IRON MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood, on the road on their Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008, has issued the following tour blog:

"Monday, 11 February 2008...

Late night again so slept in till about 10, ordered breakfast and then, yes, you guessed it, emails etc. At least with the time difference of 8 hours ahead here I can clear all incoming from previous day and then have time to think, plan and instruct without incoming blocking up the processes!

Published with kind permission from the copyright holder, the Iron Maiden Online Club.

At 1:30 we all met in the lobby to go to the venue, Burswood Arena, which has a big flat floor with bleachers at side and back so with such a high proportion standing it makes for a good metal venue. There is still a lot of difference in what production is available in India and what is available in Oz, especially with rigging and lights. The whole show looked much bigger and much more complex with the lights rigged and hence moving as planned and many more lights. We were able to get everything we needed here and the crews are excellent. We also have pyro here which will be a feature of the summer North America and Europe tours and the Australian and North American dates on this leg. India and South America is difficult to arrange pyro and we have had problems with the latter in the past so decided to leave it there as it just wouldnt be effective. We are planning the pyro pretty much to that in Live after Death, not overdoing, more for emphasis.

Band first did a sound check to get familiar with new PA and monitors, though we are carrying both desks. Then we had a full run through of the pyro so the band could see exactly what happened where so they could avoid getting blown up!! Best to avoid on just the second show. some of the guys still a bit ill with Mumbai tummy but braving it out. Everyone a bit tired with the long flights and time differences but everyone is enjoying the concept of this tour so much it really raises tolerance levels. This is such a good way to tour with the plane it certainly wont be a one off. we then did a few pics with John of the band with cyborg Eddie for future press use - and fantastic result as you will see in a few weeks. Showed some of them the merch stand and have to say I am very proud of the myriad of great designs we have for you guys, especially the Oz event shirt which looks just great. (in fact at the show one in five fans got one which is huge!!) I do particularly enjoy putting event shirts together with Herve and everyone and his LA and Toronto ones are classics too. Also there is a cool rework of Stranger in a Strange Land art for Mexico.

Went back to hotel for a while catching up, back to the show and a nice veg curry in catering then met some people in Rod's Room. The guys from Rage Against the Machine all came down prior to flying off to Japan - they had a very successful show at Big Day Out here the day before, chatted for quite a while with Brad who was a very nice bloke. They are all big Maiden fans and came on the desk with me to watch the show until they had to leave for the airport. Good to meet them. Apparently one of them even did an interview for our documentary!

The show was fantastic. We had 10,000 in a 14,000 arena but it was curtained off at the top level so looked packed. I am very pleased with this as we have never been here before, its not really known as a metal market and the big BDO fest was, as I said, the day before.

And for just a second show it went amazing. The band generally played really well despite all the bugs imported with us (except that is for a couple of major howlers, one in Rime - but its early days and its not an easy song). The lights looked amazing, the new pyro guy Clint did a great job with the cues and it all looked great, the sound was good, our crew got the drapes right and with the new improved lighting they all looked better than ever. All in all a terrific second show and the audience was on top form too, joining in everything with great LOUD gusto. Thank you Perth.

Bruce , Nicko and I stayed at the venue for a while and had a chat - the rest did a runner as there is only one way into this venue so departing traffic is very slow. Went to the bar when we got back and had a good converstion about what is happening down here with our promoter Paul and Kathy from the Sydney Telegraph and Andrew from JJJ metal show, both of whom are interviewing us tomorrow. Another late night but its hard to just go to bed and sleep when the adrenaline is high after an excellent gig. All bodes well for the future.

Rod."

(thanks: MaidenNorway.com)