The story of Iron Maiden begins in 1971, when 15 year old Steve Harris, inspired by the likes of Wishbone Ash, Jethro Tull and early Genesis bought a copy Telecaster bass for the then princely sum of $40. Steve had previously harboured visions of one day playing soccer for his beloved West Ham and was actually signed to them on schoolboy forms. However, the talent pool in the Hammer's youth organisation in those days was overflowing and the number of players who actually made it into the professional game were very few. The continuous playing and training regime also meant that that young Harry couldn't join his mates in drinking, watching bands and pulling girls. After thinking long and hard, he abandoned hopes of a soccer career and built up a strong liking and knowledge of rock music. He taught himself how to play by playing along to his favourite records and jamming with friends. This led to the formation of a band called Influence who then changed their name to Gypsy's Kiss.

The Gypsies made their debut at a talent contest in Poplar, lasting all of six gigs before calling it a day. Steve fired by a burning ambition hooked up with a band called Smiler. The other band members were several years older than him, Steve picked up some valuable experience but still felt stifled. Smiler were a "good time boogie " band and although they played an early version of "Innocent Exile", they turned down "Burning Ambition" and made it clear that they didn't expect their bass player to leap around the stage and write songs. Steve finally realised that the only way to do what he wanted was to put his own band together and at the end of 1975, Iron Maiden was born. Steve got the name from seeing an Iron Maiden in an old movie of "The Man In The Iron Mask". It was a metal coffin with spikes on the inside and the victims were placed inside it and skewered to death.

In the spring of 1976, the band secured a residency at The Cart and Horses pub in Stratford in London's East End. The first couple of gigs went okay, but Steve still felt there was something missing. Vocalist Paul Day was replaced by ex-Smiler songsmith Dennis Wilcock and he recommended a talented young guitarist by the name of Dave Murray. This put the back up of the resident guitarists Terry Rance and Paul Sullivan who took it as an insult to their talent and departed. Bob Sawyer, who used the name Bob D'Angelo, was recruited as second guitarist and with Ron Rebel on drums the first proper Maiden line-up came into being. As well as the Cart the band began to get gigs all over East London, building up a strong local following. After six months, the line- up changed again.

Bob left as instead of trying to complement Dave's guitar - Bob kept trying to compete with him - a strict no-contest. Then, after a row at The Bridgehouse, Den fired Dave who went off to join Urchin, his old mate Adrian Smith's band.

With all the hassles, the band decided to temporarily abandon the twin guitars concept and Terry Wapram joined as sole guitarist and Tony Moore was recruited on keyboards. Ron Rebel had decided he couldn't handle the aggravation and also left to be replaced by Barry Purkis - who would later call himself Thunderstick. The new line-up played one gig at The Bridgehouse and it was painfully obvious that keyboards were not the answer. Exit Moore followed by Wapram who claimed he couldnat play without keyboards! Steve went down to an Urchin gig and persuaded Davey to rejoin the Maiden fold. Den. then quit just before a gig in South London and when Thunderstick also left, things looked bleak. Steve recruited ex-Smiler drummer Doug Sampson and while the three of them rehearsed they looked for a new singer. Eventually, a mate of Steve's recommended Paul Di'Anno. Paul passed his audition with flying colours and the band set about their comeback. Things were difficult at first as in 1977 the Punk / New Wave revolution was in full swing and most of the venues were only booking new wave acts. The record companies felt the same. The band did receive offers, if they were prepared to cut their hair and go punk. Needless to say you can guess Harry's answer.

