CONQUERING THE BRAVE NEW WORLD
28 July 2000

Throughout June and July, Iron Maiden laid waste to Europe, playing to thousands of fans on their mighty Metal 2000 tour. The tour hasn’t been a completely smooth ride - it’s been dogged by bad weather and more seriously, three shows had to be cancelled after guitarist Janick Gers fell more than ten feet from the stage at the end of their show in Mannheim, Germany. However, on the whole, it’s been a triumph, with the band showcasing their new revamped line-up of Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Steve Harris (bass), Nicko McBrain (drums) and Janick, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray (guitars) and songs from their latest album ‘Brave New World’ to thousands of enthusiastic fans.
Metal-is Editor Valerie Potter sat down with Steve backstage at the final show on the European tour (as the rain poured down outside!) to chat about the shows and the forthcoming ‘Brave New World’ tour of North America.

How has the European tour been for you?

Fantastic. There have been great audiences everywhere; they know every word of every song. It's kind of what we expect from Europe anyway, it's always been Maiden's stronghold, but as we've had a No. 1 album in Greece, Sweden and places like that, Top 10 pretty much everywhere and a gold disc in Spain already, it's been amazing.

You must be pleased with the reaction that 'Brave New World' has received all over the world, though.

Yeah, we're playing a lot of new material - we always do anyway with every new album - but the reactions have been great, so it's been very positive.

I have seen a few reviews which complain that you're not playing enough old material on this tour...

Oh, you always get that! It's just ridiculous. If they wanted that, they should have come on the (1999) 'Ed Hunter' tour. Whatever. "Bugger off!" is the answer to that one!

...but I think they have been balanced by critics saying how much they've enjoyed hearing the new songs live.

We enjoy playing it, and that's the main thing, really. We've got to please ourselves first. The audience come close second obviously, but we've got to feel that we're going out there with a refreshing attitude and playing something that's a bit of a challenge. We know we could go out and play greatest hits sets and go down fantastically well, but what would that prove? Not a lot.

And of course, as you say, you did that last year on the 'Ed Hunter' tour...

We did it only on a few shows, I know, but if we had a 'best of' album out, it might be different. It's a new album, and it's important to play the new stuff - this is where we are now. There's always cynical people about - especially journalists... "Miserable gits!" is what I say!

The omission of ‘Run To The Hills’ from this year’s set has been most noticed, I think. At this stage in your career, it must be very difficult to figure out a setlist - you can’t play all the old hits, after all.

'Course you can't. It's just one of those things. You've got two hours -and in the States, we'll probably have slightly less, because you have to deal with all the union stuff which you don’t have in Europe - so it's difficult... very difficult.

How do you go about it? Do you decide what you want to play off the new album first and then fit everything else around it, or are there certain old songs you feel you have to play at every show?

Yeah, we sort out what we want to play from the new stuff and then we go through each album and play one or two songs off that. Everyone puts in their ideas as to what they fancy playing and we mess around with it for a while, get some semblance of a set together and start rehearsing it, see how it feels. And this set feels good.

Are there any songs from the new album that are standing out as your favourites, now that you've been playing them a while?

I don't know really. I suppose, because we open up with three new songs, that's good, because I think a lot of bands wouldn't do that, so that's quite a challenge. There's not really any songs that I would say I musically prefer playing more than any others; I enjoy playing them all really.

Is it true that a thundercloud has followed you all round Europe on this tour?!

In actual fact, someone said we were like The Addams Family, because there was thunder and lightning everywhere we went! Yeah, we did have a lot of that. There were a couple of nice days here and there, but it seemed to be any time we were playing out of doors, it was raining, apart from when we were playing in Spain and Portugal. Luckily enough, we are actually indoors tonight! We blame it on the tour manager - every time he turns up somewhere, it starts raining!

And you told me earlier this year that the thunderstorm you played in when you headlined Holland’s Dynamo Festival was the worst weather the band has ever played in?

We've been very, very lucky over the years, because we've played loads of outdoor shows and there's been quite a few of them where it's been crap weather, but it's stopped raining just before we went on and started again just as we were coming off. That's happened many times and quite often, you think to yourself, "There must be somebody upstairs that likes us!" But Dynamo definitely was the worst. It was pissing down throughout the whole show and I thought total respect for the fans, because they didn't leave, they were determined to have a good time no matter what, so it was fantastic. And it wasn't warm either, it was pretty cold, and getting pissed upon when you're freezing as well can't be much fun!
We got wet as well, despite what some people (journalists) might have said, because the catwalks were absolutely soaking. It was very frustrating; we couldn't run around and do our normal show, because it was so slippery and wet on the stage. The rain was sweeping in and getting us wet as well, but obviously, we weren't getting as wet as they were out front.

