As I sit here in my office at Rock Father HQ, there’s a few bottles of Robinson’s Iron Maiden Trooper Beer – regular, the sold-out “Trooper 666,” and the new “Red ‘N’ Black” Porter (which I haven’t tried yet) in the cooler nearby. Is it wrong to want a sip at 8:30am? That’s sorta where I’m at right now as news just hit my inbox that IRON MAIDEN is bringing The Book Of Souls World Tour back to North America for an extensive series of arena and amphitheater shows in summer 2017. After kicking off a string of 14 sold-out shows in the U.S. and Canada last February, the tour spawned a further 58 concerts in 34 other countries around the globe. Now, the tour returns – and with one of my favorite current bands in direct support: GHOST.
IRON MAIDEN – The Book of Souls 2017 North American Tour Dates:
JUN 03 BRISTOW, VA JIFFY LUBE LIVE
JUN 04 PHILADELPHIA, PA WELLS FARGO CENTER
JUN 07 NEWARK, NJ PRUDENTIAL CENTER
JUN 09 CHARLOTTE, NC PNC MUSIC PAVILION
JUN 11 TAMPA, FL AMALIE ARENA
JUN 13 NASHVILLE, TN BRIDGESTONE ARENA
JUN 15 CHICAGO, IL HOLLYWOOD CASINO AMPHITHEATER
JUN 16 MINNEAPOLIS, MN XCEL ENERGY CENTER
JUN 19 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK CHESAPEAKE ARENA
JUN 21 HOUSTON, TX TOYOTA CENTER
JUN 23 DALLAS, TX AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER
JUN 24 SAN ANTONIO, TX AT&T CENTER
JUN 27 ALBUQUERQUE, NM ISLETA AMPHITHEATER
JUN 28 PHOENIX, AZ TALKING STICK RESORT ARENA
JUL 01 SAN BERNARDINO, CA SAN MANUEL AMPHITHEATER*
JUL 03 LAS VEGAS, NV T-MOBILE ARENA
JUL 05 OAKLAND, CA ORACLE ARENA
JUL 07 SALT LAKE CITY, UT USANA AMPHITHEATER
JUL 09 LINCOLN, NE PINNACLE BANK ARENA
JUL 11 KANSAS CITY, MO SPRINT CENTER
JUL 12 ST LOUIS, MO HOLLYWOOD CASINO AMPHITHEATER
JUL 15 TORONTO, CANADA BUDWEISER STAGE
JUL 16 QUEBEC CITY, CANADA VIDEOTRON CENTRE
JUL 19 MANSFIELD, MA XFINITY CENTER
JUL 21 BROOKLYN, NY BARCLAYS CENTER
Steve Harris commented; “We are really looking forward to returning to North America for a full tour. We had always planned to go back there and to the UK as last year, due to the global nature of the tour and the period it took, we just didn’t have time to cover them properly and we do still like to get to fans in as many places as possible!
So this year we’re able to reach many more cities in America, including a return to places Maiden haven’t played for many, many years like Lincoln Nebraska, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Oakland California. We also welcome playing in Brooklyn for the first time.
We will, of course, be bringing the full production with us including all the Eddies and the Maya-themed stage sets. There’s been a great reaction from everyone to this tour’s theme, people really seem to love it. We’re still deciding on the final set-list and we’ll work that out once we get into rehearsals. Most of our North American fans haven’t seen the show yet so as we want to give them the same Book Of Souls live experience that we took around the world, it’s unlikely we’ll change much. And of course we know our fans appreciate us playing a lot of the older songs too, so we will continue to do that!”
Tickets start going on-sale Friday, January 27 – check www.ironmaiden.com for market specific info. As usual, there will be an exclusive pre-sale for IRON MAIDEN Fan Club members, details of which can also be found on www.ironmaiden.com along with information on how Fan Club members can participate in the draw to be “First To The Barrier”.
After great feedback to last year’s North American trial of the concept, Maiden fans will again be able to enjoy a TROOPER VIP Upgrade package that will allow them early access to the venue, a pile of TROOPER goodies and MAIDEN swag, TROOPER beers, food and a designated area to meet with other fans, plus the opportunity to win some great prizes. The upgrade packages are available at US$199 from www.troopervip.com. The concert ticket must be purchased separately.
For the 2017 shows Maiden will once again, in conjunction with the Promoters, be implementing a partial paperless ticketing system in as many venues as possible, which they have been successfully doing since 2010 and has worked well in lessening the ticketing scalping and drain of the prime tickets into the Secondary Ticketing sites.
The Book Of Souls is Maiden’s first ever double studio album and their most successful chart-wise to date, debuting at the No. 1 spot in over 40 countries around the world and No. 4 in the U.S.A.