By late 1978, the situation had improved enough to allow the band to work to make their comeback and get regular gigs. They realised that they needed a demo and so on New Year's Eve they were in Spaceward Studios near Cambridge recording "Prowler", "Invasion", "Strange World" and "Iron Maiden". The ?200 cost of the recording session was all that they had and so the band couldnat buy the master tape. When they went back a couple of weeks later to pay for the tape and mix, the tape had been wiped, leaving them with just the cassettes from the original session unedited and unmixed. Dave gave his copy to Neal Kay, a DJ with a passionate love of hard rock who held regular rock nights at The Soundhouse, which adjoined the Bandwagon pub in Kingsbury, North London. The band were now finding it easier to book gigs and gained a residency at The Ruskin Arms in Manor Park. Neal played the tape at one of his Soundhouse nights and was astonished at the reaction. It became the most requested item for months and Maiden began to play there. The demo tape had also come to the attention of Rod Smallwood. A rugby mate of Rod's, who also worked with Steve, passed the tape on, and after listening to it and checking the band out, offered his services as manager. Rod arranged gigs all over the country to allow the band to build-up a nation-wide following and arranged gigs in or near central London to get record companies to check out Maiden. One such gig was at The Marquee on October 13th. John Darnley came from EMI to see Maiden and Rod had a side bet with the Marquee manager that the gig would sell-out (700 fans) by 7pm. Rod won his bet and EMI signed Iron Maiden the following month. In the summer, Maiden had been featured in the music paper "Sounds". It was in this feature that Geoff Barton who would later go on to found "Kerrang!" coined the phrase "The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal". Maiden also made their debut at The Music Machine in Camden as special guests to Motorhead who were playing under the name of "Iron Fist And The Hordes From Hell". Before the year was out the band would play the Music Machine twice more - as headliners.

In the meantime, the band, who had been deluged with requests for copies of the demo tape from fans decided to put it out on their own Rock Hard label. The 7" EP was christened "The Soundhouse Tapes" and to keep it special for the hard-core fans was only sold at gigs and by mail-order. The 6000 copies sold-out almost immediately making it an instant collectors item. Despite requests from major chainstores for the record the band decided to keep it as something special for their fans. In between gigs, the band went into EMI's Manchester Square studios to record "Sanctuary" and "Wrathchild" for a compilation LP called "Metal For Muthas". They also recorded four songs for Radio One's "The Friday Rock Show". Guitarist Tony Parsons came in as second guitarist to make it a five-piece again.

Over the Christmas period, the band underwent more line-up changes. Doug Sampson had to quit for health reasons and Parsons, who always appeared bored on stage, got the elbow. Clive Burr and Dennis Stratton took over on drums and guitar. The band then got down to recording their first album with Will Malone in the producer's chair. In February 1980, while the band went out on the "Metal For Muthas" tour to promote the compilation, their first single "Running Free" was released. It totally exceeded record company expectations entering the UK charts at No.44 and earning the band an invitation to appear on BBC TV's "Top Of The Pops". The band accepted - but only if they could play live - the first band since The Who eight years earlier. Surprisingly the BBC agreed. On April 14th the band's debut album "Iron Maiden" was released rocketing straight into the charts at No.4! Maiden, who had followed "Metal For Mouths" with a guest slot on the Judas Priest "British Steel" UK Tour, began their own fully fledged headline UK Tour playing some 40-odd dates in just under two months They also appeared again at the Marquee, including a run of four consecutive nights all totally sold-out.

In August, the band were invited by U.S mega-stars Kiss to support them on their European Tour and to play at Reading on the Saturday night as special guests to UFO, giving Steve the opportunity to play on the same bill as UFO's Pete Way, one of his all-time heroes. With Kiss, the two bands got on famously and Maiden's following on the continent grew immensely. Maiden did not play on the UK dates having just finished their UK tour and so took a week off to holiday in the Italian sun. On returning from the KISS tour it was announced that due to "musical differences" Dennis was leaving the band. Dennis's taste in music was quite different from the rest of the band and his ideas were not in line with where the band wanted to go and so a parting of the ways was necessary. The split was acrimonious at first, but nowadays Dennis and the band are good friends and Dennis manages The Cart and Horses. The band did not have very far to look for a replacement and Adrian Smith joined the fold. The band had actually approached Adrian before Dennis, but as Urchin seemed to be happening H decided to stick it out. A mini-UK tour was hastily arranged to break Adrian in. Then they began work on a new album with Martin Birch producing. They broke off from recording to play a special Christmas gig at London's Rainbow Theatre, which was filmed for future video release. The capacity crowd were given an early Christmas present when the second half of the show had to be played all over again due to problems with the sound recording. Nobody left early!

