Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

in 2008 and 2009, focused on the band's 1980s material, in particular songs from ''

Powerslave ''Powerslave'' is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 through EMI Records in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. It was re-released by Sanctuary and Columbi ...

'', '' Somewhere in Time'' and ''

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. To qualify as "the seventh son of a seventh son" one must be the seventh male child born in an unbroken line with no female sibli ...

''. The tour tied in with the second part of the DVD series, entitled "The History of Iron Maiden", and prompted the release of a new greatest hits compilation, '' Somewhere Back in Time''. The tour was advertised as a way of bringing back the 1980s stage show and forgotten "classics" for an audience of younger fans, not having been born in time to witness the original. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time, as much as 21 years in one case, and two of them ("Moonchild" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner") never having been played by the current line-up. The stage set was based around that of the widely celebrated

World Slavery Tour The World Slavery Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden in support of their fifth album, '' Powerslave'', beginning in Warsaw, Poland on 9 August 1984 and ending in Irvine, California on 5 July 1985. Background The tour ...

of 1984–85, featuring similar

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

and the return of the giant mummified Eddie, but also included a lighting rig and cyborg walk-on Eddie based on that of Somewhere on Tour 1986. The tour would also see the first use of Ed Force One, Iron Maiden's customised

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet Boeing 727, 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The ...

, designed to carry band, crew and equipment across continents, which is piloted by the band's lead singer

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

, who also received the qualifications to flight the Boeing 757. The ground breaking nature of the tour led to the documentary entitled '' Iron Maiden: Flight 666'', released in select cinemas in April 2009, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD and CD release in May and June, which would top the music DVD charts in 25 countries. The 2008 tour was the second highest grossing of the year for a British artist, with the band reportedly playing to well over than 2 million people worldwide over both years.

Tour synopsis

The first leg of Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour opened in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India on 1 February, and continued through Australia, Japan, Los Angeles and Mexico, followed by concerts in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, before finishing in Toronto, on 16 March. Over the 45-day period the band played 23 concerts to over 500,000 fans in 11 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially refitted plane: Boeing 757, dubbed "Ed Force One" after a competition to name the plane. On this leg of the tour, the '' Iron Maiden: Flight 666'' film was shot. Concerning concerts in Scandinavia, EMA Telstar announced that the Iron Maiden tour will be the biggest rock tour that any band has ever undertaken in these Nordic regions. Tour promoter Thomas Johansson of EMA Telstar commented:

"We are all 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.",

Support acts

The opening bands on the tour were: * First Leg: Lauren Harris,

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point (geometry), point on the projection plane, image plane of a graphical perspective, perspective rendering where the two-dimensional perspective projections of parallel (geometry), parallel lines in three-dimensional ...

(Perth and Melbourne), Behind Crimson Eyes (Sydney and Brisbane),

Parikrama Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indian religions, Indic religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only ...

(Mumbai), Introspeciión (Bogota) * Second Leg: Lauren Harris

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

(30 and 31 May only) and

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the term was not used until the Carolin ...

(Holmdel only). * Third Leg: Lauren Harris,

Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other infl ...

(London and Assen only),

Kamelot Kamelot is an American power metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed by Thomas Youngblood in 1987. The Norwegian vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album '' Siége Perilous'', and shared songwriting credit with Youngblood until his departure in A ...

(Assen),

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, lead gui ...

(from 1 to 31 July), Trooper (Bucharest), Made of Hate (Warsaw),

Salamandra ''Salamandra'' is a genus of six species of salamanders localized in central and southern Europe, Northern Africa, and western Asia. List of species References External links Salamandraat Fauna Europaea * Salamandraat Animal Diversity We ...

(Prague),

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

(Lisbon and Mérida), Tainted (Christchurch), Rising Dream (Split) * Fourth Leg: Lauren Harris,

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(Monterrey and Guadalajara),

Atreyu Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band's current line-up consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocalist Marc "Porter" McKn ...

(Monterrey and Mexico),

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considere ...

(Monterrey), Anthrax (Bogota), Loathsome Faith (Bogota), Abstract Enemy (Bogota), Ágora (Mexico City), IRA (Monterrey), ''M.A.S.A.C.R.E.'' (Lima), ''Witchblade'' (Chile)

Setlist

Personnel

(Credits taken from the official tour programme.) ;Iron Maiden *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Dave Murray –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Adrian Smith Adrian Smith may refer to: * Adrian Smith (basketball) (born 1936), American basketball player *Adrian Smith (architect) (born 1944), American architect *Sir Adrian Smith (statistician) (born 1946), English statistician and academic *Adrian Smith (m ...

– guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Janick Gers Janick Robert Gers (; born 27 January 1957) is an English musician who is best known as one of the three guitarists in Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1990. He initially joined to replace Adrian Smith (musician) , Adrian ...

– guitar * Steve Harris –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, backing vocals * Nicko McBrain –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

;Management *

Rod Smallwood Roderick Charles Smallwood (born 17 February 1950) is an English music manager, best known as the co-manager of the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. With his business partner, Andy Taylor, whom he met while studying at Trinity College, Cam ...

*Andy Taylor ;Booking Agents *John Jackson at K2 Agency Ltd. Iron Maiden 653

;Crew *Ian Day – Tour Manager *Steve Gadd – Assistant Tour Manager *Jason Danter – Production Manager *Bill Conte – Stage Manager *Zeb Minto – Tour Coordinator *Natasha De Sampayo – Wardrobe *Doug Hall – Front of House Sound Engineer *Steve 'Gonzo' Smith – Monitor Engineer *Ian 'Squid' Walsh – Sound Technician *Mike Hackman – Sound Technician *Rob Coleman – Lighting Designer *Rowan Norris – Lighting Technician *Sean Brady – Adrian Smith's Guitar Technician *Colin Price – Dave Murray's Guitar Technician *Mick Pryde – Janick Gers' Guitar Technician *Michael Kenney – Steve Harris' Bass Technician and keyboards *Charlie Charlesworth – Nicko McBrain's Drum Technician *Paul Stratford – Set Carpenter *Ashley Groom – Set Carpenter *Philip Stewart – Set Carpenter *Jeff Weir – Tour Security *Peter Lokrantz – Masseuse *Dave 'Tith' Pattenden – Video Director *Johnny 'TGD' Burke – Moving and Still Pictures *Keith Maxwell – Pyrotechnician *Eric Muccio – Pyrotechnician *Boomer – Merchandising *Dick Bell – Production Consultant

Tour dates

* According to sponsors and the '' Flight 666'' documentary, the concert held in Costa Rica was the largest in Central America, with over 27,000 attendants. * The Metalway Festival appearance was cancelled due to extremely bad weather. * The European Leg was the biggest sales achievement in band's career. Most shows were sold out in rapid time and streams of tickets were officially extra added due to high demand. The band's performance at Wacken Open Air in 2008 was their largest festival performance of the year. According to ''Metal Hammer DE'', "...not less than 83.000 metal maniacs from all over the world attended this show". * On the Latin American Leg in 2009 Iron Maiden played 16 gigs to well over half a million people. Their show at Autodromo de Interlagos had the biggest attendance for a rock music event in history of the venue.

References

External links

Somewhere Back in Time World Tour dates
{{Iron Maiden 2008 concert tours 2009 concert tours Iron Maiden concert tours