What goes on tour…
In March 1982 I went down to the Bristol Colston Hall to see a band that for me redefined the word ‘heavy metal’. I was taken aback by their music, their sound, and by their singer’s name. That band was Britain’s now-legendary Iron Maiden, and the concert was part of their Number of the Beast tour.
29 years and a dozen albums later, Maiden are still going strong and have earned a distinguished place in rock history. When they flew off on tour again in 2008, photographer John McMurtrie jumped at the chance to make a behind the scenes photo documentary – if you will, rockumentary – which has become On Board Flight 666.
In March 1982 I went down to the Bristol Colston Hall to see a band that for me redefined the word ‘heavy metal’. I was taken aback by their music, their sound, and by their singer’s name. That band was Britain’s now-legendary Iron Maiden, and the concert was part of their Number of the Beast tour.
29 years and a dozen albums later, Maiden are still going strong and have earned a distinguished place in rock history. When they flew off on tour again in 2008, photographer John McMurtrie jumped at the chance to make a behind the scenes photo documentary – if you will, rockumentary – which has become On Board Flight 666.
The pictures are not just of the band’s performances – although obviously there are plenty of those – but also of them visiting cities on the tour, of thronging fans around the world, and of course of the band’s plane Ed Force One, piloted on all legs of the tour by the singer Bruce Dickinson.
McMurtrie, Iron Maiden’s official photographer, has selected a collection of powerful images, accompanied by perceptive commentary telling how one band managed to tour ‘around the world and then some’.
200,000 miles, 127 different cities, 52 countries and a total audience of over 4 million fans is condensed into 600 photographs on 250 pages documenting all stages of their Somewhere Back In Time and Final Frontier world tours.
As Dickinson says in his foreword to On Board Flight 666, ‘if its not in here, it probably never happened!’
On Board Flight 666 is on-sale now.
Bruce Dickinson (not the same one).
McMurtrie, Iron Maiden’s official photographer, has selected a collection of powerful images, accompanied by perceptive commentary telling how one band managed to tour ‘around the world and then some’.
200,000 miles, 127 different cities, 52 countries and a total audience of over 4 million fans is condensed into 600 photographs on 250 pages documenting all stages of their Somewhere Back In Time and Final Frontier world tours.
As Dickinson says in his foreword to On Board Flight 666, ‘if its not in here, it probably never happened!’
On Board Flight 666 is on-sale now.
Bruce Dickinson (not the same one).
