Iron Maiden announced a one off show at the Los Angeles Forum on Tuesday February 19th as part of the first leg of the 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR 2008'.

The band will fly in especially for this one show from Tokyo two days before and depart for Mexico the day after on a specially commissioned and customized Boeing 757, flown by Astraeus Airline Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The 757, decked out in Maiden and Eddie artwork, will carry the band, road crew and other personnel of around 70 people plus over 12 tons of equipment.

This first leg of the 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR' opens in Mumbai India on February 1st, and continues through Australia and Japan before arriving in LA. For tourdates check www.ironmaiden.com.

The entourage then fly to Mexico and into Latin America for the band's first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Columbia, and on to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rica and New York, before finishing in Toronto, Canada, on March 16th.
Over the 45 day period it is anticipated that Maiden will play to well over 400,000 fans in 21 cities in 10 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially refitted plane.

Comments Bruce Dickinson:

"I have been flying commercial passenger jets for Astraeus Airlines for a few years now and we are commissioning an Astraeus Boeing 757. It will go in for overhaul, painting and conversion in November which will then give us time to ensure we have all the necessary safety documentation, especially with regard to fire safety. It also means it could possibly be flying commercial air routes decked out in Maiden colours for a couple of months before we start!

"Looking at the list of places we would like to play we have always had problems joining up the dots. With sea containers in various places it slows down the whole touring process, which is fine if you want a holiday but not if you want to play.

It's great to see places but we don't want to sit around for a week waiting for gear to get from, say Australia to South America, so this way we can get to more fans in more places en route in the same time period"

To tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic 'Live After Death' concert video (full details coming soon) this tour, aptly entitled 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME', will revisit the band's history by focusing almost entirely on the 80's in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 'Powerslave Tour'. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.

Steve Harris comments;

"The last time we played California was the Verizon last October and it was a fantastic gig, sold out well in advance so the fans were well up for it. It was as good a crowd reaction as we have ever had in LA. It was also our last show on that US Tour and really ended up a night to remember. It will certainly be the first time we have played LA by flying in, doing the show and flying straight out again - we usually like to hang around there for a few days!! We will have to make up for it next time!!

"l always loved the Powerslave show which I think was arguably our most spectacular ever, so bringing it back to LA - where we originally filmed the show at Long Beach Arena for our 'Live After Death' video - has got to be special and we are very much looking forward to it".

The Iron Maiden fan club have arranged an exclusive first access pre-sale for members to buy Tickets to the show on Tuesday November 6th, before tickets go on sale to the public on 10th November.

To allow fans to be right up close to the band, the fan club will also be running a special draw whereby 60 winners and friend at each show will be given first access to the venue enabling them to be first to the stage barrier. Full details can be found on www.ironmaiden.com.

The promotion is also open to all Iron Maiden fan club members !!!!

The second leg of the Tour will take place mid May to mid June with further concerts in North America, followed by the third leg European Tour, extensively covering most of Europe in Stadiums and major Festivals.
In total the band are expected to play to well in excess of one and a half million fans during the entire tour.