The organizers behind Bruce Dickinson‘s current solo tour in Brazil have released a statement addressing a recently surfaced video where the IRON MAIDEN vocalist reprimanded a fan purportedly for using cannabis and pepper spray during one of his solo performances.
During his tour, Dickinson took the stage in Brasília on Saturday, April 27, where he launched into a tirade against an fan. In an Instagram video that has since been deleted, Bruce said:
“I can’t f**king breathe. Tanya [O’Callaghan, Bruce‘s bassist] can’t breathe. You with the f**king vape over there, yeah, it’s not you, but, you know, please, f**king do that outside, all right? You know, if you can’t stay for five minutes without having a f**king addiction, but… Somebody down here has been using pepper spray. Some f**ker has been using pepper spray, which is why people can’t f**king breathe down there, right? So, you know, if you figure out who the f**k it is, I just don’t care what happens to them after the show, all right? In the meantime, we will try and do the best we can.”
In other video posted on YouTube, Bruce further remarked: “I do apologize for coughing. Some of you f**kers are smoking, all right? I can’t sing if you’re gonna smoke, all right? [Tanya‘s] coughing her guts out, I’m coughing, my f**king wife is going, ‘Blargh,’ in the back there, all right? It’s kind of disgusting, all right? But if you wanna be disgusting, do it outside, all right? Not in here. My throat’s got work to do. You pay good money to hear me f**king sing, not go, ‘Blargh, blargh,’ all right?”
A day following the Brasília concert, MCA Concerts issued the subsequent “official statement” to Blabbermouth, saying:
“[Saturday] night over 2000 fans filled the Opera Hall in Brasília to see Bruce Dickinson on the third show of his, critically acclaimed, first Brazilian solo tour for over 20 years. An incident occurred towards the end of the show where noxious fumes were released, causing severe issues for the band members on stage and the crew and audience in the auditorium. Subsequently many members of the crowd have taken to social media to corroborate the incident that caused them breathing difficulties.
“As video footage shows, Bruce did his best, with limited knowledge of the situation, to explain the effects to the crowd but subsequently found out that several band members, including himself, were affected by the fall out and a member of the crew had to be treated with oxygen by a doctor. The footage also shows Bruce departing the stage to perform part of the encore after being seen visibly struggling to breathe and pitch his vocal.
“Tour promoters MCA are still working with authorities to understand the full impact of the incident and understand how the noxious fumes affected not just the audience and crew but also the band onstage.
“Fortunately, everyone has been checked out by medical staff and given the all clear. The show in Belo Horizonte at the Arena Hall tonight (April 28th) will be unaffected.”
This is not the first time that Dickinson publicly calls out fans and security personnel at concerts if he perceives their behavior as inappropriate.
One of such incidents occurred on July 22, 2022 as IRON MAIDEN launched into “The Number Of The Beast”, at the Olympic Stadium. After singing the opening line of the track, Bruce noticed the flare lighting up and immediately burst into an angry rant.
Dickinson then said: “The c*nt with the f*cking flare, I’ve gotta sing up here. “You f*cking c*cksucker. You Greek c*nt. All right. I’ve gotta f*cking sing. All right. F*ck you.”
Dickinson momentarily exited the stage, hoping the smoke would dissipate while his bandmates carried on playing. Nevertheless, upon Dickinson‘s return to sing the song, it was evident that he was off time and out of sync with the rest of the band.
