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

"Woke about 11 AM, shower and breakfast and on to laptop. Tomorrow I am going off tour for a few days diving on the Great Barrier Reef up in Cairns. I will miss Brisbane and Yokohama but will be back for the Tokyo show. I deserve a bit of R and R!! But more about this later. However as I am going to be off I want to catch up with as much as I can so l don't have to do too much the next few days. So I settled down to a long session of catching up with this diary (as you have probably noticed), drafting out some significant press releases about touring, the success of Live After Death DVD (which you will all be pleased to know looks to be no 1 or at least top 3 in most places round the world... although I say it myself it really is a great package!) And organising media schedules for up and coming dates. Plus clearing any backlog. Pretty well managed it too and have got largely up to date even to the point of writing this the morning after -- its only 10 AM and I am on the plane to Cairns."

Read more here at Maidennorway.com.

Meanwhile, Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has issued the following:

"Well, well, well, how are we all today? Aahhheeee!!!!!!

Having an absolute blast down 'ere in Oz I can tell you. We played a couple of shows in Melbourne last week and we got the second one in Sydney tonight.

Read more here.

Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008 schedule is as follows:

February

19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
21 - Guadalajara, Mexico - Auditoria Telmex
22 - Monterrey, Mexico - Monterrey Arena
24 - Mexico City, Mexico - Foro Sol Stadium
26 - San Jose, Costa Rica - Saprisa Stadium
28 - Bogota, Columbia - Simon Bolivar Park

March

2 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Palmeiras Stadium
4 - Curitiba, Brazil - Pedreira Paulo Leminski
5 - Porto Allegre, Brazil - Gigantinho
7 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - River Plate Stadium
9 - Santiago, Chile - Pista Atletica
12 - Puerto Rico - San Juan Coliseo
14 - New Jersey, USA - Izod Center (formerly Continental Airlines Arena)
16 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre

June

27 - Bologna, Italy - Arena Parco Nord (Gods Of Metal Festival)

28/29 - Dessel, Belgium - De Boeretand (Graspop Metal Meeting)

July

1 - Paris, France - Ominisport De Bercy Arena
2 - Paris, France - Ominisport De Bercy Arena
5 - London, UK - Twickenham Rugby Stadium
9 - Lisbon, Portugal - Parque do Tejo ( Super Bock Super Rock Festival)
11 - Merida, Spain - Via De La Plata Festival
16 - Stockholm, Sweden - Stockholm Stadium
18 - Helsinki, Finland - Helsinki Olympic Stadium
19 - Tampere, Finland - Ratinan Stadion
22 - Trondheim, Norway - Lerkendalstadium
24 - Oslo, Norway - Valle Hovin
26 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Ullevi Stadium
27 - Horsens, Denmark - Horsens Gods Bane Pladsen
31 - Wachen Open Air Festival - Wacken, Germany

August

2 - Athens, Greece - Terra Vibe Park
4 - Bucharest, Romania - Cotroceni Football Stadium
7 - Warsaw, Poland - Gwardia Stadium
8 - Prague, Czech Republic - Slavia Football Stadium
10 - Split, Croatia - Split City Stadium
12 - Hungary - Sziget Festival
14 - Basel, Switzerland - St Jakobshalle
16 - Assen, Holland - Assen TT Race Track