10 JOURNEYMEN
DANCING NEAR DEATH, 2003–2005

“There are an enormous minority extant across the globe who adore the band’s singular muse to the virtual exclusion of all other artists. People don’t so much own Iron Maiden T-shirts as live in them.”

—Ian Fortnam,
Classic Rock, October 2003

Christened Dance of Death, Iron Maiden’s thirteenth studio album was recorded at Sarm West Studios in London at the tail end of 2002 with Kevin Shirley. The band used up a good portion of 2003 to work on the new tracks.

Looking back on his experiences working with Maiden, Kevin Shirley told Bryan Reesman of mixonline.com in 2002, “Maiden had their idiosyncrasies. Steve Harris is the boss of the band. To his credit, he likes what he likes, and when he doesn’t like something, he just says, ‘I don’t like it.’ And that’s it. I tried to fight some of those battles with Bruce.”

The album marked the first songwriting credit for drummer Nicko McBrain, on “New Frontier,” and included the full acoustic track “Journeyman,” their first such track in twenty-some years. Of course the band peppered the album with their trademark literary and philosophical references, but perhaps these latest references were somewhat more downbeat than those on past albums and conveyed themes that contrasted starkly with those on Brave New World. Dance of Death was certainly an ambitious project, and one that paid off, resulting in some of the best reviews of their career upon its release in September 2003.

As the sun set on 2004, Iron Maiden was celebrating twenty-five years since the release of their debut album. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Download Festival, Donington Park, England, May 31, 2003. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Metal-observer.com declared, “Dance of Death has every Maiden ingredient and a few more added in. It will delight the hardcore fan and dismay the critics who will still vilify it and denounce the band and wonder just why Harris and Co. have such staying power and longevity.”

Chris Jones wrote on BBC Online: “Maiden have always survived by ignoring fickle fashion and giving their loyal minions exactly what they want,” Chris Jones wrote on BBC’s website. “With Dance of Death they won’t have one dissatisfied customer.”

Andrew McNiece concluded his mixed review at melodicrock.com by writing, “A solid album—that’s the best description. Pleasing to some, maybe not as much so to some other Maiden fans. But considering the age of the band and their history, a good effort that is sadly marred by an average production sound. Maybe it’s as the band wanted, but to the listener, there’s a bit to be desired. Clearer guitar parts would be the best place to start if a fix was possible.”

Producers Steve Harris and “Caveman” Shirley certainly got to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses as they built a relationship that reflected the Martin Birch years. It remained important to Harris to have a creative, practical, and solid working relationship with a producer who shared his vision but also brought new ideas into the studio. Shirley was certainly a man with vision and insight, having worked with Jimmy Page and various Led Zeppelin projects, as well as with American AOR legends Journey.

Top of the Pops, BBC TV, London, September 3, 2003. Mark Allan/WireImage/Getty Images

THE ALBUMS
DANCE OF DEATH

BY GAVIN BADDELEY

Dance of Death, Maiden’s thirteenth studio album, emerged in 2003, the second with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the fold. The less said about the cover the better—the artist disowned the work as an unfinished early draft, and fan discussion of it threatened to eclipse consideration of content. (The band shots on the inside sleeve aren’t much better, with band members apparently being visited by spectral strippers—lap dancers of death, perhaps?)

But what of the meat in the sandwich?

If the Blaze Bayley years proved anything, it was the essential contribution of Dickinson’s tonsils to Maiden’s identity. His vocals soar when he attacks the lyrics as a part in some imaginary play. It’s when he’s given nothing to get his teeth into that the material lacks conviction and character, and Dance of Death is a classic case in point. For this punter’s pound, Maiden is always at their strongest when conjuring musical tales to stir the blood or chill the bones. Old-school opener “Wildest Dreams” canters along, a defiant feel-good anthem that never really goes anywhere. It’s curiously anonymous, a competent rocker that does its job but not much more.

