Iron Maiden unveiled their new tour plane yesterday (February 17th) in a Periscope broadcast from Cardiff, Wales. Here are some stills they shared via their official Twitter account:
This new air craft is almost twice the size and over three times the weight of the Boeing 757 used on previous Maiden tours, dating back to 2008.
Iron Maiden will be hitting the road starting February 24th in Fort Lauderdale, FL. See the rest of their schedule, here.
4 Responses
That really is the right idea. Flying sucks! The only thing more evil than KNG DIAMOND is everything that happens after you cross over into an airport parking lot.
To be able to have their own 747….God, that band must make so much f’ing money, hand over fist. It’s incredible to me. I’ve been a fan since the early 80’s, but to me they aren’t nearly as good as Priest. But IM certainly won the popularity game.
God bless em. They’ve worked hard, and to the victor go the spoils. IM is one of the biggest global rock bands, and have been for decades, so I’m not surprised at this business expense. Love the new wings.
It’s a classic question among people who listen to Heavy Metal which band you like better because there are many parallels between the two bands. They both have iconic singers, are both known for top-quality twin lead guitars, both have lots of great songs and albums (but also both have put out some under-par material too), and are about as heavy as each other. Also, for awhile when they were coming up, their music was about as heavy as big-label bands could be. Thrash was still on the fringes of the music business.
I believe there are two main reasons why Maiden’s audience in 2016 is so much bigger than Priest’s: Turbo and Ram it Down. With those two albums, Priest went from being “Defenders of the Faith”, to selling out the faith with overdone keyboards, songs that pandered to trends instead of creating them, and a new look that included poodle-perms, pastel multi-colored leather, and going shirtless with suspenders. Then they followed that up with releasing their unremarkable cover of Johnny Be Good as a single. Because you know- Exciter, Screaming for Vengeance…Johnny Be Good just makes sense, right?
Maiden also had low periods and in my opinion many of the songs on their last few albums including Book of Souls were written with a paint-by-numbers approach. But they never made music or presented themselves in such a crass, insincere way as Priest did on Turbo and Ram it Down. Priest broke continuity in building momentum with those two albums, and even though subsequent albums such as Painkiller and their latest Redeemer of Souls met or exceeded what people expect from them, they haven’t been able to fully regain what they lost.
And if I’m being honest, sadly I’d have to say that Halford coming out as gay has probably been a factor. I believe that gays and trans people should have all the rights in living their lives as everyone else does. Some Priest fans probably agree, but unfortunately for Priest many potential audience members just aren’t okay with it. Respect to Halford for being himself.