Backing tracks have long been a point of contention in heavy metal, with some bands bolstering their live sound with the use of pre-recorded instrumentation.
This is especially the case for veteran acts who might not be able to physically perform certain material — though you won’t catch genre pioneers Iron Maiden using backing tracks.
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In a new interview with Classic Rock, frontman Bruce Dickinson said he’d rather retire than see the band resort to such measures.
“That’s the day I quit,” Dickinson said of using backing tracks. “Or the day we stop. If it’s not real, it’s not Maiden. The idea that you can turn it into the Disneyland Maiden, by using backing tracks, a few tricks…. No! Maiden has to be one hundred per cent real — and fucking fierce!”
He added, “I think Maiden is a power for good in the world. It really is. You see that every night in the audience. And ironically, we’re now getting to enjoy it as well, whereas in the early days we were so caught up in it that it never occurred to us to go: ‘It’s great.’ Now, I appreciate how fantastic it is. So I’m constantly grateful at sixty-six to be able to still do it.”
Iron Maiden will be celebrating their 50th anniversary with the “Run for Your Lives Tour,” which kicks off with a European run in May and is expected to extend into 2026. The trek will see the British metal legends performing material from their first nine albums, with Dickinson calling it a “history lesson” on the band.
“We’re gonna be doing stuff we’ve never, ever done before, and it’ll be a setlist for the ages,” Dickinson told fans in a video address earlier this year, which can be seen below.
After the initial leg of dates for the tour, Dickinson will then head out with his solo band for a North American outing this fall in support of The Mandrake Project. Get tickets here.
Content shared from consequence.net.