Several other tracks suffer a similar fate, particularly when the subject matter is unclear. “New Frontier” (genetic engineering?) and “Gates of Tomorrow” (the Internet?) are both okay but hardly rattle the teeth. “Age of Innocence,” in which we’re treated to a litany of grumpy, pub politics, is a lyrical misfire, while the bloated “No More Lies” rather overstays its welcome with a labored chorus, an accusation that also could be levelled at the acoustic finale “Journeyman.” There’s a little too much middle-aged flab here, which boded ill for a band already a quarter-century into their career.

Which isn’t to say Maiden should abandon the epics. Far from it. The eight-minutes-plus title track is a classic campfire ghost story told Maiden style, and it’s enormous fun. It’s also one of the more notable examples of the album’s occasional Celtic, even folky, slants, reminiscent perhaps of Thin Lizzy or Jethro Tull. (Though, as “Dance of Death” is set in the Everglades, a Cajun flavor might have been more appropriate, the jig rhythm rather suggesting a “Riverdance of Death.”) “Rainmaker,” the debut single from the album, also justifies its place, courtesy of some irresistible hooks.

To these ears, however, the true standout tracks are the album’s two historical epics.

“Montségur” revisits the French site of an infamous massacre of heretics by Crusaders in the thirteenth century. Dickinson had holidayed there and he brings some real viscera to a song that demands a heavy, overblown approach, which Maiden delivers in operatic spades.

Paschendale, Belgium, which witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting of World War I, is the setting and title of Dance of Death’s standout track. It’s another grim, real-life horror story that demands both gravity and melodrama. Stirring and somber in equal parts, “Paschendale” is a fitting companion to “The Trooper,” Maiden’s classic, rousing meditation on the futility of war.

Dance of Death occupies a curious place in the Iron Maiden discography. It has its fans but certainly isn’t the band’s finest hour. Overall there’s a little too much self-indulgence on the record, a feeling that quite a few minutes could have been trimmed to good effect. It’s routinely compared to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and there’s some virtue to such comparisons. But while Seventh Son hangs together better as a package, Dance of Death at least offers the maudlin punch of “Paschendale.”

“The thing about Martin, and for that fact Kevin Shirley too, is that they both have the same kind of filter,” Dave Murray told Joe Matera (ultimate-guitar.com). “What I mean is that, they just let the band go in there and do its thing. Martin and Kevin will just enhance it all through the production of the sound. With Martin it was great, as we would go in there with the songs and just play the songs and he would just enhance it through the production side of it all and through the editing process and stuff like that…. So you have the identity of the band still in there being the primary focus.”

The album peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 18 in the United States—a marked improvement on Brave New World. The plan was working.

The Dance of Death world tour has certainly gone down in Maiden history as one of their greatest: they played more than fifty shows in front of 750,000 fans in Europe, North America (Montreal, Quebec City, New York, and Los Angeles only), South America, and Asia from October 19, 2003, to February 8, 2004. At Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, they recorded a CD and DVD that were released under the title Death on the Road. Admittedly, some fans began to notice that perhaps the band had issued one too many live albums.

On the subject of the band’s extensive touring history, Murray told Gary Boole in 1999, “I think we’ve probably toured more than most bands. The cycle would be over eighteen months we would do an album and spend ten months on the road. We’ve done a lot of touring over the last twenty years…. We’ve had a lot of hardcore supporters as well that are still there today, but there is a certain secret you tap into.”

Dance of Death world tour, Los Angeles, January 30, 2004. Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage/Getty Images

SETLIST SELECTIONS

DANCE OF DEATH TOUR

WILDEST DREAMS
WRATHCHILD
CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS
THE TROOPER
DANCE OF DEATH
RAINMAKER
BRAVE NEW WORLD
PASCHENDALE
LORD OF THE FLIES
NO MORE LIES
HALLOWED BE THY NAME
FEAR OF THE DARK
IRON MAIDEN
JOURNEYMAN
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

Dance of death world tour, Milan, October 27, 2003. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Dance of death world tour, Madrid, November 2, 2003 . Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Dance of death world tour, Madrid, November 2, 2003 . Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Dance of death world tour, Madrid, November 2, 2003 . Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

“Wildest Dreams” (September 2003), CD and DVD. The latter featured the “Dance of Death – Behind the Scenes” video.

