BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

Tracklist
1. "2 Minutes to Midnight" (Promo Video)
2. "Aces High" (Promo Video)
3. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (14 August 1984)
4. "Run to the Hills" (17 August 1984)

MTV extended documentry tracklist

1. "Aces High" (Promo Video)
2. "The Trooper" (11 August 1984)
3. "22 Acacia Avenue" (Unknown Date)
4. "The Number of the Beast" (11 August 1984)
5. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (14 August 1984)
6. "2 Minutes to Midnight" (Promo Video)
7. "Run to the Hills" (17 August 1984)

Lineup

Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Dave Murray – guitar
Adrian Smith – guitar,backing vocals
Steve Harris – bass, backing vocals
Nicko McBrain – drums

The video also features a portion of the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" which Iron Maiden played at event manager Dorota Nawrocka and dentist Piotr Zmudzinski´s wedding at the now-demolished Adria club in Poznań, Poland.

This 38-minute video was filmed during the first part of the World Slavery Tour, when Maiden became the first Heavy Metal act to play behind what was known at the time as the "Iron Curtain" – i.e., the countries of Eastern Europe under Soviet control until the end of the Cold War. In between song are inserted documentary shots of the band dealing with the fans. There is a pretty amusing conversation between a fan and Bruce about the use of synthesisers in Heavy Metal. The fan tells Bruce that he plays Metal with his synth, to which Bruce answers "no, sorry, you can't play Heavy Metal with a synthesiser". Well, can't you?

The live portions of 'Aces High' were – quite ironically – filmed in Hannover, Germany, on 4th August 1984 and the war footage is from original World War II news reels at the time of the Battle Of Britain. Incidentally, the live parts of "2 Minutes To Midnight" were also filmed in Hannover on the same date, whereas the insert footage was shot in London in September.
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" was filmed in Katowice, Poland, on 14th August 1984 and the inserted black and white footage is from the 1938 Russian film Alexander Nevsky. "Run To The Hills" was filmed in Budapest, Hungary.

It should also be noted that, way back at the end of 1984, MTV aired Maiden's Behind The Iron Curtain documentary with seven songs that Maiden played during the shows. There are only four songs on the 'official' release, but the documentary also included "The Trooper", "The Number Of The Beast" and "22 Acacia Avenue" as well as the other four.

behind the iron curtain pic

Source: The Iron Maiden Commentary

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BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

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