The "Killers" album came out in February '81 as the band embarked on their first World Tour. It charted in the UK at No.12 and earned the band gold discs from several major territories. As well as Europe, the "Killer" World Tour took in first-time visits to Canada, America and Japan. A live EP featuring performances recorded in Japan was released called "Maiden Japan". In March a 30 minute video of the Rainbow Christmas show came out. As the "Killer" tour came to an end, it was clear that Paul Di'Anno's days were numbered. He had believed in living the rock and roll lifestyle to the full, despite warnings from the rest of the band, Rod and doctors - damaging his vocal chords and his health. Once more a replacement was close at hand. Bruce Bruce of fellow UK rockers Samson was becoming disenchanted at that band's drift towards the kind of music that ironically Paul was embracing and so he auditioned for Maiden and was in, reverting to his normal name of Dickinson. A few hastily-arranged dates in Italy introduced Bruce to Maiden and he made a triumphant UK debut at The Rainbow, the band also took the opportunity to play some new songs currently being recorded for the new album. Bruce was christened "the air-raid siren" by the fans due to his powerful vocals. The year ended with Maiden returning to The Ruskin Arms under the thinly disguised alter-ego of Genghis Khan to a play a charity / Dave Murray birthday bash.

If 1981 could be viewed as a successful year for Maiden, then 1982 exceeded all expectations. The band were already engaged in a sell-out British leg of "The Beast On The Road" tour when the first single from the new album - "Run To The Hills" reached No.7 in the UK Charts. The new album "The Number Of The Beast" blew away the competition to enter the UK chart at No.1 and going Top 10 across Europe. It also charted in the US and Canadian charts. "The Beast On The Road" tour lived up to it's name with the band playing 180 dates in eight months. Once again the band broke new ground visiting Australia and New Zealand for the first time and on June 29th, they played their first sold out headline gig in the US at New York's Palladium. In August, the band broke off from their US Tour and flew back to the UK to perform at The Reading Festival in front of 35,000 fans. At the end of the tour, another casualty in the Maiden line-up was Clive Burr. A series of personal problems and the gruelling Iron Maiden schedule took it's toll and so in January 1983, the band flew to Nassau to record the next album with one Nicko McBrain in the drummer's chair. The band had met Nicko during the UK leg of the "Killer" tour when he played with French rockers Trust who had supported Maiden. In America, the band were branded Satanists by a small band of ill-informed, self opinionated individuals who had totally missed the point. Their accusations - totally untrue -gaining the band more publicity.

Drummer, raconteur and all-round headcase, Nicko received his baptism of fire during the recording of "Piece Of Mind" in Nassau. The band took time out from recording to film a promo video for the forthcoming single "Flight Of Icarus", the script called for someone to wear blue make-up and dress in monk's robes. Nicko as the new boy volunteered for the role. In May, the new album came out and entered the UK Charts at No.3 and the band began the "World Piece Tour" at Hull City Hall. The tour was once again a world-wide affair with the band achieving major status throughout the countries that they played.. In the U.S, they were playing to larger and larger audiences and selling out almost everywhere. The tour came to an end in front of a Europe-wide TV audience in Dortmund. As a climax to the show, the band viciously attacked the walking Eddie. Apparently, they had been having thoughts about dispensing with the services of their monster mascot, but fortunately the reports of Eddie's demise were grossly exaggerated and he was back on record covers and stages the following year. The band went into the New Year, with a stable line-up, facing the prospect of their busiest year yet.

