Somewhere Back in Time World Tour

Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
Iron Maiden performing in Irvine on 31 May 2008
Tour by Iron Maiden
Start date	1 February 2008
End date	2 April 2009
Legs	4
Shows	91 (1 cancelled)
Iron Maiden tour chronology
A Matter of Life and Death Tour (2006-2007) Somewhere Back in Time World Tour (2008-2009) The Final Frontier World Tour (2010-2011)

Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focussed on the band's 80s material, in particular songs from Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The tour tied in with the second part of the DVD series, entitled "The History of Iron Maiden", and prompted the release of a new greatest hits compilation, Somewhere Back in Time.

The tour was advertised as a way of bringing back the 80s stage show and forgotten "classics" for an audience of younger fans, not having been born in time to witness the original. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time, as much as 21 years in one case, and two of them ("Moonchild" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner") never having been played by the current line-up. The stage set was based around that of the widely celebrated "World Slavery Tour" of 1984-85, featuring similar pyrotechnics and the return of the giant mummified Eddie, but also included a lighting rig and cyborg walk-on Eddie based on that of "Somewhere On Tour" 1986.

The tour would also see the first use of "Ed Force One", Iron Maiden's customised Boeing 757, designed to carry band, crew and equipment across continents. The ground breaking nature of the tour led to the documentary entitled Iron Maiden: Flight 666, released in selected cinemas in April 2009, followed by a Blu Ray, DVD and CD release in May and June, which would top the music DVD charts in 25 countries.

The 2008 tour was the second highest grossing of the year for a British artist, with the band reportedly playing to more than 2 million people worldwide over both years.

Tour synopsis

Iron Maiden's Boeing 757 tour plane, nicknamed "Ed Force One."

The first leg of Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour opened in Mumbai, India on 1 February, and continued through Australia, Japan, Los Angeles and Mexico, followed by concerts in Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico and New Jersey, before finishing in Toronto, on 16 March. Over the 45 day period the band played 23 concerts to over 500,000 fans in 11 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially refitted plane: Boeing 757, dubbed "Ed Force One" after a competition to name the plane. On this leg of the tour, the Iron Maiden: Flight 666 film was shot.

Concerning concerts in Scandinavia, EMA Telstar announced that the Iron Maiden tour will be the biggest rock tour that any band has ever undertaken in these Nordic regions. Tour promoter Thomas Johansson of EMA Telstar commented:

Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers performing in Irvine.

Bruce Dickinson performing "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in Paris.

"We are all very proud to be making history by giving our rock fans the biggest Nordic Rock Tour there has ever been and certainly one of the most spectacular. Maiden is so hugely popular with the Nordic peoples that we wanted to ensure that as many fans as possible got the opportunity to see this very special show next year as we expect demand for tickets to be enormous.",

Maiden had also announced that they would be returning to cities that they hadn't returned to for years. Western Canada is included, as their five city run through Western Canada had sold out the very day they went on sale. Calgary and Regina had sold out in just under an hour. Edmonton sold out completely in a few hours. Winnipeg and Vancouver sold out within two hours. Calgary also had the highest pre-sale ever for the band, in which they sold out half the tickets. Edmonton and Regina were not far behind. Says Dickinson about the results: "We are truly overwhelmed by this response, especially as some of these cities we haven't played in 20 years!! Being Brits we are always very comfortable with Canadians and it will be a great pleasure to get back on the prairies again. It was always a LOUD response there! We look forward to this immensely and hope to give you all a show to remember." Most recently they played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tickets to this show were sold out. During the performance of "Powerslave" the band's instruments lost power for a brief period of time and they passed time by playing football on the stage. Once the equipment was fixed they returned and asked the audience if they should play the last verse of the song or do the next one. The band opted to play the next song which was "Heaven Can Wait". Due to storm damage to the PA and lights at the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain, Maiden had to cancel their 12 July date. The Metalway Festival in Zaragoza could be rescheduled, but it seems unlikely that Maiden can appear for their fans in Zaragoza. The 15 March presentation, in São Paulo's Race Course, had Maiden's all-time biggest attendance for them as sole performers (not a festival). Bruce Dickinson announced to the crowd that "100.000 fans" were at the venue, and later the number was resized to 63.000.

