IRON MAIDEN announces the 2024 Australian leg of “The Future Past” tour with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have announced the 2024 Australian leg of “The Future Past” tour. The upcoming trek, set for next September, will be the band’s first appearance Down Under since their “The Book Of Souls” tour in 2016 and 2017. Joining MAIDEN on the six-date run as special guests will be KILLSWITCH ENGAGE.
“The Future Past” will showcase previously unperformed tracks from MAIDEN’s most recent studio album, “Senjutsu,” alongside a focus on the 1986 classic “Somewhere In Time” LP, along with other timeless hits.
MAIDEN’s bassist Steve Harris states: “We’ve had a blast playing all the shows on ‘The Future Past’ tour this year, and the response from our fans has been incredible. Being able to perform some of these songs for the very first time has made the tour even more memorable, and we can’t wait to continue it next year. We’re all really excited to finally return to Australia, as we know our fans have waited patiently for us over the past few years. It’s going to be fantastic to get back there, especially with this new show. We promise you all, it’ll be worth the wait!”
MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood comments: “Our plans to bring the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour to Australia were derailed by the shutdown of the live music industry during Covid, but we assured everyone at the time that we would come back to Australia, and as our fans know, we always keep our promises. So, as you can imagine, we’re very much looking forward to bringing this amazing new show to the Southern Hemisphere and giving our loyal Australian fans the best MAIDEN show we can. You can be assured it’s worth the wait. See you all in 2024!”
Tour dates:
Sep. 01 – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia Sep. 04 – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia Sep. 06 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia Sep. 10 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia Sep. 12 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia Sep. 16 – Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Asked in a radio interview several years ago why IRON MAIDEN had never played “Alexander The Great” live, singer Bruce Dickinson answered, “Because Adrian [Smith, guitar] can’t remember the guitar solo.” While Dickinson may have been joking, he did go on to say that when the song was originally written, they put the solo through a load of then-very-advanced music computer wizardry, and it just couldn’t figure out the time signature.
“Senjutsu” was released in September 2021. It marked MAIDEN’s second consecutive double album since 2015’s “The Book Of Souls,” which remains their longest album at 92 minutes.
IRON MAIDEN’s first album in six years, “Senjutsu,” was recorded in 2019 in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris. It features three tracks with a running time exceeding 10 minutes each.
For “Senjutsu,” which translates loosely as “tactics and strategy,” the band once again enlisted Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.
“Senjutsu” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, charting higher than even the band’s early classics like “Powerslave” and “The Number Of The Beast.” Nearly 90 percent of the LP’s 64,000 equivalent album units earned came from pure album sales. The critically acclaimed double album debuted one place higher than 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” and 2010’s “The Final Frontier,” which both peaked at No. 4.