1984, opened with a confident (but not complacent) Iron Maiden having a three week break before starting work on the new album. It was rehearsed in Jersey and once again recorded in Nassau. By the time "Powerslave" hit the streets in September, the band were already three weeks into the gruelling "World Slavery Tour" pushing the boundaries ever onwards, the band opened the tour in Poland - the first time ever that a major rock act had played there with a full western stage production. The band also played in Hungary, and Yugoslavia and the groundbreaking "Iron Maiden Behind The Iron Curtain" tour was a huge success and earned the attention of the world's media. In those days with the Iron Curtain still firmly in place, a tour of those countries was a major undertaking. The whole tour was also filmed for a documentary which was released later in the year as "Behind The Iron Curtain". From Eastern Europe, the band returned via Italy to the UK, where the "Powerslave" album was released and went straight to No.2. The album featured the most elaborate artwork so far and the massive stageshow reflected this. Maiden played four nights at Hammersmith Odeon, including one night with spoof rockers Bad News for charity. Eddie was now a twenty feet tall monster appearing at the end of the song "Iron Maiden". The tour was an overwhelming success, the band were at the height of their powers, the stage show was awesome and the merchandise receipts broke records at many venues. The band interrupted the U.S. leg of the tour and made their first visit to South America when they played in front of an estimated 200,000 people at the "Rock In Rio" festival. The highlight of the U.S. tour was at Long Beach Arena in Southern California when Iron Maiden became the first band to sell-out four consecutive nights - a total audience of 52,000.The Long Beach shows were filmed with the view to releasing another live video, and live album capturing the band at their very best. The tour came to an exhausting conclusion in July 1985. With a double live album and live video due for release in the autumn, the band could at last take their first real holiday for five years and they needed it. The live album and video both called "Live After Death" came out in October, the album charted at No.2 and the video was in the best-selling music video charts for months.

The new album "Somewhere In Time" was recorded in Nassau and Munich and was released in September 1986. It charted in the UK at No.3 and went gold or platinum in every major territory. To promote the album, the band went "Somewhere On Tour". The new album showed a marked change in the band's style with the use of synthesisers as background on several songs. However, any fans who feared it could water down Maiden's style needed only to listen to the likes of "Heaven Can Wait" or "Alexander The Great". The tour once again began with a visit behind the Iron Curtain, commencing in Belgrade and finishing a mere eight months later in Osaka. The stage show was once again spectacular, Eddie had now been turned into a cyborg and the climax of the show saw the entire band being lifted into the air while a giant inflatable Eddie head and claws appeared. The band were also filmed and interviewed for a video documentary released in 1987 entitled "Twelve Wasted Years" - a video chronicle of their rise to the top featuring previously unseen archive footage and interviews with key people involved in the Iron Maiden success. With the tour successfully completed it was time to start thinking about the next album.

"Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" was an epic masterpiece of an album - it marked the first and (so far) only time that Iron Maiden have recorded a "concept" album. This wasn't originally the idea, but as the band wrote and rehearsed, the songs seemed to be linked by a common theme. The cover artwork also showed a marked change, being more subdued in style that anything previously seen. The "Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour" also broke with Maiden tradition., beginning in the U.S and being made up of a combination of arenas and festivals. The high spot of the entire tour came in August when Maiden headlined at the legendary "Monsters Of Rock" festival at Donington. Supported by one of the strongest bills ever seen at the festival (Kiss, David Lee Roth, Megadeth, Guns and Roses & Helloween), the band played before an all-time record crowd for the event of 102,000. Maiden played a blistering set and the stage show was fantastic, climaxing with a massive fireworks display. The band then took the "Monsters.." shows to Europe, before ending the tour on home territory with a series of arena shows - the first time that the band had played such large venues in the UK. The two nights at Birmingham NEC - arguably the best non- festival shows of the tour were filmed for a new live video which would be co-directed and edited by Steve Harris. The tour came to an end on 12th December back at Hammersmith Odeon - the scene of so many previous Maiden triumphs. With no album scheduled for 1989, the band were able to look forward to a real break to recharge their batteries and spend some real time with their families.

Bruce and Adrian "rested" by recording solo albums, while Steve spent most of his time editing the Birmingham footage. The band did finally get together again in November 1989 for the release of the video "Maiden England". EMI and Sanctuary threw a lavish launch party with a strong British theme, the hall was decked out with Union Jacks and the invited representatives of the world's media dined on fish and chips and drank bitter, while the band spent their time being photographed and interviewed. "Maiden England" was once again a best seller amongst music videos.

