Rod Smallwood Iron Maiden 's longtime manager , has attended hundreds of the band's shows in many countries . In nearly a decade working with Iron Maiden, Rod Smallwood has selected the 10 most important and interesting shows of the band – including 2 shows in Brazil.
Smallwood said: “Maiden wants to tour every year. It’s not me giving orders and saying, ‘You need to keep working,’ it’s the guys. They really love touring.”
Regarding his selection of the 10 shows, he added [Transcription via Louder ]: “These aren’t necessarily the best works. But, for me, they are the most important and interesting. And, in every case, they teach us something.”
See the list below, and the reason for each show chosen, in the words of Rod Smallwood [Transcription via Louder ].
Rock in Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. January 11, 1985
“As a one-off show, the impact of Rock In Rio was monumental. We had no history of playing there in South America before that. We played before Queen , and the estimated audience was 300,000 people – but it could have been more. And it was broadcast live on TV. Not just in Brazil, but throughout South America.”
The sound was really bad on stage. Bruce Dickinson got so frustrated that he kicked some monitors. That's when he hit the head of a guitar and cut himself. Blood was running down his face. I was on the side of the stage and Bruce came over to me. I said, “See that camera over there with the red light on? Go and put your head right in front of it!” Bruce tells a different version of the story, where I sent a roadie over to him to ask him to widen the wound a little so he would bleed more!
The sight of Bruce's bloodied face had a huge impact. After that show, we played to a minimum of 40,000 people a night in South America – forever, effectively. So, it was one of the most important shows we ever did.”
Sambadrome, Manaus, Brazil. March 12, 2009
"It was the first tour with the plane, the Boeing 707. And the show in Manaus was a great example of how, with the plane, we can reach parts of the world that you couldn't reach otherwise, because of the high cost of freight and things like that."
Maiden has always taken their full show everywhere. It's something we've always done. We don't think it's fair that fans in Santiago or Melbourne don't get the same shows as in London or Paris, but it means that the costs are sometimes prohibitive.
Manaus is located at the foot of the Andes Mountains, in the far west of the Amazon, and we had 25,000 people there to see the show. As I said before, I always wanted Maiden to be an internationally successful band. And what better way to prove that than playing to 25,000 people in the middle of the fucking Amazon rainforest!”
The Swan, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. July 1979
“This was the first Maiden show I saw, and they had to play without Paul Di'Anno because he had been arrested for carrying a pocketknife. Even though I wasn't the band's manager at the time, I went into manager mode and called the police station, but they wouldn't let Paul out. So, there were only three of us: Steve Harris , Dave Murray , and the original drummer, Dougie Sampson .”
Koseo Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan. May 21, 1981
"Actually, we toured Japan before playing in America. Metal is a global thing, and I always wanted Maiden to be a hugely successful international band. I wanted parallel development around the world."
We loved Japan. It was such a different culture to experience. And one of the strangest things for us was how the audience all sat down. If a fan got too excited and stood up, a security guard would hit him on the head with rolled-up newspapers. Then the fan would sit down, but then another one would stand up somewhere else, and then – boom! – they would sit down. It was like a wrestling match. Quite extraordinary.”
Coliseum, Seattle, Washington, USA. June 28, 1983
“It was our first sold-out arena show in the United States. At that time, we had sold 380,000 albums there. I remember the exact number. We had done all these opening tours, and now it was time to headline. So, theaters or arenas? If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done arenas at all. I mean, platinum albums don't always sell out arenas. So, I like to think it was inspiration, but looking back, it was more of a crazy idea that worked.”
Seattle was the sixth show on that tour. Sold out, 13,000 people. And believe me, I was very, very grateful. On that same tour, we filled Madison Square Garden in New York. We went there in long limousines, and I'll never forget that feeling of: 'That's awesome, we did it!'"
People's Hall, Wrocław, Poland. August 12, 1984
“In the early 1980s, Poland was behind the Iron Curtain, under strong Russian control. The reaction from the audience we had there was magical. If you don't have access to live music, watching a full show in an arena was a whole new world for those fans.
What I particularly remember was walking from the hotel to the show and having a feeling of foreboding. I couldn't quite understand it. When I entered the hall, I realized that this was where they used to hold Nazi meetings. At the top of the dome, there was a huge cornerstone covered by a tarp.
Later, I discovered that it was covering a huge swastika. And all along the back of the stage were small eye holes, where the SS would look for people who weren't reacting appropriately and drag them off. It was one of those moments in life where you feel the past and the present meeting.”
Monsters of Rock, Donington Park, United Kingdom. August 22, 1988
“We did a lot of things very differently from most bands, and a lot of it was based on instinct. That’s why we never played Monsters Of Rock until 1988. I thought, ‘Let’s wait until we headline and make a statement.’”
The day before the show, we had sold 75,000 tickets – almost the same record as AC/DC for Monsters Of Rock – and then 30,000 people showed up on the day. It was unbelievable. 110,000 people were there. In the end, the official tickets sold out, so they ended up using raffles to let more people in.”
Sing Sing, Jerusalem, Israel. September 28, 1995
“When Blaze [Bayley] joined the band and we were planning a tour, I wanted to start somewhere where we wouldn’t get much media coverage – to give Blaze a good chance to do some shows before we became the target of criticism. So, we did Jerusalem and two more shows in Israel, and then we did three shows in South Africa, as far away as possible.”
The club in Jerusalem was small. Maybe 600 people were there. Hearing The Number Of The Beast in Jerusalem was truly terrifying. It was clear to me that they were working with Blaze. It wasn't the same, obviously, but the shows went very well. There was never any talk of the band breaking up when Bruce left. Maiden will continue forever.”
Palais Des Omnisport De Paris/Bercy, Paris, France. September 9, 1999
“When Bruce and Adrian [Smith, guitarist] returned, we did a few small shows in the United States just to test things out, but the show in Paris was a real milestone: 15,000 people, sold out.”
It was a great show, but there was something more significant. Steve Lazarus was running the fan club at the time, and on the morning of the show, he told me that he would be meeting many fans at the Eiffel Tower. He said that the fans had organized the meeting online.
So I went with him, and there were 1,500 fans from all over the world gathered around the base of the Eiffel Tower. And that's when I really understood the value of social media. We've always been a band that thrived through word of mouth, and our social media took that to a whole new level.”
Desert Rock Festival, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 9, 2007
“It was a festival right on the edge of the desert. The Prodigy were our special guests. They were incredible. And the audience came from all over the Middle East; you saw hijabs and Iron Maiden t-shirts. The music really is important, and this was one of those moments where you realized how true that is. There was a phenomenal sense of positivity surrounding this show. It was very touching to see people from such different regions, all together – united by metal.”
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