Close to 14,000 fans turned out in force Thursday night for the opening show of Iron Maiden’s MAIDEN ENGLAND NORTH AMERICAN TOUR in Charlotte NC, setting the spectacular tour off to a flying start.
Singer Bruce Dickinson commented “We haven’t played in Charlotte since 1988 so we really didn’t expect anything like this number of people would come and see us! And what a terrific audience! Truly magical.”
“We had expected this to be a sort of lower key warm-up show to get the production, pyro and stuff into shape, and ourselves too! It was our first show since those at London’s 02 Arena last August so band and crew can all get a bit rusty. But a crowd this loud and supportive soon blew the cobwebs away – thank you Charlotte!”
Bass player Steve Harris added “It was fantastic to see so many fans since we were last here with the original Seventh Son tour 24 years ago. Some of the songs we’ve not performed for many years and the crowd reaction was just amazing, especially among the younger fans hearing them live for the first time. A response like that on the first night was incredible. We’re totally knocked out and can’t wait for the rest of the tour!”
Courtney Devores from The Charlotte Observer commented “The crowd response was that of fans that had been waiting over two decades (and in some cases their entire lives), The reaction to The Trooper..was arguably unparalleled throughout the night.” Read the full review here http://cltsoundbites.blogspot.com/?m=0
Creative Loafing’s Jeff Hahne called the show “A feast for the eyes and ears……Maiden isn’t on a nostalgia trip this time round. They’re putting everything they’ve got into the music, getting the crowd involved at every chance and loving every minute of it.” Read the full review here http://clclt.com/vibes/archives/2012/06/22/live-review-iron-maiden-verizon-wireless-amphitheatre-6212012
The full set list at Charlotte was: Moonchild, Can I Play With Madness, The Prisoner, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Afraid To Shoot Strangers, The Trooper, The Number Of The Beast, Phantom Of The Opera, Run To The Hills, Wasted Years, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Clairvoyant, Fear Of The Dark, Iron Maiden, Aces High, The Evil That Men Do, Running Free.
The 34 date MAIDEN ENGLAND tour is the band’s most extensive visit to North America for many years and includes a number of other cities the band have not played in a very long time such as Atlanta, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City and Sacramento, and places like Sarnia (Ontario, Canada) and Cadott, WI where they have never visited before. The tour is based on the band’s “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour” with a set list almost exclusively from the 1980s featuring all the classic songs and hits. The same spectacular stage set as was used on the original 1988 tour has been recreated, complete with a magnificent light show, pyro and a newly reincarnated Eddie!
Fans can check out a sneak peek video at www.ironmaiden.com for a taste of the new Eddies and some truly breathtaking pyro!
Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that the extraordinary and legendary Alice Cooper will be their Very Special Guest on all shows up to July 21. After that date, Special Guest will be Coheed and Cambria, the inspiring, cutting edge band from New York.
TIckets for the MAIDEN ENGLAND tour are on sale now and Fan Club members should check out ironmaiden.com to enter the draw to be ‘First To The Barrier’ which will be run in appropriate venues and allows fans access to the venue on show day before doors open to the public.
Iron Maiden continue to be actively dedicated to ensuring their fans always have full access to the best possible tickets in the fairest possible way. Manager Rod Smallwood comments:
“We are trying to ensure that our fans get the tickets they want in the prime positions without paying over the odds to ticket scalpers. Maiden get infuriated with the way fans sometimes have to pay more than the ticket price to get good positions at our shows. So we will, wherever possible (Festivals excluded), with the assistance of the Promoters, arrange a paperless ticketing system at least for the front sections to try to eliminate as much of the ticket scalping and exchanges as we can. We put this into practice on our North American Tour in 2010; it worked well and we received many positive comments back from our fans, so we intend to increase this where feasible. With paperless ticketing, only those who actually pay initially for the tickets will get into the show so scalping is generally avoided (please see the comments from Ticketmaster below). We are also doing everything we can to avoid any drain of prime tickets going to the Secondary Ticketing sites which we feel make unfair profits from music fans.