“Rainmaker” (November 2003), limited edition colored vinyl. The cover art was taken from the song’s Howard Greenhalgh–directed video.

By the time 2004 came to a close, Iron Maiden was celebrating twenty-five years since the release of their debut album. To celebrate, they launched the Eddie Rips Up the World tour. The tour was also to promote 2004’s DVD release The Early Days, which covered the band’s early history from their inception in 1975 through 1983’s Piece of Mind.

Beginning in Prague on May 28, 2005, and finishing in London on September 2, the tour included numerous stadium dates and festival appearances. On the tour Maiden were supported by young acolytes such as Mastodon, DragonForce, Dream Theater, Marilyn Manson, and Turbonegro.

Reviewing the band’s July 9 gig at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, Mike Sterry wrote in NME: “Iron Maiden never show their age. Bruce Dickinson’s voice is in top form and he manages to land a surprising number of wince-free jumps during ‘Wrathchild.’ There are cracks, of course—like when NME inadvertently barges in on a member of the Maiden getting their arse massaged pre-show, or when drummer Nicko McBrain, care of some badly planned camera angles throughout ‘Die with Your Boots On,’ treats the audience to a glimpse of his pulsing, spandex-cocooned scrotum, 10 feet wide on the big screen. Teens—a surprising number are in attendance—avert their eyes in surrogate embarrassment.”

Festival appearances included the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park events in Germany, Gods of Metal in Italy, and slots at the coveted Reading and Leeds festivals in England, major coups for the band in exposing their music to a combined mainstream audience of 130,000.

However, the tour was not without controversy.

Maiden was co-headlining that year’s American Ozzfest tour with a reunited Black Sabbath (singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward). Reportedly, Dickinson had criticized Osbourne for using an autocue on stage. On the final night at the Hyundai Pavilion in San Bernardino, California, Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife and manager, and their daughter Kelly, allegedly enticed some members of the crowd to throw eggs at Maiden and run on stage with a flag that said “Don’t fuck with Ozzy.” Sharon also reportedly had the PA system shut off several times during Maiden’s performance. By some reports, Sharon then went on stage at the end of the band’s set (to boos from the crowd) and called Dickinson a “prick.”

Eddie Rips Up the World tour, Helsinki, July 6, 2005. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Eddie Rips Up the World tour, Helsinki, July 6, 2005. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

Eddie Rips Up the World tour, Helsinki, July 6, 2005. Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

SETLIST SELECTIONS

EDDIE RIPS UP THE WORLD TOUR

THE IDES OF MARCH
KILLERS
THE PROWLER
THE TROOPER
REMEMBER TOMORROW
WHERE EAGLES DARE
RUN TO THE HILLS
REVELATIONS
WRATHCHILD
DIE WITH YOUR BOOTS ON
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
HALLOWED BE THY NAME
IRON MAIDEN
RUNNING FREE
DRIFTER
SANCTUARY

The No More Lies EP (March 2004) was a fan “thank you” package featuring an orchestral arrangement of “Paschendale,” the original take of “Journeyman,” and a hidden track, an alternate take of “Age of Innocence” with Nicko McBrain on vocals.

Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, California, August 13, 2005. Maiden co-headlined 2005’s American Ozzfest tour with a reunited Black Sabbath. The tour would end on a sour note after an incident involving Ozzy’s wife, Sharon. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

The band and their manager Rod Smallwood were appalled. Smallwood issued a statement condemning Sharon Osbourne for her alleged actions. “In thirty years in this business, and after attending hundreds of gigs, I have never seen anything anywhere near as disgusting and unprofessional as what went on that night,” the statement read. Smallwood also pointed out hypocritical aspects of Sharon Osbourne’s behaviour: “Iron Maiden, like all the bands on Ozzfest, had to sign quite onerous legal documents, part of which was promising not to throw anything into the audience, even wristbands!!! Ironic isn’t it.”