In January 1990, the band assembled at Steve's to start work on "No Prayer For The Dying". Work had barely begun when, for the first time in seven years there was a personnel change. Adrian fresh from his solo album, revealed that he wasn't sure that he could still give Maiden 100 percent and so by mutual consent left the band. Fortunately, the solution was once again close at hand. Janick Gers who was well-known to the band having played with Gillan among others and who had recently worked with Bruce on his solo album and tour was auditioned and invited to join. The recording of the album continued on schedule. For the first time since "Beast" the band recorded the album on home soil, at Steve's own studio in a converted barn on the side of his house in Essex. The content of the album took on a more serious feel, as the band's lyrics began to deal with contemporary issues. The album cover and packaging artwork had a more sinister look about it, The album was released on October 1st 1990 and debuted at No.2 in the UK chart. After not treading the boards for almost two years, the band were raring to get out and play live again. The "No Prayer On The Road" tour got underway with a "secret" gig in Milton Keynes on 19th September 1990. After the mammothh production of the previous tour, it was a back-to-basics approach this time around with a minimum of stage set and lighting. It ably demonstrated that Maiden could put on a great show in their own right without having to be surrounded by mega-watts of sound and light and a big-budget production. Janick also made a big difference live, his high-energy enthusiasm and on-stage antics rubbed off on everyone, especially Davey. The band and their fans enjoyed being close to each other again, feeding off each other's enthusiasm reminiscent of the earlier days. The tour ended in Salt Lake City in March 1991. It was originally scheduled to carry on to Japan and Australia, but the travel and hipping difficulties presented by the outbreak of the Gulf War brought about the premature end.

When it came time to think about the new album, the band and management decided that Eddie needed a change of image for the 1990's. From comic-book horror it was decided that Eddie should be more straightforward horror and to that end Derek Riggs and several other artists were invited to submit ideas of how they saw the "new" Eddie and a design submitted by Melvyn Grant was selected. The album "Fear Of The Dark" was released in May 1992 as the band opened the "Fear Of The Dark" tour in Scandinavia. The album gave the band their third UK No.1. Iron Maiden were once again asked to play at Donington in August. The band played an even stronger show than in 1988. They knew what to expect this time around and so were less effected by nerves. The entire show was filmed for a live video to be released the following year. Several shows were also taped for a future live album. The stage show was more elaborate although not to the excess of '88 and Eddie appeared as a giant tree creature as per the album cover. The tour ended on November 4th and as the band flew home from Japan, they were unaware of the bombshell that was about to be dropped in March 1993.

Bruce had been thinking for some time about leaving Iron Maiden. Always a workaholic, Bruce had several projects on the go outside of Maiden and with a young family, the demands on his time were reaching saturation point. Something had to give and Bruce felt he'd gone as far as he could with Iron Maiden. It had been decided that rather than release a double live album as they had with "Live After Death" the new live set would be released as two separate albums. The first would feature material from the band's post LAD period, while the second would feature more vintage material. The fans then had a choice of purchasing both albums or just material from either era. As the first live album - "A Real Live One" approached and the band prepared for the "Real Live Tour" they advertised for a replacement for Bruce - with the result that they were flooded with thousands of tapes CD's and videos from the hopeful to the hopeless. Meanwhile, the band visited Moscow. The reception the band received from the happy Russian headbangers was amazing. Once the tour was complete it was time to sit down and sift through the myriad of demos from prospective singers. Bruce was given a suitably grisly send-off at the end of "Raising Hell" a pay-per-view magic and music show featuring TV magician Simon Drake which was televised live around the world.

After an intensive search, it was announced at the end of the year that Bruce's successor was to be Blaze Bayley from Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane had supported Iron Maiden on their 1990 UK Tour and so the band had the opportunity to see Blaze in action and knew what he was capable of. Blaze was favourite from the start and after listening to all the tapes and holding auditions no one cropped up that the band felt would be more suitable. Once all the hoop-la of Blaze's joining had died down, the band set about a period of intensive rehearsals so that they and Blaze could get used to each other and then start work on the new album.

The band not only had a new singer, but also a new producer. For the first time since 1980, a Maiden studio album would not be produced or co-produced by Martin Birch. Since the mid 80's Martin had been in semi-retirement only returning to the mixing desk for Maiden. Now he had decided to completely retire. It was decided that Steve would share the producer's chair with Nigel Green. Nigel had originally been the tape operator on the "Killers" and "Beast" albums, having since gone on to become a top-flight producer in his own right. The new album took over a year to complete. The importance of the album meant that every step was taken to ensure that everything was just right. The new album was christened "The X Factor" as in X - the unknown. It finally hit the streets in October 1995 with the "X Factour" beginning shortly before.

