Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has said he would rather quit playing live than become a “Disneyland Maiden” by using backing tracks.
The British heavy metal legends are heading out on the road in 2025 with their ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour of the UK and Europe. The tour marks their 50th anniversary as a band and will see them playing setlist made up exclusively of songs from their first nine studio albums.
The tour kicks off in May in Budapest, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, London and Glasgow in late June. You can find any remaining tickets for the shows here.
In an interview with Classic Rock, Dickinson spoke about the growing trend of bands relying on backing tracks to boost their live sound, and made it perfectly clear that Maiden would never go down that path.
He said he would rather “bow out with dignity” than succumb to backing tracks. “The idea that you can turn it into the Disneyland Maiden by using backing tracks, a few tricks…no!” he said. “Maiden has to be one hundred per cent real – and fucking fierce!”
“Only recently this guy, a big fan, said to me, ‘It’s so great to see Maiden still doing it,’” he continued. “I said, ‘Yeah, and we’re doing it for real!’ There’s no detuning. This guy said, ‘Lots of bands use backing tracks now…’ I said: ‘No! No, no!”
“[If we use backing tracks,] that’s the day I quit,” he added. “Or the day we stop. If it’s not real, it’s not Maiden.”
Dickinson has said the band will be “doing stuff we’ve never, ever done before” on the Run For Your Lives tour. “So for those of you who have bought tickets, which is like all of you, it’s gonna be really, really cool. I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
In other Maiden news, earlier this month they announced a new documentary film to mark the 50th anniversary, which will include the final interview with their former frontman Paul Di’Anno, who died last year at the age of 66.
An official title and release date have not yet been shared, although it is predicted to arrive in the autumn. Malcolm Venville (Churchill At War) has been named as director, and production has come from Dominic Freeman (Spirits In The Forest – A Depeche Mode Film).
They will also be releasing a new visual book, titled Infinite Dreams, in the autumn. It will be packed with images of iconic album and single artworks, the band’s instruments past and present, stage props, hand-written lyrics and archival artefacts. There will also be photographs taken of the band, including some that were previously unseen.