On their next album, Maiden would include a song about the incident entitled “These Colours Don’t Run.” The band left it at that and moved on, achieving far greater success with headlining solo tours and album sales than Ozzy would achieve.

Indeed, Maiden was moving ahead, and enthusiastically. Dickinson, in particular, had never sounded or looked better. He kept himself in rigorous shape by fencing and generally looking after himself. Clearly, fans loved having him back, but they still craved the older material rather than the new stuff.

“We literally wouldn’t exist without our fans,” Dickinson told The Mirror. “Press and radio don’t give us much of a leg up. Same with MTV. Fortunately, we get a lot of kids saying let’s go and see Maiden.”

But things would get better. Much better.

ROD SMALLWOOD: MAIDEN’S MANAGER

BY NEIL DANIELS

Rod Smallwood backstage in Melbourne, February 6, 2008. Martin Philbey/Redferns/Gettty Images

Peter Grant had Led Zeppelin. Journey had Herbie Herbert. And Iron Maiden had Rod Smallwood. All giants of rock have had in their corners intelligent, dedicated, and fierce managers.

The Yorkshire-born Smallwood has often been dubbed the seventh member of Iron Maiden. As rock promoter Andy Copping told Classic Rock, “Why is Iron Maiden still the biggest metal band in the world? It’s because of the passion and belief of the people around [Smallwood].” Maiden even penned a song about their manager, “Sheriff of Huddersfield,” which was a B-side to the 1986 single “Wasted Years.”

Smallwood founded Smallwood-Taylor Enterprises in 1976 with business partner Andy Taylor, and the pair ran the company out of a two-bedroom flat in London. Smallwood-Taylor hooked up with Maiden in 1979 and that year founded the famed Sanctuary Records, named after the Maiden song. The company expanded into the United States in the 1980s and eventually reissued rock classics and inked contracts with a diverse range of artists, including the Who, Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé, and Guns N’ Roses. In 2006, Smallwood announced he and Maiden were ending their association with Sanctuary and forming a brand-new company called Phantom Music Management.