Support acts

The opening bands on the tour were:

• First Leg: Lauren Harris, Vanishing Point, Behind Crimson Eyes, Parikrama.
• Second Leg: Lauren Harris Anthrax (30 and 31 May only) and Trivium (Holmdel only).
• Third Leg: Lauren Harris, Within Temptation (London and Assen only), Kamelot (Assen), Avenged Sevenfold (not at every show), Trooper (Bucharest), Made of Hate (Warsaw), Salamandra (Prague), Slayer (Lisbon and Mérida), Tainted (Christchurch)
• Fourth Leg: Lauren Harris, Carcass, Atreyu, Morbid Angel, Anthrax (Bogota), Ágora (Mexico City), IRA (Monterrey), M.A.S.A.C.R.E. (Lima), Witchblade (Chile)

Setlist

2008 Setlist

Transylvania/Churchill's Speech
Intro song to all shows on this leg of the tour.

• "Aces High" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "2 Minutes to Midnight" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Revelations" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
• "The Trooper" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
• "Wasted Years" (from Somewhere in Time, 1986)
• "The Number of The Beast" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
• "Can I Play with Madness" (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
• "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Powerslave" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Heaven Can Wait" (from Somewhere in Time, 1986)
• "Run to the Hills" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
• "Fear of The Dark" (from Fear of The Dark, 1992)
• "Iron Maiden" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

Encore

1. "Moonchild" (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
2. "The Clairvoyant" (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
3. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

2009 Setlist

Transylvania/Churchill's Speech
Intro song to all shows on this leg of the tour.

• "Aces High" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Wrathchild" (from Killers, 1981)
• "2 Minutes to Midnight" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Children of the Damned" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
• "Phantom of the Opera" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)
• "The Trooper" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
• "Wasted Years" (from Somewhere in Time, 1986)
• "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Powerslave" (from Powerslave, 1984)
• "Run to the Hills" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
• "Fear of The Dark" (from Fear of The Dark, 1992)
• "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
• "Iron Maiden" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

Encore

1. "The Number of The Beast" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
2. "The Evil That Men Do" (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
3. "Sanctuary" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

Note:

• In Belgrade, the opening date of the 2009 tour, "2 Minutes to Midnight" (from Powerslave, 1984) and "Wrathchild" (from Killers, 1981) were played the other way round. The drum intro to "The Trooper" (from Piece of Mind, 1983) was mistakenly played before "Phantom of the Opera" (from Iron Maiden, 1980), , and the intro to "Wasted Years" (from Somewhere in Time, 1986) was also played before "The Trooper". Only the first mistake affected the concert's setlist.

Personnel

Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris and Janick Gers in Costa Rica.

• Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
• Dave Murray – guitars
• Adrian Smith – guitars, backing vocals
• Janick Gers – guitars
• Steve Harris – bass, backing vocals
• Nicko McBrain – drums, percussion

