During a recent appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith said that fans can expect some surprises when the band finally returns to the road once the pandemic has subsided.
“I think it’ll be worth the wait, put it like that, as far as the MAIDEN thing goes,” Smith said. “There are some very, very exciting things in the pipeline. So that’s all I can say, really… But I think the fans are gonna be delighted.”
IRON MAIDEN have not issued any new music since 2015’s The Book Of Souls, but they have reportedly finished follow-up record that is due to be released later this year. JUDAS PRIEST have also been working on a new album, which will be the follow-up to 2018’s Firepower and will reportedly once again be produced by Andy Sneap.
It has been reported that one of the much-anticipated tours of all time “The Battle Of The Metal Gods“, co-headlined by British heavy metal icons IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST, is rumored to be taking place at U.S. arenas next year. It should be noted, however, that this information has not been officially confirmed by either band, nor their managers or associates.
An IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST tour has been rumored for about two years now, with support given by thrash metal legends TESTAMENT (who have played with MAIDEN and PRIEST numerous times before) and some other undisclosed bands. This rumor first started back in May of 2019, shortly after PRIEST bassist Ian Hill spoke to Audio Ink about a possible collaboration with MAIDEN: “There’s always the big question of JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN. That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great! [Laughs] There are a lot of other bands we’ve played with. We’ve got URIAH HEEP, specials guests on this tour. I was a fan of URIAH HEEP way back in the day. They go back at least as long as we do, if not a bit further You run into these people over the years. We’ve played with quite a few of them, but we’ve got to get together with IRON MAIDEN.”
