5/28/08 Concord, CA Concord on sale 3/9 10am
Fri 5/30/08 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on sale 3/1 10am
Sat 5/31/08 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on sale 3/1 10am
Mon 6/2/08 Seattle, WA White River Amph on sale 3/8 10am

The “SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08” was inspired by Maiden’s recently released DVD, LIVE AFTER DEATH (New Door Records/Ume). Filmed and recorded over four spectacular nights at Long Beach Arena on the “Powerslave Tour” in 1985, this has long been a benchmark for rock concert videos and live albums, and the CD remains one of the biggest-selling live albums ever with sales in excess of six million worldwide.
With the video having been largely unavailable for many years, the fan’s massive interest in this legendary concert continues to this day with the DVD debuting at No. 1 on charts around the world (including The UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Finland), as well as No 2 on the Billboard USA Chart and in Canada.
This tour revisits the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on their classic 80’s period in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is based around the legendary Egyptian Production of that ‘Powerslave Tour’ as portrayed on the Live After Death DVD. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented.
Furthermore the band intends to bring along for this summer leg of the tour the colossal mummy of Eddie, as featured on the Live After Death DVD, along with various other elements of the show that would not fit on their 757 on the first leg of this tour, which included the shows at the Forum and Izod Centre. Sadly no jumbo has a door big enough to fit in such a massive and imposing monster!!!
Says vocalist Bruce Dickinson ; “We are all greatly looking forward to getting back to see our fans in places like Texas, the South West and Seattle where we haven’t played for quite some time. And for this leg we will be able to bring along all Eddie’s toys which we couldn’t get on our plane during the first leg. We are all having a great time on this tour and really can’t believe the excitement it is creating round the world and the huge numbers of people who are turning out to see us. It makes for a really very exciting time for all of us, fans and band alike”
Maiden kicked off their record-breaking SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR 08 in Mumbai, India on Feb 1st, before it rolled into Australia and Japan earlier this month - their first visit to the country in 15 years. Sky News joined the band from departure in the UK through the Indian leg to document Maiden’s enormous international profile. They received an unprecedented amount of coverage which rolled across the network for two whole days.
View the links below to experience the Maiden Boeing 757, the fan hysteria and exclusive footage of the first night of the tour in Mumbai. Channel 9 News in Australia also caught up with the band landing in Sydney and cameras around the world are expected to follow the band throughout this tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniMHcNR30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWQw4fG8RxU

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=377726
This tour, during which Maiden is expected to play to more than 1.5 million fans in the next six months, sees Iron Maiden consolidate their reputation as one of the greatest live acts on the planet and also one of the biggest ticket-selling bands ever. ‘Maiden Mania’ is currently gripping countries around the world as tickets for the 2008 World Tour flew out of box offices everywhere when they went on sale last year.
On the first leg in Feb/Mar alone, tickets in San Paolo, Brazil, at the 42,000 capacity Palmeiras Stadium sold out in just a week ; Mexico City’s 22,000 capacity Sports Arena sold out in a record-breaking four days leading to the show being moved to the 51,000 Foro Sol Stadium, which is already sold out too; a first ever visit to Colombia, where first day ticket sales were the biggest for any music event there ever, saw the Simon Bolivar Stadium in Bogota sell out the 30,000 original capacity in 10 days and this has now been extended to 50,000; 14,000 capacity arenas in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, sold out in less than half an hour with second shows being added in both cities and the band playing to 70,000 fans there; 25,000 fans in each of Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica have already snapped up all available tickets with the promoter asking the venues if he can get more fans in to see the show.
The story continues in North America where shows in major arenas in LA, New York, Toronto sold out weeks in advance; and in the summer, when Maiden take the show around the stadiums of Europe, 125,000 tickets were sold in just over 2 hours last November for three stadium shows in Sweden and Finland!
Being able to tour the Southern Hemisphere in such a concentrated way is all due to the band taking their own plane – along with their entire 50-man crew, 12 tons of equipment and stage set – around the world with Astraeus Airline Captain Bruce Dickinson at the helm.
As The Age in Australia reports: “Some bands achieve such colossal levels of success that they get to ride in their own jet. But very few actually fly the damn things themselves. British heavy metal kings Iron Maiden have taken the DIY ethos to a new level – albeit with a much bigger budget than most heavy metal bands – when singer Bruce Dickinson flew his band into the country this week in a specially refitted Boeing 757.”