The tour opened with dates in Israel and South Africa - the band's first time in either country and the experience and the welcome from the local fans made the band want to return there next time. They were also supposed to play in Beirut, but the Lebanese government withdrew their visas and even intervention through diplomatic channels failed to change their minds. The band took advantage of the unexpected lull to fly back to the UK to do MTV's "Most Wanted". They then flew to Romania behind the former Iron Curtain to undertake the first COMPREHENSIVE tour of Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Rebublic, Romania). Any doubts as to Blaze's ability and fan reaction were laid to rest as the band received a warm welcome from all the fans, especially at home. The Brixton show was one of the best of all-time. The band were fired up and so was the crowd. In the lead-up to Christmas and early in the New Year Maiden played in Western Europe before moving on to America, Canada and Japan. In the summer the band played European festivals and toured South America including headlining the "Monsters Of Rock" in front of 50,000 in Sao Paulo stadium.

Which brings us nicely to now, 20 years on, and the "Best Of The Beast". This album contains a live rendition of Afraid to shoot strangers interpreted by Blaze Bayley and a new studio track called VIRUS. The album is a sum of the bands best songs all remastered...and they sound great. the "Best Of The Beast" is available in a single CD version or a double CD bookset. I highly suggest buying the Bookset because it has much more songs in it and lots of great info on the band.

The Band is now finished the recording of a new studio album called Virtual XI and it should be available sometime in March 1998. This year promises to be a good one for the band, they are releasing a state of the art computer game designed by Synthetic Dimensions in which Eddie plays the leading part, Blaze Bayley does the vocals and the band have recorded exclusive tracks for it. This game shall be available some time in April 1998 and will also be made available on Sony Playstation. Steve Harris also announced that they would be promoting Virtual XI with a Huge World tour produced by famed Dave "Lights".

In February 1999, Bayley left the band by mutual consent. The main reason for his departure was his inconsistent onstage performance Blaze's voice was not up to the rigours of a full-on Maiden tour. At the same time, the band shocked their fans when they announced that both Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith were rejoining the band, which meant the classic 1980s lineup was back in place plus Janick Gers, who would remain. Iron Maiden now had three guitarists, and a successful reunion tour followed.

Iron Maiden's first studio work after the reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith came in the form of 2000's Brave New World. The album was met with much critical acclaim. Thematic influences continued with "The Wicker Man" - based on the 1973 British cult film of the same name, and "Brave New World" - based on the novel of the same name. The world tour that followed consisted of around 80 dates, and culminated on 19 January 2001 with a show at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, where Iron Maiden played to a crowd of 250,000. This performance was recorded and subsequently released in March 2002 under the name Rock in Rio.

In 2003, Iron Maiden released Dance of Death. As usual, historical and literary influences continued - "Montsegur" in particular being about the Cathar stronghold conquered in 1244 and Paschendale relating to a significant battle during World War I.Their performance at Westfalenhalle stadium in Germany, as part of the supporting tour, was recorded and released in August 2005 as a live album and DVD, entitled Death on the Road. In 2005, the band announced a tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of their first album, Iron Maiden, and the 30th anniversary of their formation. The tour also was in support of the 2004 DVD entitled The Early Days and as such during the tour they only played material from their first four albums. As part of the celebration of their early days, the "Number of the Beast" single was re-released, which went straight to number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.

At Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance (August 20, 2005 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, CA), the band's sound was turned off several times, eggs were thrown towards the stage, and chants of "Ozzy" were shouted through the PA system. This was the work of Sharon Osbourne, who took to the stage and proceeded to call Bruce Dickinson "a prick" after they performed their encore, followed by a large portion of the crowd booing her off the stage.The band completed its summer tour by headlining the Reading and Leeds weekend festivals on the 26th and 28th August 2005,playing classics from the first four studio albums to a combined audience of approximately 120,000. The final gig took place in London at the Hammersmith Odeon (now Apollo) in early September 2005. For the second time, the band played a charity gig for former drummer Clive Burr.