with

• Michael Kenney – keyboards

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Tickets sold/ Tickets on sale	Gross (USD)
Asia & Oceania (Leg #1)
1 February 2008	Mumbai	India	Bandra-Kurla complex	30,000/30,000	$550,000
4 February 2008	Perth	Australia	Burswood Dome	14,000/14,000
6 February 2008	Melbourne		Rod Laver Arena	14,000/14,000
7 February 2008				14,000/14,000
9 February 2008	Sydney		Acer Arena	21,220/21,220	$2,079,507
10 February 2008
12 February 2008	Brisbane		Entertainment Centre	13,500/13,500
15 February 2008	Yokohama	Japan	Yokohama Pacifico	5,000/5,000
16 February 2008	Chiba City		Makuhari Messe	10,000/10,000
North America and South America (Leg #1)
19 February 2008	Inglewood, California	United States	The Forum	14,000/14,000
21 February 2008	Guadalajara	Mexico	Auditorio Telmex	11,500/11,500
22 February 2008	Monterrey		Monterrey Arena	17,600/17,600
24 February 2008	Mexico City		Foro Sol	55,000/55,000
26 February 2008	San José	Costa Rica	Estadio Ricardo Saprissa	23,949/23,949
28 February 2008	Bogotá	Colombia	Simón Bolívar Park	38,788/38,788
2 March 2008	São Paulo	Brazil	Estádio Palestra Itália	37,812/37,812
4 March 2008	Curitiba		Pedreira Paulo Leminski	17,499/17,499
5 March 2008	Porto Alegre		Gigantinho	12,673/12,673
7 March 2008	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Estadio Ricardo Etcheverry	26,743/26,743
9 March 2008	Santiago	Chile	Pista Atletica	26,574/26,574
12 March 2008	San Juan	Puerto Rico	Coliseo de Puerto Rico, José Miguel Agrelot	11,548/13,626
14 March 2008	East Rutherford, New Jersey	United States	Izod Center	15,154/15,154
16 March 2008	Toronto, Ontario	Canada	Air Canada Centre	16,766/16,766
North America (Leg #2)
21 May 2008	Selma, Texas	United States	Verizon Wireless Amphitheater	14,667/19,982
22 May 2008	The Woodlands, Texas		Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion	13,108/15,861
25 May 2008	Albuquerque, New Mexico		Journal Pavilion	12,973/12,973
26 May 2008	Phoenix, Arizona		Cricket Wireless Pavilion	19,921/19,921
28 May 2008	Concord, California		Sleep Train Pavilion	12,500/12,500
30 May 2008	Irvine, California		Verizon Wireless Amphitheater	17,133/17,133
31 May 2008				17,133/17,133
2 June 2008	Auburn, Washington		White River Amphitheatre	14,188/19,508
3 June 2008	Vancouver, British Columbia	Canada	Pacific Coliseum	15,150/15,150
5 June 2008	Calgary, Alberta		Saddledome	12,000/12,000
6 June 2008	Edmonton, Alberta		Rexall Place	14,000/14,000
8 June 2008	Regina, Saskatchewan		Brandt Centre	7,000/7,000
9 June 2008	Winnipeg, Manitoba		MTS Centre	15,000/15,000
11 June 2008	Rosemont, Illinois	United States	Allstate Arena	15,254/15,300
12 June 2008	Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio		Blossom Music Center	11,028/21,340
14 June 2008	Holmdel, New Jersey		PNC Bank Arts Center	19,996/19,996
15 June 2008	New York, New York		Madison Square Garden	20,000/20,000
17 June 2008	Camden, New Jersey		Susquehanna Bank Center	7,779/25,265
18 June 2008	Columbia, Maryland		Merriweather Post Pavilion	19,316/19,316
20 June 2008	Mansfield, Massachusetts		Comcast Center	19,900/19,900
21 June 2008	Montréal, Québec	Canada	Parc Jean-Drapeau	25,000/50,000
Europe (Leg #3)
27 June 2008	Bologna	Italy	Gods of Metal	40,000/40,000
29 June 2008	Dessel	Belgium	Graspop Metal Meeting	55,000/55,000
1 July 2008	Paris	France	Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy	17,500/17,500
2 July 2008				17,500/17,500
5 July 2008	London	England	Twickenham Stadium	44,672/ 51,754	$4,429,452
9 July 2008	Lisbon	Portugal	Super Bock Super Rock	35,000/35,000
11 July 2008	Mérida	Spain	Via de la Plata Festival	30,000/30,000
12 July 2008	Zaragoza		Metalway Festival	40,000/(Cancelled)
16 July 2008	Stockholm	Sweden	Stockholm Olympic Stadium	33,000/33,000