As we consider all our fans to be VIPs, no tickets will be held specifically for VIP use. At some venues, the Promoter may provide the option for fans to pay extra for “VIP Parking”, early access, access to “VIP Bar” etc. But these will be purely optional for ticket holders only and will not be tied to ticket locations – the ability to get the best tickets should be the same for everybody outside of the usual presales.
TICKETMASTER comments:
Where possible the North American Iron Maiden shows will operate a paperless ticket policy. Select tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster’s Paperless Ticket delivery, which means fans will not receive a physical concert ticket for their entry into the event. Buying paperless helps ensure fans have secure and convenient access to event tickets at the intended original sale price. On the day of show, concert goers just need to bring the credit card they used for the ticket purchase and a government-issued photo ID to the concert. All members of the ticket purchaser’s party must be present at the same time to enter the venue. The venue’s ticket usher will swipe their credit card upon entry and present each person in their party with seat locator slips for quick access into the show. To purchase paperless tickets or for more information, fans should visit www.ticketmaster.com/paperless or call the Ticketmaster charge-by-phone number at 1-800-745-3000.”
MAIDEN ENGLAND TOUR DATES 2012
THU 21 JUN CHARLOTTE NC VERIZON WIRELESS AMPHITHEATRE
SAT 23 JUN ATLANTA GA AARONS AMPHITHEATRE AT LAKEWOOD
TUE 26 JUN BOSTON MA COMCAST CENTER
WED 27 JUN WANTAGH NY JONES BEACH
FRI 29 JUN PHILADELPHIA PA SUSQUEHANNA BANK CENTER
SAT 30 JUN WASHINGTON DC JIFFY LUBE LIVE
MON 2 JUL NEWARK NJ PRUDENTIAL CENTER
WED 4 JUL MILWAUKEE WI SUMMERFEST
THU 5 JUL CHICAGO IL FIRST MIDWEST BANK AMPHITHEATRE
SAT 7 JUL OTTAWA ON OTTAWA BLUESFEST
SUN 8 JUL QUEBEC CITY QC COLISEE PEPSI ARENA
WED 11 JUL MONTREAL QC BELL CENTRE
FRI 13 JUL TORONTO ON MOLSON AMPHITHEATRE
SAT 14 JUL SARNIA ON BAYFEST
MON 16 JUL BUFFALO NY DARIEN LAKE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
WED 18 JUL DETROIT MI DTE ENERGY MUSIC THEATRE
THU 19 JUL INDIANAPOLIS IN KLIPSCH MUSIC CENTER
SAT 21 JUL CADOTT WI CHIPPEWA VALLEY ROCK FEST
TUE 24 JUL WINNIPEG MB MTS CENTER
THU 26 JUL CALGARY AB SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME
FRI 27 JUL EDMONTON AB REXALL PLACE
SUN 29 JUL VANCOUVER BC PACIFIC COLISEUM
MON 30 JUL SEATTLE WA WHITE RIVER AMPHITHEATRE
WED 1 AUG SALT LAKE CITY UT USANA AMPHITHEATRE
FRI 3 AUG SAN FRANSISCO CA SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE
SAT 4 AUG SACRAMENTO CA SLEEP TRAIN AMPHITHEATRE
MON 6 AUG PHOENIX AZ ASHLEY FURNITURE HOMESTORE PAVILION
THU 9 AUG IRVINE CA VERIZON WIRELESS AMPHITHEATRE
FRI 10 AUG IRVINE CA VERIZON WIRELESS AMPHITHEATRE
SUN 12 AUG ALBUQUERQUE NM HARD ROCK PAVILION
MON 13 AUG DENVER CO COMFORT DENTAL AMPHITHEATRE
WED 15 AUG SAN ANTONIO TX AT&T CENTER
FRI 17 AUG DALLAS TX GEXA ENERGY PAVILION
SAT 18 AUG HOUSTON TX THE WOODLANDS
High res photo can be downloaded from here (thumbnail attd): http://www.ironmaiden.com/media/2012/large/Charlotte%20NC%2021-6-12%20MAIDEN%20ENGLAND%202012-36901.jpg