In November 2006, Iron Maiden and manager Rod Smallwood announced that they were cutting off their 27 year old ties with Sanctuary Music and have started a new company named Phantom Music Management. Smallwood said:
"I formed Sanctuary in 1979 and named it after the Maiden song, so it's a bit of a wrench leaving after all these years. However in the latter stages of my career I want to be able to fully concentrate on and enjoy managing Maiden without being distracted by other areas of the business. As you all know we have an awful lot going on and we have many exciting plans for the future. The forthcoming European Tour will be incredible and l want to be at as many of the concerts as possible to enjoy the feeling l think you can only really get at a Maiden show! My new company is called Phantom and no prizes for guessing where that came from. Don't worry it's Maiden business as usual.

In Autumn 2006 Iron Maiden released A Matter of Life and Death. Whilst the album is not a concept album, war and religion are recurring themes in the lyrics throughout, as well as in the album's artwork.

Iron Maiden will be doing several major festival shows accross Europe for 2007, and it is possible more will be announced. Maiden will headlining events including: Download Festival 2007, Graspop, Dubai Desert Rock Festival, Athens, Fields of Rock Festival (Biddinghuizen, Holland) Belgrade and Arena Muzika in Sofiq . The Belgrade show will feature a trip from the UK by fans via Bruce Air. Bruce Air is a service where Bruce Dickinson flies fans to a show and back in a commercial airline jets. Iron Maiden will also be headlining the "EddFest" in Bangalore,India on 17th March 2007. This will be the first time Maiden will be performing in the country.
Following the official announcement on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, Iron Maiden proudly confirmed they will once again headlining at this years Download Festival on Sunday June 10, 2007, making this a record breaking fourth headline appearance at the world famous Donington Park venue. Few bands have headlined twice, let alone more times than that.
The first time Maiden ever played at Donington was when they topped the bill in 1988, with Kiss and Guns N Roses among the supports, playing to over 100,000 people - the biggest Donington crowd by far and still the biggest Metal show ever in the UK - returning again in 1992 and 2003.
Says Bruce Dickinson 'Our fans know that Donington is a special place for Maiden and we are all looking forward to getting back there for a fourth time. The 'A Matter of Life and Death UK Tour' last December was very special for us and we very much appreciated the fans giving us such great support in us playing the whole album which, lets face it, was not necessarily the easiest thing to do for us or them! It was definitely the right challenge for us at that time but outdoors in the summer is different and as a thank you to our fans we will be including quite a few more 'classic' favourites balanced with some of the tracks from the new album. We will naturally bring Eddie and his toys along, so all in all it should be a great day for everybody!!'.

In November 2006, Iron Maiden and manager Rod Smallwood announced that they were cutting off their 27 year old ties with Sanctuary Music and have started a new company named Phantom Music Management. Smallwood said:
"I formed Sanctuary in 1979 and named it after the Maiden song, so it's a bit of a wrench leaving after all these years. However in the latter stages of my career I want to be able to fully concentrate on and enjoy managing Maiden without being distracted by other areas of the business. As you all know we have an awful lot going on and we have many exciting plans for the future. The forthcoming European Tour will be incredible and l want to be at as many of the concerts as possible to enjoy the feeling l think you can only really get at a Maiden show! My new company is called Phantom and no prizes for guessing where that came from. Don't worry it's Maiden business as usual.