Speaking of mishaps on the tour, how is Janick now?

He's alright. Well, he's not 100 per cent alright, but he's getting better, day by day. He was pretty bad... I suppose it could have been worse, in a way... He had quite a few stitches in a cut on his left eyebrow and a cracked collarbone, he had concussion, unbelievable bruising - he looked like somebody had painted him! Luckily enough, he doesn't remember any of it. He only remembers waking up in the ambulance and hearing us do 'Hallowed...' and thinking, 'I should be playing my solo on this!' That's what he said, yeah! The weird thing was, when they took him off on the stretcher, we thought maybe he wasn't too bad, because, although he was covered in claret everywhere - I could see the cut was above the eye and you always bleed badly from a cut there anyway - he was waving to us, but he doesn't remember any of that.
I never saw it happen, 'cause I was right on the catwalk on the other side. I heard one of the guitars go off, but I thought the gear had packed up. Then Bruce said about stopping the show, and first and foremost in my head was that someone had been hurt in the audience, because all the paramedics were going over. And then of course, as I ran over the other side and looked over, it was dear old Jan.

It must have been a terrible shock.

Yeah, it was a bit strange - it didn't look too good, because he was laying on his back, covered in blood, and he wasn't moving too much. That was during 'Number Of The Beast' and we decided to carry on and do that song again and then do 'Hallowed...' and then we didn't bother to do 'Sanctuary'. And it felt weird, I must admit, doing them. But with 14,000 people in the audience, we thought we couldn't just stop. I suppose, because it was old stuff we were playing in the encores, we could get by doing it with the two guitar players, but that's why we had to pull the other three shows - Essen, Sofia and Athens - because he plays a lot of key parts on the new material and there's no way we could have done it with two guitars.

You just mentioned trouble in the audience. You played the Roskilde festival the night before the tragic deaths during Pearl Jam’s set, and of course, you had a similar experience 12 years ago, when two fans died the day you headlined the Donington Monsters Of Rock festival, although the accident didn’t actually occur during your set. Any thoughts on what Pearl Jam must be going through at this time?

I suppose it's difficult to know what it feels like, because it's never actually happened to us. It did happen at Donington, but it didn't happen during our set, as you say, and we didn't know about it either, no one told us about it until after the show, so, you know... It must be awful really, to think that this happened during their set, but... I don't know, we've played for 20 years, gigs all round the world, and we've never really had any problems.
When something like this happens, you can't start pointing fingers and saying it's this or that. Roskilde's been running for so many years, with that many people very year, it's been a very traditional kind of festival. In fact, we played there once before and it was absolutely peeing down with rain that particular time as well - most of the weekend in fact - and it was very muddy, and there were no problems that time at all.
I heard different conflicting reports as to what had happened and why, so I'm not really qualified to say what happened, 'cause I wasn't there obviously. All I can say is, the night we played, there were no problems and then it absolutely peed down all that night apparently and all day as well, and maybe that contributed to the problem, I don't know.

Okay, we've talked about some of the low points on this tour. What about the high points?

As I said, it's been a fantastic tour. San Sebastian was great, Madrid was great, Paris was great... There were so many great shows, it's difficult to pick one and say that was the high point, really. In fact, one of the shows that I really enjoyed was in Banska (Slovakia), and that was just fantastic. That was because it kind of almost didn't happen. It was bad weather as well. When we got there, the crew were wondering whether we should do the show, because the stage was totally soaked and there were problems with the power... and we just said, "No, there are all these fans waiting outside - as long as you can sort the problems with the power out, we'll do the show." And I'm glad we did, because it was great.

Do you feel warmed up and ready for the US tour now - which is quite a long one?

It's a couple of months, but we've already been out a couple of months anyway. Yes, it's long and there's not a lot of days off, so it's going to be a tough tour, but, you know.. that's nothing new, is it - specially with Rod (Smallwood, Maiden manager) in charge?! But I think it's going to be good. The bill is strong. I'm looking forward to seeing Halford, because I like the album and it will be interesting to see what reception he gets. Queensrяche, obviously, we've done gigs with before and I like them anyway.

