DoD World Tour - Release from Iron Maiden

[The_Prisoner]

16/07/2003 Iron Maiden announce European tour dates 03/04

Having just played 28 shows to 600,000 fans on the “Give me Ed…til I’m Dead” European Tour, Iron Maiden announce their forthcoming DANCE OF DEATH WORLD TOUR to follow close on the release of their new studio album, DANCE OF DEATH, which is scheduled for worldwide release on 8th September.

The European leg of the tour starts in Prague on 22nd October and will finish in the UK just before Christmas. Details of the UK dates will be announced shortly and the rest of the European schedule is as follows -

Wed 22 Oct - CZE Prague T-Mobile Arena
Fri 24 Oct - GER Munich Olympiahalle
Sat 25 Oct - GER Stuttgart Schleyerhalle
Mon 27 Oct - ITA Milan Filaforum
Tue 28 Oct - ITA Firenze Palasport
Thu 30 Oct - SWI Zurich Hallenstadion
Sat 1 Nov - SPA Barcelona Pavello Olympic Badolona
Sun 2 Nov - SPA Madrid Palacio Vistalegre
Tue 4 Nov - GER Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle
Wed 5 Nov - HOL Rotterdam Ahoy
Fri 7 Nov - POL Katowice Spodek Mystic Festival
Mon 10 Nov - FIN Helsinki Hartwall Arena
Wed 12 Nov - DEN Copenhagen Valby Hallen
Fri 14 Nov - SWE Stockholm Globen
Sat 15 Nov - SWE Gothenburg Scandinavium
Mon 17 Nov - GER Hannover Eilenriedehalle
Tue 18 Nov - GER Berlin Arena Treptow
Thu 20 Nov - BEL Leuven Brabenthal
Sat 22 Nov - FRA Paris Palais Omnisports de Bercy

The tour will then continue through mid-March taking in South America, North America, Japan and other areas.

Says founder member and bassist Steve Harris “We are having a great time on the “Give Me Ed ... 'Til I'm Dead Tour”. Its fun playing material from Brave New World back to the early eighties and certainly judging from the reactions and the amount of people showing up at the gigs it’s been fun for the fans too!! We are really proud of the new record and are very much looking forward to playing a number of the new songs along with some other stuff we haven’t played for a while”

However the DANCE OF DEATH WORLD TOUR will herald a major change in how the band tour in the future as this will be the last long arena tour the band will undertake. The band will certainly continue recording and touring for years to come but as manager Rod Smallwood says “We want to explain this carefully and at length to our amazing fans so there is no confusion and because they deserve a full explanation. After Spring 2004 the band will not go out on the road for up to nine months touring with an album as we have up to now. As a progression from the scheduling around the Give Me Ed and Dance of Death tours we will further break the album / tour cycle. Recording will be mainly in the winter ( then releasing the album when it is ready and appropriate) and touring in the Summer. We really enjoy the festivals and outdoor shows where Maiden fans congregate in numbers. There is a real atmosphere of community and this is something which really lifts the band.

Whilst arena tours will be a thing of the past, there may be occasional arenas in certain areas where a festival or outdoor gig isn’t feasible. We know we have fans in many parts of the world who wish to see the band and we will try to spread out the shows as fairly as possible and play for as many of you as possible within these parameters. And although touring will be much shorter we could in fact be playing live more regularly, which the band also like the idea of .

We are announcing this up front of the DANCE OF DEATH Tour to be fair to fans who live in the cities we may not get to play in again and there will be a lot obviously on this forthcoming tour. We hope you understand and that you can still make it to see us in future. Since l started managing Maiden in 1979 we have played over 1700 gigs in many, many parts of the World. We have tried to get to as many of you as we could over the years and we know that many of you have travelled huge distances to come to our shows. Although we would expect to return to all the countries we play at some point we hope more of you will try to join us somewhere and enjoy the camaraderie of the Maiden travelling gang!!!”

http://www.ironmaiden.com/?section=1&subsection=0

Well, at least it's only the Northern Hemisphere gigs that have been announced so far, so there is still some hope. I'm not surprised that they have basically said they are going to do less touring....the band are getting on a bit in age, and they are all family men now. Let's just hope that Australia gets thrown in to their touring schedule every now and again, like maybe every 11-12 years or so. :Smug:

 

[dreamwatch]

By bye Maiden - one last gig and that'll be that.

