AVENGED SEVENFOLD Is 'Feeling The Love' On IRON MAIDEN Tour

Vocalist M. Shadows of the Orange County heavy rockers AVENGED SEVENFOLD has issued the following update:

"We just started the [European] tour with [IRON] MAIDEN and I hear a lot of you guys are getting really worked up about the shows.

"Let's start with Norway. It was our first time there and we were blown away by the support we received. We can't wait to come back on this tour with MAIDEN in a few weeks and see you all again. As for Italy, it was our first time opening up directly for MAIDEN.

"Now just so you're clear, when we took this tour we knew it was going to be hard and we knew that IRON MAIDEN fans were very dedicated people. So when we heard a SEVENFOLD chant before we hit the stage we knew it would cause a stir with the crowd, but it made us proud and really got us excited about our fans over in Italy.

"We heard horror stories about opening for MAIDEN. Everything from standing backwards on stage so that the trash coming from the audience didn't hit you in the face to having bottles filled with piss thrown at your head. So after the show we felt pretty good about everything since we got to play for a lot of people and we got to see how many great fans we had there representing. So when you go to these shows, don't get upset if people don't understand just yet what AVENGED SEVENFOLD is all about. We are not a straight-up metal band that is catering to their audience, we do our own thing and that's why we have so many dedicated fans.

"We did this same thing two years ago with METALLICA; the difference then was that we had 40,000 kids a night with their arms crossed and not many fans. Now we are feeling the love from you guys and the one thing this tour is proving to us is that we need to come back and headline for you all after this is over.

"So the point is we are having a great time at the shows, and you should too. Don't get all upset about a couple bottles being thrown, next year half those kids may have A7X on their iPod and we could be their new favorite band.

"Like I said, we knew what we were signing up for and we are glad so many of you are supporting us through this tour. You are some passionate motherfuckers!"

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's video for the song "Dear God" can be viewed below. The clip features footage shot at the group's April 10 concert at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California on the recent Taste of Chaos tour. The entire show was filmed for the band's as-yet untitled live CD/DVD set, which the band expects to make available by Christmas. Singer M. Shadows recently told The Pulse of Radio that the combined audio-video package will also include some of the band's B-sides.