IRON MAIDEN: Nordic Tour Dates Announced

EMA Telstar has announdce the return of IRON MAIDEN to the Nordic countries next year with what will be the biggest rock tour that any band has EVER undertaken there. Following their record-breaking and massively popular sell outs at Ullevi Stadium in 2005, and the many multiple arena shows around the region in 2006, EMA and IRON MAIDEN have put together a concert schedule which will allow the band to play to 250,000 fans in the six stadium shows in the summer of 2008. The full schedule is:

July 16 - Stockholm, Sweden - Stockholm Stadium
July 18 - Helsinki, Finland - Helsinki Olympic Stadium
July 22 - Trondheim, Norway - Lerkendalstadium
July 24 - Oslo, Norway - Valle Hovin
July 26 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Ullevi Stadium
July 27 - Horsens, Denmark - Horsens Gods Bane Pladsen

To tie in with forthcoming 2008 release on DVD of the classic "Live After Death" concert video (full details available soon) this tour, aptly entitled the "Somewhere Back In Time - World Tour 08", will revisit the band's history by focusing almost entirely on the '80s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian production of the 1984-85 "Powerslave Tour". This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their "Somewhere In Time" tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.

Comments tour promoter Thomas Johansson of EMA Telstar: "Everyone at EMA is very proud to be making history by giving our rock fans the biggest Nordic rock tour there has ever been and certainly one of the most spectacular. MAIDEN is so hugely popular with the Nordic peoples that we wanted to ensure that as many fans as possible got the opportunity to see this very special show next year as we expect demand for tickets to be enormous."

Bassist Steve Harris adds: "There is a very special bond between MAIDEN and the Nordic people and we always feel very at home there. Perhaps Eddie really does have some Viking blood in his veins!!

"On the last tour we opened the show by playing our new album 'A Matter of Life and Death' in its 80-minute entirety. We thought we needed the challenge and it proved the right thing to do. However, it can be hard on the fans playing so much new material and we really appreciated the superb support they gave us. So now l guess it's payback time. It's tremendous to be able to use the profile of the 'Live After Death' DVD to do what is effectively an 80's show. It will be enormous fun and changing the approach to the songs we play tour by tour keeps it fresh and interesting for both the band and the fans alike. l think 'Powerslave' was an incredible show with the Egyptian theme and look forward to seeing it all again myself

"As always we look forward to spending a good amount of time in the Nordic countries and enjoying, as usual, some great nights out!"

On the subject of returning to Scandinavia and Finland, vocalist Bruce Dickinson enthused: "If this is going to be the biggest rock tour in Nordic History we will just have to pull out all the stops to make it one of our best ever and make it truly record breaking in every sense. This is truly a great statement for heavy metal music. I just wish it was happening next week!"

The second leg of the tour will be in mid-May to mid-June in North America, a final third leg which will include the Nordic dates, will take place in July and August in stadiums and major festivals around Europe. In total the band are expected to play to well in excess of one and a half million fans during the whole tour.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Monday, November 12 at 9:00 a.m., but members of the IRON MAIDEN fan club will get special and exclusive first access to purchase tickets from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 8.

(Thanks: MaidenNorway.com)