2003 By Ryan LaMar

05.23	La Coruna, ESP
05.24	Gijon, ESP
05.26	Toulouse, FRA
05.27	Toulon, FRA
05.31	Donington, GBR
06.03	Katowice, POL
06.04	Budapest, HUN
06.06	Nurburgring, GER
06.07	Nurnburg, GER
06.08	Vienna, AUT
06.11	Barcelona, ESP
06.12	Madrid, ESP
06.13	San Sebastian, ESP
06.15	Imola, ITA
06.17	Zagreb, CRO
06.19	Zlin, CZE
06.21	Bergum, NED
06.23	Fribourg, SUI
06.25	Paris, FRA
06.27	Roskilde, DEN
06.28	Stockholm, SWE
06.30	Helsinki, FIN
07.02–03	Oslo, NOR
07.05	Dessel, BEL
07.09	Lisbon, POR
07.11	Jerez, ESP
07.12	Albecete, ESP
07.21	Worcester, USA
07.22	Hartford, USA
07.23	Camden, USA
07.25	Holmdel, USA
07.26	Wantagh, USA
07.29	Washington, D.C., USA
07.30	New York City, USA
08.01	Quebec City, CAN
08.02	Montreal, CAN
08.03	Toronto, CAN
08.05	Cleveland, USA
08.06	Detroit, USA
08.08	Pittsburgh, USA
08.09	Columbus, USA
08.10	Chicago, USA
08.13	Dallas, USA
08.15	San Antonio, USA
08.16	Houston, USA
08.18	El Paso, USA
08.20	Denver, USA
08.22	Phoenix, USA
08.24	Irvine, USA
08.25	Long Beach, USA
08.26	San Diego, USA
08.28	Mountain View, USA
08.29	Concord, USA
08.30	Sacramento, USA
10.19	Debrecen, HUN
10.21	Banska, SVK
10.22	Prague, CZE
10.24	Munich, GER
10.25	Stuttgart, GER
10.27	Milan, ITA
10.28	Firenze, ITA
10.30	Zurich, SUI
11.01	Barcelona, ESP
11.02	Madrid, ESP
11.04	Frankfurt, GER
11.12	Copenhagen, DEN
11.14	Stockholm, SWE
11.15	Gothenburg, SWE
11.17	Hannover, GER
11.18	Berlin, GER
11.20	Leuven, BEL
11.22	Paris, FRA
11.24	Dortmund, GER
11.26	Hamburg, GER
11.27	Leipzig, GER
11.28	Wroclaw, POL (rescheduled from 11.07)
12.01	Dublin, IRE
12.03	Newcastle, GBR
12.04	Nottingham, GBR
12.06	Sheffield, GBR
12.08	Glasgow, GBR
12.09	Manchester, GBR
12.12	London, GBR
12.13	Rotterdam, NED (rescheduled from 11.05)
12.15	Cardiff, GBR
12.16	Birmingham, GBR
12.18	Amneville, FRA (rescheduled from 11.29)
12.21	Helsinki, FIN (rescheduled from 11.10)

2004

01.11	Buenos Aires, ARG
01.13	Santiago, CHI
01.16	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
01.17	Sao Paulo, BRA
01.20	Montreal, CAN
01.21	Quebec City, CAN
01.23–26	New York City, USA
01.30–31	Los Angeles, USA
02.05	Sapporo, JPN
02.07	Osaka, JPN
02.08	Tokyo, JPN

2005

05.28	Prague, CZE
05.29	Chorzow, POL
05.31	Graz, AUT
06.04	Nurburgring, GER
06.05	Nurnburg, GER
06.07	Reykjavik, ISL
06.11	Bologna, ITA
06.12	Zurich, SUI
06.16	Lisbon, POR
06.18	Lorca, ESP
06.21	Athens, GRE

06.25	Paris, FRA
06.26	Dessel, BEL
06.28–29	Oslo, NOR
07.02	Lobnitz, GER
07.03	Weert, NED
07.06–07	Helsinki, FIN
07.09	Gothenburg, SWE
07.15	Mansfield, USA
07.16	Quebec City, CAN
07.17	Hartford, USA
07.19	Camden, USA
07.21	Darien Lake, USA
07.23	Burgettstown, USA
07.24	Bristow, USA
07.26–27	Holmdel, USA
07.30	Tinley Park, USA
07.31	Noblesville, USA
08.02	Columbus, USA
08.03	Toronto, CAN
08.04	Clarkston, USA
08.06	East Troy, USA
08.09	Denver, USA
08.11	Auburn, USA
08.13	Mountain View, USA
08.15	Marysville, USA (rescheduled from 08.14)
08.18	Phoenix, USA
08.20	San Bernardino, USA
08.26	Leeds, GBR
08.28	Reading, GBR
08.31	Dublin, IRE
09.02	London, GBR
09.02	Hammersmith, GBR

Notes: A scheduled August 21, 2003, show in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was cancelled. Rumor has it that video footage from Death on the Road includes clips from Wroclaw on November 28, 2003.

A fifth New York show scheduled for January 27, 2004, was cancelled.

An August 7, 2005, show in Somerset, Wisconsin, as part of Ozzfest was nixed when Osbourne cancelled due to throat problems. A rescheduled date on August 16 in Salt Lake City, Utah, was also cancelled.

On September 2, 2005, the band performed a live studio session at Maida Vale Studios for rebroadcast on Radio One on September 13.