Perennial U.K. metal mainstay Iron Maiden is already a handful of dates into a massive summer 2010 North American tour, and has announced an Aug. 17 U.S. release date for 15th studio album The Final Frontier.
To mark both happy occasions, the band has released one of the forthcoming album’s scorching new stadium-shakers, “El Dorado,” as a free download on website www.ironmaiden.com. The site also features newly unveiled album art.
“We thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into The Final Frontier mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release,” said Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
The band reunited with longtime producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley to record the album in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, the Bahamas. The environs were comfortably familiar to the band—Compass Point was where they recorded Piece of Mind (1983), Powerslave (1984) and Somewhere in Time (1986).
“The studio had the same vibe and it was exactly as it had been in 1983,” Dickinson said. “Nothing had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner … same carpet … everything. It was really quite spooky. But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment, and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album.”
Thirty years on from their eponymous 1980 debut album, The Final Frontier is Maiden’s 15th studio album. That’s a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years, totaling more than 80 million album sold.
Maiden’s mammoth 25-show Final Frontier North American tour kicked off in Dallas on June 9. That leg of the ends on July 20 in Washington, D.C.; the tour then ventures across the pond for select festival and stadium dates beginning July 30 in Dublin, Ireland, and concluding Aug. 21 in Valencia, Spain.
“We’re hugely excited about this tour,” said Maiden bassist and founder Steve Harris. “I think the fans will really like the brand-new stage production and lights, and we will also be debuting one of the new album tracks, ‘El Dorado.’ Our Texan fans will be the very first people anywhere to hear it live, so it will be interesting to see their reaction and how it goes down with the crowd on the night! Eddie has changed a bit for this tour but is possibly the most outrageous one to date—I can’t say too much about him as I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I guarantee he will scare the hell out of you!”
Final Frontier tour dates, cities and venues are:
JUNE
9 Dallas, Superpages.Com Center
11 Houston, Cynthia Mitchell Pavilion Woodlands
12 San Antonio, Texas, AT&T Center
14 Denver, Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
16 Albuquerque, N.M., The Pavilion
17 Phoenix, Cricket Wireless Pavilion
19 San Bernardino, Calif., San Manuel Amphitheatre
20 Concord, Calif., Sleep Train Pavilion
22 Auburn, Wash., White River Amphitheater
24 Vancouver, B.C., GM Place
26 Edmonton, Alberta, Rexall Place
27 Calgary, Alberta, Saddledome
29 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Credit Union Centre
30 Winnipeg, Manitoba, MTS Center
JULY
3 Toronto, Ontario, Molson Amphitheatre
6 Ottawa, Ontario, Cisco Blues Festival
7 Montreal, Bell Centre
9 Quebec City, Quebec, Summer Festival
11 Holmdel, N.J., PNC
12 New York, Madison Square Garden
14 Pittsburgh, First Niagara Pavilion
15 Cleveland, Blossom Music Center
17 Detroit, DTE Music Theatre
18 Chicago, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
20 Washington, D.C., Jiffy Lube Live
30 Dublin, The O2
AUGUST
1 Knebworth, U.K., Sonisphere Festival
5 Wacken, Germany, Wacken Open Air Festival
7 Stockholm, Sweden, Stora Skuggan Sonisphere Festival
8 Pori Kirjurinluoto, Finland, Sonisphere Festival
11 Bergen, Norway, Bergenhus Festning Koengen
14 Budapest, Hungary, Sziget Festival
15 Transylvania, Romania, Cluj Polux Mall
17 Codroipo, Italy, Villa Manin Nr Udine
19 Kiewit, Belgium, Pukkelpop Festival
21 Valencia, Spain, Auditorio Marina Sur
Visit www.ironmaiden.com for updated information on the tour and ticketing.