SUNRISE, Fla. – Heavy metal mavericks Iron Maiden are kicking off their North American tour Thursday in South Florida at the BB&T Center in Sunrise.
Doors open at 7 p.m. The Raven Age is the opening act.
Iron Maiden's "Legacy of the Beast Tour" covers 33 cities in the U.S. and Canada. The final show is Sept. 25 in San Antonio. Then they are off to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
The production is based on Iron Maiden's mobile game "The Legacy of the Beast," that puts Eddie the Head, the mascot for the band, through a number of different Maiden Worlds. The free to play game is on iOS and Android platforms at www.ironmaiden.com/play.
Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson explains: "This inspired us to put together a stage show to take our fans through different Maiden Worlds on stage. We put a huge amount of work into this and it is our most spectacular show to date."
There's a replica Spitfire plane that dominates the stage during the Maiden song "Aces High," tons of pyrotechnics, a giant Icarus, muskets, claymores and some truly marvelous flamethrowers.
"And, of course, we have Eddie, as you've never seen him before, and absolutely loads of other surprises," adds Dickinson, the 60-year-old frontman.
Steve Harris, bassist and founder, said putting together the set list was a challenge.
"We gave a lot of thought to the set list for this tour as the songs needed to follow the narrative of the changing worlds of the stage show," he said. "We feel we ended up with a very strong and well balanced set mixing songs we haven't played in many years, like 'Flight of Icarus,' 'Sign of the Cross' and 'The Clansman.' Then there are the songs we know that fans want to hear like 'The Trooper,' '2 Minutes to Midnight,' 'The Number of the Beast,' 'Fear of the Dark,' 'Run to the Hills,' 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' and others, reflecting the journey through the different themes of the show."
Go to IronMaiden.com for ticketing details.