Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson said he’d rather quit playing live than become “Disneyland Maiden” with backing tracks

nme.com:

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has said he would rather quit playing live than become a “Disneyland Maiden” by using backing tracks.The British heavy metal legends are heading out on the road in 2025 with their ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour of the UK and Europe.

The tour marks their 50th anniversary as a band and will see them playing setlist made up exclusively of songs from their first nine studio albums.The tour kicks off in May in Budapest, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, London and Glasgow in late June.

You can find any remaining tickets for the shows here.In an interview with Classic Rock, Dickinson spoke about the growing trend of bands relying on backing tracks to boost their live sound, and made it perfectly clear that Maiden would never go down that path.A post shared by Iron Maiden (@ironmaiden)He said he would rather “bow out with dignity” than succumb to backing tracks. “The idea that you can turn it into the Disneyland Maiden by using backing tracks, a few tricks…no!” he said. “Maiden has to be one hundred per cent real – and fucking fierce!”“Only recently this guy, a big fan, said to me, ‘It’s so great to see Maiden still doing it,’” he continued. “I said, ‘Yeah, and we’re doing it for real!’ There’s no detuning.

This guy said, ‘Lots of bands use backing tracks now…’ I said: ‘No! No, no!”“[If we use backing tracks,] that’s the day I quit,” he added. “Or the day we stop.