I hear you’re taking your family out and travelling by bus around the States?

I'm flying some shows with Bruce, but I'm taking the family out for about five weeks during the school holidays, so that will be good. When I told them I was going to use a tour bus or a motor home, they were totally excited about that, because they love being on the bus, they don't get off on flying around everywhere. It's a good vibe, isn't it, I suppose, an adventure? As it's a summer tour, we'll probably stay out of town on camp sites and stuff like that - it'll be fun.

Will you be able to organise any football matches for the band team, as you have on this European tour?

I doubt it, because we're all doing different things, staying in different areas, Bruce is flying his plane, the rest of them are flying scheduled and I'm off doing my thing with the kids in the bus. We haven't really got a team either, and we can only really play on days off because of the crew working on show days. What I'm really hoping to do is find a couple of teams who have games, so I can star in their team - or not star, as the case may be! - but just get a game. So any offers of having the odd game here and there would be great, I'd be up for that. But I've got to say, it has to be proper 11-a-side, with the full strip, a referee and proper goals and nets and stuff! I ain't gonna turn up just to have a kickabout in a backyard somewhere - I'm not into that!

You must be very pleased with the fact that your show at Madison Square Garden sold out so fast?

Two hours - I think it's pretty amazing. And I suppose it's a prestige gig. We've done it a couple of times before and I can't remember whether it sold out really quickly last time, it's been a long while since we did it, but it's a vibe to play there anyway, and to sell out so quickly is great. I dare say the fact that it's a strong bill must have helped, but having said that, not taking anything away from ourselves, I think it's great.

Do you still enjoy touring now as much as you used to?

I enjoy the gigs as much as I've ever done, but the travelling becomes a bit tiresome, I've got to say. Being away from the family is the hardest part, but the fact that they will be out with me in the States makes it fine. It's not easy, touring. That's the thing, I think... if the band ever knocks it on the head, it's because of that, because we're fed up with being away from our homes and families. But once we've had a bit of time off and recharged the batteries, I think everyone will probably be itching to get out there again. But who knows? Maybe they won't. They might feel, 'I could get used to this, being at home!' We'll see.

When I interviewed Bruce earlier this year, I was really surprised that, after all these years, he told me that he gets very nervous before shows when he's had a lay-off from the road for a while. Do you feel the same?

Well, of course, 'cause you're not confident, I suppose. You still get nervous anyway, to a certain degree, but you're bound to be nervous, if you've been off the road for a while doing an album. No matter how much you rehearse, it's not the same as getting out there and doing it, so yeah. But there's no harm in that, really, is there?

What happens at the end of the North American tour?

We’ve got Mexico and then we go to South America - Brazil, Argentina, Chile - and then Japan. Then three shows in the UK, and that's about it. I don't think anything is going to happen after that - but knowing Rod, it's difficult to say! Certainly, I think, if anything else gets added in there, it will be finished by mid-November.

Metal-is had an e-mail from a Maiden fan who wanted to know why Australia had been ‘excluded’ from the Brave New World tour (hi, Victoria!). What’s the story there?

I think originally we were hoping to do some shows down there and then it got shortened down to a couple of shows and then nothing at all. I think that's mainly through the problem of physically freighting everything everywhere. I'm pretty sure we'll do it on the next tour - and I'd like to do New Zealand as well. But, I suppose, to be honest - not from our point of view, but from Rod's point of view - the albums haven't sold as well there as anywhere else either. You go where you're wanted, basically, and I know there's some fans that want us down there, but maybe Rod felt there wasn't enough, I don't know.

What is the plan for 2001? Will you record another album?

No. Next year will be off, other than we're thinking about doing a live album and if we do that, it will need to be mixed, so I'll do that. But other than that, it will be off. I think we deserve it. This is the end of a three year cycle for four of us, which goes way back to before doing the 'Virtual XI' album. We had ten weeks at home after that nine month 'Virtual XI' tour and apart from that, we've been home the odd day here and there, so it's been almost three years.

With the band riding the crest of a wave at the moment, this must be a good time to be a member of Iron Maiden?

Yeah, it's probably a good time to be in any band playing this kind of music at the moment, because there seems to be a buzz out there for it again. We're doing very well and it's gone from strength to strength. The last three albums, the last three tours, have been going up and up and up, and it's great. I think metal has been on the incline, definitely.