ICED EARTH drummer Brent Smedley has checked in with the ninth and tenth installments of his European tour diary. All of Brent's diary entries can be read at the official Iced Earth website.

November 17, 2007:

Welcome to the 9th installment of the Road Rage report. The Worldwide Wicked Tour, Chapter 2: The U.K. with HEAVEN AND HELL and LAMB OF GOD.

Today is an off day in Northwich, England. We stayed at a quaint little inn/pub aptly named The Slow and Easy. The owner of the pub is a good friend of our Soundman, Chris. We picked a good night to be here as it was jam night in the pub. Chris B., Troy, Dennis, Simon, and Dominik all got onstage to tear it up a bit with the locals. Many of Chris B.’s friends came out and it was a pleasure to meet his mother and father as well – very nice people, and a very nice pub. If you are ever in Northwich, England, check out The Slow and Easy on Manchester Road.

The next day we traveled to Manchester to play at the M.E.N., which stand for The Manchester Evening News. Another massive venue, as I believed they all would be for the remainder of the tour. Soundman Chris’s father was in attendance at this gig. The venue is located right down the street from a Hard Rock Cafe which some of the guys were able to visit after the gig. The nightlife was alive and well in this area. There was also another Rock club in the area, which supposedly stayed open until 7 a.m. and had 5 rooms with live bands. None of us were able to venture out to this place, maybe next time. The show was a good one for us, once again increasing the number of Iced Earth fans in the U.K. Biff Byford from SAXON was in attendance and of course backstage on this night.

The following day we played in London at the historic and quite famous Wembley Arena. It was quite an honor and a privilege to play this place that so many of the greats have played. Jon’s Wife and daughter were able to attend this night. Pretty cool first concert for his daughter to see at the age of 2. The band played exceptionally well this night, playing a flawless show with enormous energy, intensity, and emotion. I would have to say this was the best show of this part of the tour, both performance wise and also crowd wise. It was probably the biggest crowd so far and definitely the most enthusiastic. As we left the stage the crowd was calling for more...There were some other extra special guests in attendance this night – Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith from IRON MAIDEN. What a great night to have our best show yet!

The very next day we played in Brighton at the Brighton Centre. An interesting venue located inside a conference center. This is located a mere block from the Sea, The English Channel to be exact. I was able to take a walk on the boardwalk and the seashore and sample the sites and take many pictures. The Brighton Pier is a small amusement park in its own right; complete with several arcades, a carousel, bumper cars, a haunted house, and many, many more amusement park style rides. There were also several Tarot card/fortune tellers up and down the boardwalk. For blocks and blocks there were all sorts of shops. Seems like it would be a nice play to take a vacation.

So onto the show...This night we were plagued with technical difficulties. I broke a bottom snare head (which is an extremely rare occurrence); we had problems with the wireless transmitters, and several other things. Some nights these things happen, it is amazing how much can go wrong in a half-hour. But much to the band and crews credit we persevered and gave it our best. I think all in all it was still a great show and moved us ever forward in our goal of gaining new fans and exposing new people to the music of Iced Earth.

The next show is in Birmingham. This is the hometown of BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, so this should prove to be another great show. I wanted to take this opportunity to say that it is my personal privilege and honor to share the stage with the other drummers on this tour. Vinnie Appice is an old schoolmaster and Chris Adler is an absolutely amazing drummer who is on the cutting edge of the new breed of virtuosos. Alas, the tour is drawing to a close with 5 shows left to go. But stay tuned there are still more updates to come before we are done..."

November 18, 2007:

"We begin this segment in Birmingham. This is quite an important city for Heavy Metal, as it is the birthplace of both Black Sabbath and JUDAS PRIEST. We were fortunate this night to have them both in the venue. Sabbath onstage as Heaven and Hell and Priest were represented by a visit from Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing who came to watch the show. We were most honored to have them hang out back stage in our dressing room.

This was the biggest venue on the tour. The crowd was massive and we gave them a great show. I received a bit of good news tonight. The Artist/Relations guy for DW-Europe came to the show and told me that they have accepted me for an endorsement. I am thrilled as DW was definitely my first choice for drums. Overture of the Wicked and Framing Armageddon are both recorded on Drum Workshop drums. Vinnie Appice is also a DW endorsee...great to be in company with him. I was surprised to see bootleggers outside after the show selling counterfeit tour shirts. I didn’t expect to see that kind of thing in the U.K.

The next night we played in Cardiff, Wales at The International Arena. There were spacious dressing rooms and nice accommodations at this venue. The crowd was very responsive and we gave them a stellar performance. I am sure that many new recruits were brought into to the Iced Earth fold and there were definitely many old fans in the audience as well, as represented by the amount of our shirts in the crowd. There was even a chant of Iced Earth as we entered the stage. It was a bit different to hear that at the beginning rather than the end of the show.

There was a special event this night...Iced Earth versus Lamb of God in a couple of games of Family Feud, yes Family Feud. Not the normal after show activity, but it was good fun...complete with a host and even filmed for their upcoming DVD. The results of the game were a bit unclear, but I believe unfortunately they got the best of us.

The following night we played in Nottingham, England at The Nottingham Ice Arena. Nottingham is famous for being the hometown of Robin Hood. Many of the shows on this part of the tour have been ice rinks. They are very spacious, but often very cold. Tonight was a very good show – the band performed extremely well and convinced many new people that they need Iced Earth in their lives and CD collections. I was most honored to have Chris Adler from Lamb of God checking out the show.

There was a bowling alley located next to the venue...there was talk of an Iced Earth versus Lamb of God bowling challenge after the show, but there wasn’t enough time before we had to hit the bus. So two more shows left on the tour...one more update to come so stay tuned my friends."

METAL LIVES – BRENT