IRON MAIDEN To Take Part In Charity Football Tournament

According to a post at MaidenFans.com, IRON MAIDEN have been confirmed to take part in the Soccer Six charity football tournament at West Ham United FC on May 22.

Tickets are £15, excluding booking fee, and can be ordered from Ticketmaster.com. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. and the match kick off is at 12:00 noon. Final and trophy presentation at 5:30 p.m.

For more information go to Soccer-Six.com or BBC.co.uk.

In other news, Sweden's national TV broadcaster SVT has signed an agreement to film and broadcast IRON MAIDEN live at their sold-out show at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg on July 9. This makes history as the first time any artist has had their show broadcast in full nationwide in Sweden since "Live Aid" back in 1985. The show is also being broadcast by national TV broadcaster YLE in Finland.

SVT will be broadcasting the show live directly on SVT2 from the Ullevi Stadium while in Finland YLE will be broadcasting with a one-hour delay.

The Ullevi Stadium show promises to be the showcase of the band's upcoming European tour as the stadium will be rammed with 55,000 MAIDEN fans who were lucky enough to get tickets in the rush that saw the show completely sell out within two and a half hours of going on sale last November following 75,000 ticket applications!! After BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, this is the second fastest sellout of a stadium show in Sweden ever. Similar reactions have happened in both Norway with 17,000 tickets and Finland with 22,000 tickets, both selling out in incredibly quick time.

Says Steve Harris, "We've always enjoyed massive support from our Swedish fans and in many ways it's like a home match for us in the welcome we always receive. The band always love playing there and we are looking to put on a spectacular show for everyone there and all the fans who will be watching at home. It's a fantastic way to finish the European tour thanks to SVT and we're working with them to make sure this will be a great moment of TV history for both of us."

IRON MAIDEN will be performing songs almost exclusively from their legendary first four albums which saw them become one of rock and metal's biggest icons, a position they have maintained consistently for 25 years.

Manager Rod Smallwood explains, "This European tour will be the biggest we have ever done in terms of the number of fans we will play to so we want to make it very special. Following the theme of the very successful 'Early Days' DVD we are taking these first four albums and tours as the theme for the set list and for the production of the show, which will be featuring some of the ideas incorporated in the early days of the band, particularly on 'The Beast on the Road Tour' and the 'World Piece Tour'. This is going to be huge and a unique treat for our fans... and anyone else!!!”

The broadcast will go out on SVT2 and is scheduled to start at 9:15 p.m. The show is to be broadcast in regular stereo but also in 5.1 Surround Sound, allowing fans at home who can decode the signal to be able to feel as though they are right there in the stadium.

For more local information regarding the show, go to www.svt.se and www.yle.fi.