The UK’s Metro has a cool Iron Maiden retrospective which features a few quotes from band manager Rod Smallwood. Here are excerpts from the chat:

38 years and counting… the key to Iron Maiden longevity:

Smallwood: “We don’t stay up so late at night getting pissed and doing things we shouldn’t do! I think that’s the only difference. But the attitude of touring and playing is the same, and the fans are the same – we’re playing to more people now obviously but if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. The band are all fit but then again… we were naughtier 20 years ago.”

Smallwood’s first meeting with the band at The Swan in Hammersmith:

“Steve came up to me and said, ‘Paul has been arrested, what should we do?’, and there was about 30 kids, we were at The Swan Hammersmith, and about 30 kids had come down from the east end and so he said to me – Maiden ethos really – he said ‘we’ve got to play’, and I said, ‘can you sing?’, and he said, ‘not really’, I said, ‘can you try?’, he said, ‘yes’, I said, ‘do you know the words?’, he said, ‘I wrote them all’ so that’s, that’s verbatim! So the first time I saw Iron Maiden.

I knew then, the way that Dave and Steve looked the audience in the eye with a lot of passion and excitement and commitment then, I’ve never seen anything like it, it was quite special, and they still do – you watch those guys, they are into the audience’s eyes.”

Read more at Metro.

BraveWords is happy to announce our continued partnership with Iron Maiden’s Trooper Beer and their upcoming North American tour! Stay tuned for Trooper Bar Alliance dates in every … yes, EVERY city (!) ... on The Book Of Souls North America Tour 2017! Stay tuned for more details!



Iron Maiden’s hugely successful The Book Of Souls World Tour will return to North America for an extensive series of arena and amphitheater shows in summer 2017. The mammoth tour opened in Florida last February playing fourteen sold-out shows in the USA and Canada along with a further 58 concerts in 34 other countries around the globe.

Steve Harris commented; “We are really looking forward to returning to North America. We will, of course, be bringing the full production with us including all the Eddies and the Maya-themed stage sets. There’s been a great reaction from everyone to this tour’s theme, people really seem to love it. We’re still deciding on the final set-list and we’ll work that out once we get into rehearsals. Most of our North American fans haven’t seen the show yet so as we want to give them the same Book Of Souls live experience that we took around the world, it’s unlikely we’ll change much. And of course we know our fans appreciate us playing a lot of the older songs too, so we will continue to do that!”

Tickets start going on-sale Friday, January 27th at 10am via Livenation.com or Ticketmaster.ca or call 1-855-985-5000.

As usual, there will be an exclusive pre-sale for Iron Maiden Fan Club members, details of which can also be found on Ironmaiden.com along with information on how Fan Club members can participate in the draw to be First To The Barrier.

Ghost will open all shows for the North American leg of The Book Of Souls World Tour.

After great feedback to last year’s North American trial of the concept, Maiden fans will again be able to enjoy a Trooper VIP Upgrade package that will allow them early access to the venue, a pile of Trooper goodies and Maiden swag, Trooper beers, food and a designated area to meet with other fans, plus the opportunity to win some great prizes. For more details visit Troopervip.com.

The full list of North American dates:

June
3 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube                                   
4 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center  
7 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
9 - Charlotte, NC - Pnc Music Pavilion                       
11 - Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena
13 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
15 - Chicago, IL - Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
16 - Minneapolis, MN - Xcel Energy Center
19 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Arena
21 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
23 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center    
24 - San Antonio, TX - ATT&T Center
27 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater
28 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Arena

July
1 - San Bernardino, CA - San Manuel Amphitheater
3 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Center
5 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Usana Amphitheater
9 - Lincoln, NE - Pinnacle Bank Arena
11 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
12 - St Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
15 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage
16 - Quebec City, QC - Videotron Centre
19 - Mansfield, MA - Xfinity Center
21 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Arena