 

[Goreripper]

I think if they do a farewell tour, they should play everywhere they have a market, no matter what the cost. They can't be that strapped for cash they couldn't do a show in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne on the way to/from Japan, where they'd get their money back three- or four-fold. I'll say it before and I'll say it again: if Judas Priest can tour here, Iron Maiden can.

 

[spawn]

But JP were happy to play the Enmore Theatre, IM arent

 

[Bucko]

Seeing they are going to Japan , I am hopefull of a tour downunder ............Fingers crossed.............

 

[Goreripper]

But JP were happy to play the Enmore Theatre, IM arent

True, but Maiden's always been more popular here (and still are) than Priest ever was, so it follows that Priest would play a smaller venue. This would have happened even in the mid-80s had they come here. The question is finding the right venue and making it worthwhile. Maiden's lost money on every tour they've ever done here, but I believe that if they toured here now it would be an enormous success. They're more popular in Australia now than they ever were, and almost a whole generation has come through that's never seen them play live that would be there like a shot. I'm sure you're one of them.

 

[spawn]

I dont think so, they would be lucky to do the Hordern I think. Id be there in a second (probably travel for the others too maybe) but I cant see them playing anywhere bigger than the Hordern. But having said that, they lost money because they insisted on all the stage stuff im guessing, they should just cut it out, get on stage and rock, thats all we want

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Well I guess if they don't come here on this tour, I will have to go to them to catch em live. Still hopeful, and I am not suprised about the whole less touring thing, they are old and I am guessing Bruce wants to do some more solo shit as well, and the other guys have things to do.

I want to see Maiden live, at least once.

 

[The_Prisoner]

I think If Maiden toured here, they would scrape to fill in the Horden, because only the die hard fans would know about it, just like back in '92. I know heaps of people who just like Hard Rock in general and had the odd Maiden album years ago who would actually go to a Maiden gig, but they'd never know it was on. The promo Coppel did for the last tour was shite.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Nothing some promotion would not fix. Adds in the papers, posters pinned up etc enough time in advance would surely suffice.

 

[Goreripper]

I seem to be the only one here who thinks that Maiden would do well if they toured Australia. Perhaps this is why they don't come here. Oh well.

 

[Ralphe]

I seem to be the only one here who thinks that Maiden would do well if they toured Australia. Perhaps this is why they don't come here. Oh well.

I'm with you Goreripper...i think maiden would easily fill the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney and similar venues (5000 people) in the other states

 

[KoichCPA]

oooo ralphes one post off 666. I reckon they would fill some form of large venue, probably with people who payed for tickets.

 

[phlogiston]

AUSTRALIA IS OTHER AREAS!!! WOOOO!!!!

I also think they'd do much better than most people think. They may not be on the top of everybodys list, but millions and millions in Melbourne alone* of people would go to see them just because they're Iron Maiden.


* This may be an exageration

 

[The_Prisoner]

I think Maiden could do bigger venues than 5,000 seaters *IF* the tour got proper promotion. Based on the Fear Of The Dark tour (which was a top 10 album don't forget) the promo was very ordinary - so why would the next tour of Oz be promoted any better when it's likely DoD will chart any better than BNW (33)?

I LOVE Iron Maiden, and I'd LOVE to see them tour here, and LOVE to see a well promoted, sold-out multiple date tour here.....but I think the best we could hope for is something similar to '92. Sydney, Melbourne, maybe Brisbane this time in average sized venues.....

 

[Spiff]

I really don't care whether or not I see Maiden anymore. I've been waiting 17 years, and that's long enough. They can go and get stuffed.

 

[Southy]

be nice if the bastards did tour here..by I ain't holding my breath

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I agree that a well promoted tour and album may help to pull a bigger crowd than the average sized venue, I just don't really see this happening. It would be the perfect time for Maiden to do it to, promote the new album on TV and do a tour after Metallica, while the hype over St Anger and the Metallica tour is still in peoples minds, they may want to check out Maiden's latest effort as well.

 

[Mark]

I wrote something about this on MaidenCentral.com... I just feel like they're aiming for the Grateful Dead/Ozzfest type deal (ie, summer festival tours to pull in the big bucks). It's sad

But they've said they plan to keep recording. Which is good

 

[Winmar]

There are loads of people who listened to Maiden in their teens, but don't now, who would go. People always comment on my Maiden shirts when I wear them...