Reviews from Mumbai, India: 
Mumbai Mirror: (Headline “The Evening City Went Aces High”):
“It was exactly at that desperately awaited stroke of 7.59pm, that Mumbai’s collective adrenaline, energy, and frantically fluctuating blood pressure levels rushed from almost 30,000 heads and toes at Bandra’s MMRDA grounds. As one of heavy metal music’s most revered super-gods stepped on to the stage, the black T-shirted swarm of helplessly eager metalheads almost risked screaming their lungs out of their mouths [and] as the frenetic crowd went berserk trying hard to believe its ears, the band exploded into a full-blown live-wire act.”

Bombay Times: (Headline “Hallowed Be Their Name!”):
”The legendary UK heavy metal band kickstarted their ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ World Tour 2008 in Mumbai and boy, what a start it was!… thousands of fans screaming their lungs and heads out in excitement, disbelief and sheer pleasure. It was…a dream come true for any metal fan – to see and hear Maiden live! LOUD music, mindblowing guitar riffs and a voice that can match no other, this was not just a concert, it was an experience. ‘Scream for me Bombay’ Bruce shouted and boy did Mumbai scream! Truly this night was Maid-en heaven”

Reviews From Australia

Drum Media (Perth)“Furthermore it was set in stone that fateful night….Iron Maiden will never grow old, sell out or lose their balls of steel. Iron Maiden scream like no other, perform like no other and rocked the socks off Perth like no other” Annie Newton , Drum Media, Perth

Rave Magazine (National)“Maiden vault out onto the stage to a universally enraptured response at the sold out Burswood Dome. Quite simply the band is magnificent – the Egyptian-themed Powerslave stage set, the lighting and pyrotechnics and the ten foot Somewhere In Time Eddie figure that strides out onto the stage - Iron Maiden combine what is without a doubt the finest live performance my eyes and ears have beheld...
Strolling exhaustedly back towards Melbourne’s city lights I feel I understand just a little of what it is that drives so many folks to leave home and hearth, time and time again, to follow this band around the globe.”

Drum Media (National) "Its not easy to write a review when left speechless after a gig, but it must be done…At 9.15pm Iron Maiden graced Sydney for the first time in a couple of decades in explosive fashion and delivered one of the best live performances, I, and no doubt, any of the 20,000 avid fans have witnessed.… An Iron Maiden show really is something else...never have I seen or heard so many fans sing an entire set, word-for-word and scream, chant and clap in unison…it was the engaging interaction with the crowd achieved through an electrifying entrancing performance from all members that the evening became magic.”

X-Press Magazine (National)“The vibe at Burswood Dome was one of the most positive and happy of any show you could attend”…Iron Maiden were on fire, following Aces High with Two Minutes To Midnight. You just couldn’t wipe the smile off your face”

Beat Magazine (Melbourne) “They’re an event band of the highest magnitude and metal shows of this calibre can’t soon be forgotten”

InPress magazine (Melbourne) “...one would be expecting something pretty f**king spectacular. And sure enough, as the night unfolded, the greying lords of metal delivered a most fantastic show of epic proportions”…exploding onto the elaborate, multi-tiered, golden-jewelled, mummy occupied Egyptian stage, the lads burnt through classic after classic, perpetuating the awesomeness (as if pyrotechnics, fireworks, 14 foot walking mummies weren’t ridiculously fantastic enough already)…
The four guitar horsemen stood tall at the helm of the stage in unison, a sight almost too epic for some minds; Steve Harris reflecting a sceptre of light off his bass, casting a majestic beam upon the capacity audience...Iron Maiden aren’t afraid to deliver rock and metal shows in complete excess (in the best way possible) and will stand the test of time as an unsurpassed collection of rock gods”

Daily Telegraph (Sydney)“The band did not disappoint. It was more a military attack than a concert with the band spraying the crowd with metal pellets in the form of ‘greatest hits’ with punishing precision…After 33 yrs together, Iron Maiden still sonically soar higher than most.”

Canberra Time (Canberra) “When the band hit the stage the release of tension in the house was enormous. And Iron Maiden did not let anyone down. The band was in incendiary form."