18 July 2008	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium	48,000/48,000
19 July 2008	Tampere		Ratina Stadium	30,000/30,000
22 July 2008	Trondheim	Norway	Lerkendal Stadium	24,000/24,000
24 July 2008	Oslo		Valle Hovin	26,000/30,000
26 July 2008	Gothenburg	Sweden	Ullevi Stadium	60,132/60,132
27 July 2008	Horsens	Denmark	Gods Bane Pladsen	15,000/25,000
31 July 2008	Wacken	Germany	Wacken Open Air	85,000/85,000
2 August 2008	Athens	Greece	Terra Vibe Park	30,000/30,000
4 August 2008	Bucharest	Romania	Cotroceni Stadium	28,000/28,000
7 August 2008	Warsaw	Poland	Gwardia Stadium	33,000/33,000
8 August 2008	Prague	Czech Republic	Synot Tip Arena	37,000/37,000
10 August 2008	Split	Croatia	Poljud City Stadium	29,650/33,000
12 August 2008	Budapest	Hungary	Sziget Festival	74,000/74,000
14 August 2008	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakobshalle	11,000/11,000
16 August 2008	Assen	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen	30,000/30,000
19 August 2008	Moscow	Russia	Olimpiyskiy Arena	40,000/40,000
Europe (Leg #4)
10 February 2009	Belgrade	Serbia	Belgrade Arena	22,000/22,000
Asia & Oceania (Leg #4)
13 February 2009	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	Media City Amphitheatre	15,000/15,000
15 February 2009	Bangalore	India	Palace Grounds	20,000/20,000
20 February 2009	Auckland	New Zealand	Mount Smart Stadium	20,000/20,000
22 February 2009	Christchurch		Westpac Arena	10,000/10,000
North America and South America (Leg #4)
25 February 2009	Monterrey	Mexico	Estadio Universitario	21,505/38,848
26 February 2009	Guadalajara		Arena VFG	9,141/14,892
28 February 2009	Mexico City		Foro Sol	42,673/53,398
3 March 2009	Alajuela	Costa Rica	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto	14,457/18,000
5 March 2009	Caracas	Venezuela	Poliedro de Caracas	17,521/20,000
7 March 2009	Bogota	Colombia	Simon Bolivar Park	18,215/25,000
10 March 2009	Quito	Ecuador	Estadio Aucas	17,924/20,000
12 March 2009	Manaus	Brazil	Sambodromo	11,968/15,000
14 March 2009	Rio de Janeiro		Praça da Apoteose	20,000/20,000
15 March 2009	São Paulo		Autodromo de Interlagos	65,000/65,000
18 March 2009	Belo Horizonte		Mineirinho	19,849/20,000
20 March 2009	Brasilia		Estádio Mané Garrincha	19,602/21,000
22 March 2009	Santiago	Chile	Club Hipico Santiago	55,000/55,000
26 March 2009	Lima	Peru	Estadio Nacional	29,299/35,000
28 March 2009	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Vélez Sarsfield Stadium	40,024/40,024
31 March 2009	Recife	Brazil	Pernambuco Jockey Club	19,005/20,000
2 April 2009	Sunrise, Florida	United States	BankAtlantic Center	21,000/21,000

Iron Maiden in Paris, 1 July 2008.

• According to sponsors and the Flight 666 documentary, the concert held in Costa Rica marks the biggest of the region, Central America, with over 27,000 attendants.

• The Metalway Festival appearance was cancelled due to bad weather.

• The European Leg was the biggest sales achievement in band's career. Most shows were sold out in rapid time and streams of tickets were officially extra added due to high demand. Wacken Open Air '08 "Night Of Iron Maiden" attracted highest number of fans for festival Iron Maiden gig on 2008/09 tour. According to Metal Hammer DE "...not less than 83.000 metal maniacs from all over the world attended this show".

• On the Latin American Leg in 2009 Iron Maiden played 16 gigs to well over half a million people. Their show at Autodromo de Interlagos had the biggest attendance for a rock music event in history of the venue. All number figures according to local reviews sites statistics, published and multiplexed many times.

External links

• Official website
• Somewhere Back in Time World Tour Dates