Live After Death for Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden’s year has got off to a roaring start with the February 4th release of the band’s long-awaited DVD ‘Live After Death’ smashing straight into the UK music DVD charts at Number One not only outpacing its nearest competitor by three to one, but outselling the rest of the Top 6 combined.

This news comes as Iron Maiden announce the addition of Dutch band Within Temptation to the bill of their previously announced July 5th show at Twickenham Stadium, the first time Iron Maiden have played a stadium gig on home turf as opposed to headlining the major festivals. This will be Maiden’s only UK show this year.

Lead singer Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation adds: "Everyone in the band is a big Iron Maiden fan and the previous times we played with them have been an amazing experience. We are very honoured to play with Maiden in such an amazing stadium! It'll definitely be a night to remember!"

With USA’s mighty Avenged Sevenfold also appearing as Special Guests on the bill the Twickenham show is already proving to be the highlight of British rock fans’ 2008 calendars.

Iron Maiden kicked off their record-breaking SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME World Tour in Mumbai, India on Feb 1st, before it rolled into Australia last week – their first visit to the country in 15 years.

This tour, during which Maiden is expected to play to over one and a half million fans in the next six months, sees Iron Maiden consolidate their reputation not only as one of the greatest live acts on the planet but also as one of the biggest ticket selling bands ever.

‘Maiden Mania’ is currently gripping countries around the world as tickets for the 2008 World Tour flew out of box offices everywhere when they went on sale last year.

Being able to tour the Southern Hemisphere in such a concentrated way is all due to the band taking their own plane – along with their entire 50 man crew, 12 tons of equipment and stage set – around the world with Astraeus Airline Captain Bruce Dickinson at the helm. As The Age in Australia reports:

This ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME – WORLD TOUR 08’, revisits the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 ‘Powerslave Tour’. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band has ever presented, and includes some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.

Confirmed dates so far for the SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME World Tour 08 are as follows:

SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME World Tour 08

February

Fri 15th Yokohama, Japan Pacifico Yokohama
Sat 16th Tokyo, Japan Messe
Tue 19th Los Angeles, USA The Forum
Thu 21st Guadalajara, Mexico Auditoria Telmex
Fri 22nd Monterrey, Mexico Arena Monterrey
Sun 24th Mexico City, Mexico Foro Sol Stadium
Tue 26th San Jose, Costa Rica Saprisa Stadium
Thu 28th Bogota, Columbia Simon Bolivar Park

March

Sun 2nd Sao Paulo, Brazil Palmeiras Stadium
Tue 4th Curitiba, Brazil Pedreira Stadium
Wed 5th Porto Alegre, Brazil Gigantinho
Fri 7th Buenos Aires, Argentina Ferrofcarril Oeste Stadium
Sun 9th Santiago, Chile Pista Atletica
Wed 12th Puerto Rico San Juan Coliseo
Fri 14th New Jersey, USA IZOD ARENA
Sun 16th Toronto, Canada Air Canada Centre

Mid May - June

North American Tour to be announced shortly

June

Fri 27th Bologna, Italy Gods Of Metal Festival
Sun 29th Dessel, Belgium Graspop Festival

July

Tue 1st Paris, France Omnisport De Bercy Arena
Wed 2nd Paris, France Omnisport De Bercy Arena
Sat 5th London, UK Twickenham Stadium
Wed 9th Lisbon, Portugal Super Bock – Super Rock Festival
Fri 11th Merida, Spain Via de la Plata Festival
Wed 16th Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium
Fri 18th Helsinki, Finland Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Sat 19th Tampere, Finland Ratina Stadium
Tue 22nd Trondheim, Norway Lerkendalstadium
Thu 24th Oslo, Norway Valle Hovin
Sat 26th Gothenburg, Sweden Ullevi Stadium
Sun 27th Horsens, Denmark Horsens Gods Bane Pladsen
Thu 31st Wacken, Germany Wacken Open Air Festival

August

Sat 2nd Athens, Greece Terravibe Festival
Mon 4th Bucharest, Romania Cotroceni Football Stadium
Thu 7th Warsaw, Poland Gwardia Stadium
Fri 8th Prague, Czech Republic Slavia Football Stadium
Sun 10th Split, Croatia Split City Stadium
Tues 12th Budapest, Hungary Sziget Festival
Fri 14th Basel, Switzerland St Jakobshalle
Sat 16th Assen, Holland Assen TT Race track

For further information go to Ironmaiden.com. For ticket details go to Livenation.co.uk.