IRON MAIDEN's BRUCE DICKINSON On POWER TRIP Festival: 'People Who Were At The Front Were Rich People That Wanted To Film Everything On Their Phone'

In a new interview with Brazil's 92.5 Kiss FM radio station, Bruce Dickinson reflected on IRON MAIDEN's appearance at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California this past October. Dickinson and his bandmates kicked off the event on October 6 by playing the same 15-song set they had been performing throughout their "The Future Past Tour", featuring previously unperformed songs from the band's most recent studio album, "Senjutsu", along with a focus on 1986's "Somewhere In Time" LP, plus other classic cuts.

Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Power Trip was a slightly strange experience for us. And we did a good show, and actually at Power Trip, we did a MAIDEN show. We didn't do the, 'Oh, 'cause it's Power Trip, we have to suddenly do greatest hits.' No — we did the MAIDEN show with all the stuff we're doing on the 'Somewhere Back In Time' tour; 'Death Of The Celts', everything else like that. And it was a little bit strange because people had been standing out in the heat all day. There was no support band. Completely cold, go on stage. Well, cold as in no warm-up. But, no, I think we sounded pretty good. But it was an unusual situation.'

He continued: "I think what was a little bit strange for us was that the people who should be down the front of the stage, because the tickets for the festival were so expensive, they were at the back, and the people who were at the front were just like rich people that wanted to film everything on their phone. But the kids who you wanted to play to were at the back. And that sucks, actually. It wasn't our festival; it wasn't our organization. We're going into America next year and we're doing our own tour. And the people who are down the front are gonna be the people who deserve to be down the front. They're gonna be the real fans, which is gonna be great."

Asked if that's why he mentioned Brazilian audiences and other South American fans from the stage at Power Trip, Dickinson said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, like, yeah. Go take a look at some real rock and roll fans — not a bunch of posers who wanna go down the front. 'I paid 3,000 dollars for my ticket. Look at me.' Fuck off."

GUNS N' ROSES was the closing band at the three-day Power Trip on October 6. AC/DC and JUDAS PRIEST played on October 7; TOOL and METALLICA closed the event on October 8.

As previously reported, IRON MAIDEN will return to the United States and Canada with "The Future Past Tour" next year. Tickets can be purchased now at IronMaiden.com.

"The Future Past Tour" played to over 750,000 fans at more than 30 sold-out shows across Europe in the summer of 2023. The band also performed in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver alongside their highly praised appearance at Power Trip which had Consequence stating: "IRON MAIDEN set the bar high at Power Trip" and The Desert Sun saying "IRON MAIDEN didn't disappoint and delivered a hard-hitting performance to open the festival on a high note." Featuring one of the most spectacular stage productions of the band's career, it has received rave reviews in every city and country that IRON MAIDEN visited.

"Senjutsu" came out in September 2021. It marked MAIDEN's second consecutive double album behind 2015's "The Book Of Souls" which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.

IRON MAIDEN's first album in six years, "Senjutsu" was recorded in 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks whose running time exceeds 10 minutes each.

For "Senjutsu" — loosely translated as "tactics and strategy" — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

"Senjutsu" bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band's early classics like "Powerslave" and "The Number Of The Beast". Nearly 90 percent of the LP's 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015's "The Book Of Souls" and 2010's "The Final Frontier", which both peaked at No. 4.

"Senjutsu" was MAIDEN's 13th album to top in the Top 40 in the U.S.