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

"November 7, 2007

So my friends, welcome to a special seventh edition of the Road Rage reports: A Shout out to a killer crew, and memorable moments from the road. Here we will take a moment to acknowledge the most awesome of crews that we were blessed to work with on our now complete headlining leg of the European tour, and also some memorable moments from the road...

So first the crew: We will start at the top with Dave Price - tour manager (he does an excellent job of taking care of us), Chris Buckley - Sound for front of house (the best sound man we have ever had the pleasure to work with) , Simon Effemey - stage manager/monitors (a genius on the monitors) these two together (Chris and Simon) make an unbeatable team, Chris Mermod - Lighting engineer (a totally awesome light man who is never short on words or stories), Shawn Erbland - Guitar tech (very intelligent fellow), Greg Winn - Guitar tech (nice chap who always seems to be in a good mood), and last but not least Dominik Schrieber - Drum tech (I am always confident and at ease with him on the case). Also the bus drivers Guido and Ute who make a great team and take good care of us, always get us to the shows on time, and who clean the bus daily and make our home away from home as comfortable as possible.

We cannot forget about the crew who have already departed: Stony - Merchandise (an absolute professional), Udo - Physical Therapist (The man with the magic fingers), and Paul - Lighting Engineer during Chris’s brief absence (very good light man with many good ideas). Kudos to the crew one and all!

So now for a few memorable moments from our European headlining tour...The first one that comes to mind was the show in Stockholm at the venue called Tyrol. Simon found what looked like one of Liberace’s old outfits backstage and sported it for the show...some one should have taken pictures. The next one that comes to mind was a night at a truck stop where Jeff Waters from Annihilator and his guitar tech Jakob Paubel were frolicking through the night in their brightly-colored underwear. The last one that comes to mind is the last show of the headlining portion of the tour where many antics were played, but most memorable was Chris Buckley’s giant flying viking impresonation during the Turisas set. Also we can’t forget about the many late night karaoke sessions in the bus, hosted by Chris Buckley on guitar and vocals with help from Simon on vocals as well. These are but a few of the memorable moments from the road, stay tuned for more...

Metal Lives - Brent"

November 8, 2007

Welcome to the 8th installment of the Road Rage report. The Worldwide Wicked Tour has entered Chapter 2: The U.K. with Heaven and Hell and Lamb of God.

The first show of this leg of the tour began in Newcastle, England at a place simply called the Arena. We were treated with much respect and consideration by both bands and all the crew. We were even fortunate enough to get a sound check on this day (probably the only one we will get on this leg of the tour). The dressing room was rather spacious, although it was up several flights of stairs and a considerable distance from the stage. The Arena is quite a massive venue. So on to the show – the sound was massive and booming. The crowd was awesome and I believe that this night many new Iced Earth fans were made. The band was in top form and adjusted well to our change of position within the show (from headlining before to opening the show now) and also to the change in the set list.

I must say that the security here was excellent and extremely courteous. The next show was in Glasgow, Scotland at a place called The SECC (I believe that stands for The Scotland Entertainment Conference Center). This place was so massive it made the Arena in Newcastle look small. It was located inside of a shopping center. Outside was a very peculiar structure shaped like an Armadillo. This night we had a small crisis before we went on; the monitor desk completely crashed about 20 minutes before we were set to go on stage. This would have meant that we would have gone on stage not being able to hear anything. But much to Simon’s credit (our monitor man) he had it fixed by the time we hit the stage. I believe he was working on it up to the moment we began.

The Glasgow crowd was particularly intense and once again many new Iced Earth fans were brought into the fold. The people in Scotland have a very strong accent and even though they speak English, it is often very hard to understand what they are saying. I found myself asking them to repeat what they were saying numerous times. We were very fortunate to have Chris Mermod (our original light man) return on this day for the duration of the tour.

The third show was in Sheffield, England at another place, again, simply called the Arena. Another massive venue, as I believe they all will be throughout the remainder of the tour. Another great show, with an awesome crowd. The band was in top form once again. Once again many new recruits were brought into the Iced Earth fan family. The response from the fans in the UK has been absolutely phenomenal – Blessed Are You!!! We are most honored to be a part of this show, playing with Heaven and Hell and Lamb of God, with the chance every night to showcase our music to new fans, Metal Heads, and Music Lovers. Eight shows to go...so stay tuned for more exciting news from the road...

Metal Lives - Brent"

Iced Earth are currently on tour in support of HEAVEN AND HELL in the UK. Remaining dates include:

November:

17 - Plymouth, England - Pavilions
18 - Bournemouth, England - BIC