2007 Festival Tour

Iron Maiden will be doing several major festival shows accross Europe for 2007, and it is possible more will be announced. Maiden will headlining events including: Download Festival 2007, Graspop, Dubai Desert Rock Festival, Athens, Fields of Rock Festival (Biddinghuizen, Holland) and Belgrade. The Belgrade show will feature a trip from the UK by fans via Bruce Air. Bruce Air is a service where Bruce Dickinson flies fans to a show and back in a commercial airline jets. Iron Maiden will also be headlining the "EddFest" in Bangalore,India on 17th March 2007. This will be the first time Maiden will be performing in the country. More info can be found on all of these events at ironmaiden.com
Following the official announcement on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, Iron Maiden proudly confirmed they will once again headlining at this years Download Festival on Sunday June 10, 2007, making this a record breaking fourth headline appearance at the world famous Donington Park venue. Few bands have headlined twice, let alone more times than that.
The first time Maiden ever played at Donington was when they topped the bill in 1988, with Kiss and Guns N Roses among the supports, playing to over 100,000 people - the biggest Donington crowd by far and still the biggest Metal show ever in the UK - returning again in 1992 and 2003.
Says Bruce Dickinson 'Our fans know that Donington is a special place for Maiden and we are all looking forward to getting back there for a fourth time. The 'A Matter of Life and Death UK Tour' last December was very special for us and we very much appreciated the fans giving us such great support in us playing the whole album which, lets face it, was not necessarily the easiest thing to do for us or them! It was definitely the right challenge for us at that time but outdoors in the summer is different and as a thank you to our fans we will be including quite a few more 'classic' favourites balanced with some of the tracks from the new album. We will naturally bring Eddie and his toys along, so all in all it should be a great day for everybody!!'.

On 5 September 2007, the band announced their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, which ties in with the DVD release of their Live After Death album. The setlist for the tour consisted of successes from the 1980s, with a specific emphasis on the Powerslave era for set design. The tour started in Mumbai, India on 1 February 2008 where the band played to an audience of almost 30,000. The first part of the tour consisted of 24 concerts in 21 cities, travelling over 50, 000 miles in the band's own chartered airplane "Ed Force One". They played their first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Colombia and their first Australian shows since 1992. On 12 May, the band released a new compilation album, titled Somewhere Back in Time. It includes a selection of tracks from their 1980 eponymous debut to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, including several live versions from Live After Death. With the sole UK headline show at Twickenham Stadium, this tour also marked the first ever stadium headlining show in the UK by the band. A final part of the tour took place in February and March 2009, including the band's first ever appearance in Peru and Ecuador, and their first performances in New Zealand for 16 years. The band also played their third show within a span of 2 years in India, at the Rock In India 2009 festival to a crowd of 20,000. The final leg of the tour ended in Florida on April 2 after which the band took a break from touring.

On 20 January 2009, the band announced that they were to release a full-length documentary film in select cinemas on 21 April. Titled Iron Maiden: Flight 666, the movie was filmed during the first part of the "Somewhere Back In Time" tour between February and March 2008. Flight 666 is co-produced by Banger Productions and was released by Universal Music Group in the U.S. and EMI Records in the rest of the world.

During a Rock Radio interview promoting Flight 666, Nicko McBrain revealed that Iron Maiden had booked studio time for early 2010 and would be likely to be touring again late that year or the year after. At the 2009 BRIT Awards the band won the award for best live act.

During their live presentation in Sao Paulo, on 15 March 2009, Bruce announced on stage that the show was the biggest of their career. In fact, the crowd of 100,000 people was Iron Maiden's all-time biggest attendance for a solo show, without other bands. The attendance was bigger than Chile's show (almost 60,000 fans), according to the organisers. On 2 November 2009, Janick Gers confirmed to BBC News that the band already had new material written and would head to Paris, France, to start composing and rehearsing the bulk for the new album. The band took time off for Christmas and New Year's Eve before recording the new album in January, with Kevin Shirley producing. In another interview with heavy metal DJ Eddie Trunk, drummer Nicko McBrain confirmed that the band had finished writing eight songs for the new album which he claimed would probably be released in 2011.

In December 2009 Iron Maiden announced that they would headline a string of festivals in the Summer of 2010: Sonisphere Festivals in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Finland; Wacken Open Air in Germany; the Festival d'ete de Quebec in Canada. They will also play at the Bergenhus Fortress in Norway in August and in Udine in Italy.
On March 4, 2010, the new album title was announced as The Final Frontier, along with North American and European tour dates for summer 2010.

On April 6, 2010, Kevin Shirley announced that he had completed the mixing process of "The Final Frontier": "In this last month I have finished all the vocals and tracking and mixed the new Iron Maiden album, The Final Frontier - in my studio."

On June 8, 2010, the cover art, track listing, and release date of the new album were announced. The Final Frontier will be released on August 16 2010. The first single was also revealed to be entitled El Dorado. This song, the second of the album, was made available for free download along with the album's details