Bruce Dickinson launched the North American leg of his spoken word tour, An Evening With Bruce Dickinson, earlier this month in Florida. The 63-year old singer for Iron Maiden recently spoke to John Carucci of the Associated Press about standing on stage alone, telling his life story. An excerpt, courtesy of ABC News, follows:

You talk about some really personal stuff?

Dickinson: "I get everybody laughing about cancer. Because cancer is a big taboo. You know, about 50% of us are going to get it during our lifetime and we are scared witless of it. The very word sends us into a tailspin, as you know. And of course, I had my bout with throat cancer, as thousands of men do around the world every week. So that doesn’t make me special, but what I try and bring into it is my individual take on it. You know, “How do you deal with it?” Well, I don’t know how you deal with it, but here’s how I do deal with it."

How intense does that get?

Dickinson: "It can get quite literal and quite graphic in terms of some of the descriptions of some of the very, very embarrassing and ignominious things that you have to get up to when you’re under cancer treatment... So, yeah, you get people rolling around, hopefully about that and leaving with a positive statement."

Split into two parts, the first section of the show sees Bruce taking a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of Maiden anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs and sometimes even erupting into song a-capella, to illustrate a point.

The final section of the evening is devoted entirely to a Q&A session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce’s answers will all be completely improvised – the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be!

Remaining Dates:

January
27 - Columbus, Ohio - Jo Ann Davidson Theatre
29 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead
30 - Detroit, Michigan - The Fillmore

February
1 - Buffalo-Niagara Falls, New York - Buffalo State Performing Arts Center
2 - Albany, New York - The Egg
4 - New York City, New York - The Town Hall
5 - Boston, Massachusetts - Schubert Theatre at the Boch Center
7 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Fillmore
8 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
10 - Cleveland, Ohio - MGM Northfield Park
11 - Chicago, Illinois - Vic Theatre
13 - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Pantages Theatre
14 - Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin - Pabst Theater
16 - Des Moines, Iowa - Hoyt Sherman Place Theatre
17 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Rose State College Hudiberg Chevrolet Center
19 - Kansas City, Kansas - Uptown Theater
20 - Denver, Colorado - Paramount Theatre
22 - Dallas, Texas - Majestic Theatre
23 - Houston, Texas - Stafford Centre
24 - Austin, Texas - Paramount Theatre
26 - Phoenix, Arizona - Mesa Arts Center
28 - San Diego, California - Balboa Theatre

March
1 - Los Angeles, California - Orpheum Theatre
3 - San Francisco, California - Palace of Fine Arts
4 - Portland, Oregon - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
6 - Seattle, Washington - The Moore Theatre
12 - Las Vegas, Nevada - House Of Blues
14 - Vancouver (New Westminster), British Columbia - Massey Theatre
16 - Victoria, British Columbia - Royal Theatre
18 - Edmonton, Alberta - Winspear Centre
20 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre
21 - Calgary, Alberta - Jack Singer Concert Hall
23 - Montreal, Quebec - MTELUS
26 - Ottawa, Ontario - Algonquin Commons Theatre
27 - Quebec City, Quebec - Palais Montcalm
29 - Hamilton, Ontario - FirstOntario Concert Hall
30 - Kitchener, Ontario - Centre in the Square

On January 15, BraveWords presented a very special episode of Streaming For Vengeance, in which Bruce Dickinson joined "Metal" Tim Henderson to talk about his spoken word tour. During the 30-minute video interview, Bruce also revealed that Iron Maiden are officially getting ready behind-the-scenes to hit the road later this year in support of their latest album, Senjutsu. As well, Bruce updates us on his forthcoming solo effort that he's working on with long-time partner Roy Z, and cracks open the Trooper beer plans for 2022! Watch below: