IRON MAIDEN Announce European Dates, Plan To Cut Back On Touring

IRON MAIDEN have announced the details of the first leg of their world tour in support of their new studio album, "Dance Of Death", due on September 9 through Columbia Records.

The European leg of the tour will kick off in Prague on October 22 and will conclude in the U.K. just before Christmas. Details of the U.K. dates will be announced shortly and the rest of the European schedule is as follows:

Oct. 22 - Prague, CZE @ T-Mobile Arena
Oct. 24 - Munich, GER @ Olympiahalle
Oct. 25 - Stuttgart, GER @ Schleyerhalle
Oct. 27 - Milan, ITA @ Filaforum
Oct. 28 - Firenze, ITA @ Palasport
Oct. 30 - Zurich, SWI @ Hallenstadion
Nov. 01 - Barcelona, SPA @ Pavello Olympic Badolona
Nov. 02 - Madrid, SPA @ Palacio Vistalegre
Nov. 04 - Frankfurt, GER @ Jahrhunderthalle
Nov. 05 - Rotterdam, NETH @ Ahoy
Nov. 07 - Katowice, POL @ Spodek Mystic Festival
Nov. 10 - Helsinki, FIN @ Hartwall Arena
Nov. 12 - Copenhagen, DEN @ Valby Hallen
Nov. 14 - Stockholm, SWE @ Globen
Nov. 15 - Gothenburg, SWE @ Scandinavium
Nov. 17 - Hannover, GER @ Eilenriedehalle
Nov. 18 - Berlin, GER @ Arena Treptow
Nov. 20 - Leuven, BEL @ Brabenthal
Nov. 22 - Paris, FRA @ Palais Omnisports de Bercy

The tour will then continue through mid-March taking in South America, North America, Japan and other areas.

Having just played 28 shows to 600,000 fans on the "Give Me Ed…'Til I'm Dead" European tour, IRON MAIDEN founding member and bassist Steve Harris said, "We are having a great time on the 'Give Me Ed ... 'Til I'm Dead Tour'. It's fun playing material from 'Brave New World' back to the early Eighties and certainly judging from the reactions and the amount of people showing up at the gigs it's been fun for the fans too!! We are really proud of the new record and are very much looking forward to playing a number of the new songs along with some other stuff we haven't played for a while."

According to the group's official web site, the "Dance Of Death World Tour" will herald a major change in how IRON MAIDEN tour in the future as this will be the last long arena tour the band will undertake. "IRON MAIDEN will certainly continue recording and touring for years to come . . . [but] after spring 2004 the band will not go out on the road for up to nine months touring with an album as we have up to now," manager Rod Smallwood said. "As a progression from the scheduling around the 'Give Me Ed…' and 'Dance of Death' tours we will further break the album/tour cycle. Recording will be mainly in the winter (then releasing the album when it is ready and appropriate) and touring in the summer. We really enjoy the festivals and outdoor shows where MAIDEN fans congregate in numbers. There is a real atmosphere of community and this is something which really lifts the band.

"Whilst arena tours will be a thing of the past, there may be occasional arenas in certain areas where a festival or outdoor gig isn't feasible. We know we have fans in many parts of the world who wish to see the band and we will try to spread out the shows as fairly as possible and play for as many of you as possible within these parameters. And although touring will be much shorter we could in fact be playing live more regularly, which the band also like the idea of.

"We are announcing this up front of the 'Dance Of Death Tour' to be fair to fans who live in the cities we may not get to play in again and there will be a lot obviously on this forthcoming tour. We hope you understand and that you can still make it to see us in future. Since l started managing MAIDEN in 1979 we have played over 1700 gigs in many, many parts of the World. We have tried to get to as many of you as we could over the years and we know that many of you have traveled huge distances to come to our shows. Although we would expect to return to all the countries we play at some point we hope more of you will try to join us somewhere and enjoy the camaraderie of the MAIDEN traveling gang!!!"