During a recent conversation with Dave Gleeson from Australia’s Triple M radio station, IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson was asked about the band’s ability to introduce an abundant amount of fresh content into their performances, apparently without encountering much resistance from their fans.
“Well, yeah, that’s because they — that’s because, strangely, they actually like the music,” Bruce responded. “Which is bizarre, isn’t it? I know that’s a really weird concept now — where people actually go to a show to listen to the music. But it’s because we’re not fashion icons or anything else like that. We’ve always been — how can I put it? We’re not like Michelin star chef-type grub; we’re meat and potatoes. And it’s straightforward, what people come to see is.
“I mean, the songs are not necessarily straightforward, but the attitude is. And we still play all the songs in the original key; we don’t drop, downtune and stuff like that. We still play everything too fast, because we’re all excited. We’ve never played to click tracks or like time code and everything else now, ’cause I see a lot of bands now, and I’m going, ‘Hang on a minute. Hey, you sang that without moving your lips.’
“So there’s all this backing vocals being flown in left, right and center and everything. But we don’t do any of that. Everything is analog and real. So we are kind of old school in that respect. But I think that pays dividends ’cause the audience understand that reality is increasingly kind of rare now.”
Earlier today, IRON MAIDEN announced “The Future Past” tour dates for 2024.
Dates announced so far are as follows:
1st September – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia *
4th September – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia *
6th September – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia *
10th September – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia *
12th September – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia *
16th September – Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand *
22nd September – Sky Hall Toyota, Aichi, Japan
24th September – Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka, Japan
26th September – Tokyo Garden Theater, Tokyo, Japan
28th September – Pia Arena MM, Kanagawa, Japan
* Killswitch Engage will be Special Guests in Australia & New Zealand.
