Bruce wants to avoid the "nostalgia act" label
IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson recently admitted to [url=http://www.azcentral.com/]The Arizona Republic[/url] that the band skirt dangerously close to the nostalgia circuit."In the States, most of the audience comes to the show expecting nostalgia," said Dickinson, 45. "Only about half of the crowd is familiar with our newest work. We have a difficult balancing act satisfying both audiences."
Read the full article [url=http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/0821maiden21.html]here[/url].
Thanks to [url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/]Blabbermouth.net[/url]
2 Comments
Taken from [url=http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/0821maiden21.html]http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/article...21maiden21.html[/url]
Proving their metal Iron Maiden changes with the times
Michael Senft
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 21, 2003 12:00 AM
Perhaps the most recognizable symbol in heavy metal is Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie. The mummified corpse is an icon to headbangers worldwide, having appeared on every one of Maiden's albums since the band's 1979 debut.
Indeed, Eddie has been one of the few constants in Maiden's career. Even singer Bruce Dickinson, whose air-raid siren vocals are the second most recognizable feature of Maiden, is not the band's original vocalist and left the group for several years in the '90s, pursuing a solo career while Maiden soldiered on with replacement howler Blaze Bayley.
But throughout the band's ups and downs, Maiden never has skimped on the concert stage.
The band's current tour, which stops at Cricket Pavilion on Friday, is an arena-rock spectacle, featuring elaborate sets, lasers and, of course, giant robotic Eddies.
"It's just like we were doing 20 years ago: big stage, big lights, big Eddie," Dickinson says, calling on a tour stop.
But after Friday it may be quite a while until Valley metalheads see Eddie again. Once Maiden finishes this tour supporting the upcoming disc Dance of Death (due Sept. 9), the band will scale back its touring schedule.
"Over the past 20 years, we've had a policy of playing everywhere all at once," Dickinson says. "But a Maiden tour is such an event that it loses its uniqueness if it's happening everywhere and every year."
With countless metal bands name-dropping Maiden as an influence, the group wants to focus more on recording.
"We actually have a very young fan base worldwide. It's the younger fans and the active fans that we care about the most. They're the ones we're making music for now."
But he admits that the band skirts dangerously close to the nostalgia circuit.
"In the States, most of the audience comes to the show expecting nostalgia," says Dickinson, 45. "Only about half of the crowd is familiar with our newest work. We have a difficult balancing act satisfying both audiences."
Although Maiden still plays such classics as The Number of the Beast and Aces High, the band favors more recent, less well-known, material. Expect plenty of songs from Maiden's comeback album, 2000's Brave New World, and even tunes from the poorly received Bayley era.
"I see people in the audience scratching their heads when we play Clansman (from 1998's Virtual XI), but it's part of Maiden's history, even if I didn't originally sing it," Dickinson says.
He hopes the casual fan will leave with renewed interest in the revitalized band.
"People who come to the show looking for the good old days aren't the kind of people who will keep our music alive."
Aces High? 
Where? 
IRON-LORD