Tour news: Iron Maiden confirms NZ tour dates

Iron Maiden will perform two dates in New Zealand in April and May next year.

Iron Maiden have confirmed their New Zealand tour dates for 2016.

The UK metallers, who will tour the world next year on a branded Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet flown by front man Bruce Dickinson, will perform at Christchurch's Horncastle Arena on April 29, and Auckland's Vector Arena on May 1.

Tickets go on sale on September 24, with a pre-sale beginning on September 22.

The tour will see the band's new jet - nicknamed "Ed Force One" - fly 88,500km and visit 35 countries on the back of their new album, The Book of Souls.

The plane Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson will fly to New Zealand as part of the band's world tour.

The album and tour were expected last year but were delayed while Dickinson underwent treatment on a small cancerous tumor on his tongue.

Dickinson, 57, waited until after his radiation treatment was complete to make a statement, and found the hardest part was people dumping their fears on him.

"They're like, 'Oh my God, don't die.' And I'm like, 'I'm not making any plans to die. Leave me alone I'm trying to get better,"' Dickinson said.

An interview with Bruce Dickinson

How did your grandfather inspire your recovery?

Bruce Dickinson: I was brought up by him. I always remember a day when I got beaten up at school. I was a little guy, only about this big (holds his hand). He was a miner, so he said, 'This kid beat you up,' and I said 'Yeah." So he says, 'All right, make a fist. Now hit my hand.' So I did the Rocky thing with it. 'Now go out there and sort him out.' Kind of a blue-collar sort of thing to do so I did. Then I was escorted home by teacher. I remember he opened the door and standing there in his vest and pants, he said, 'I'll take care of it.' He asked me what happened and told me the ground rules. He said, 'You never hit a woman. You never hit somebody smaller than you, and you only hit them if they really deserve it. But you never back down and you never give up.'

You're the frontman of the biggest metal band and also fly the band's private plane, a 747. Take me though that?

I was working as an airline pilot. I had a regular job for 10 years, and at the same time, I was in Iron Maiden. We used to tour for like two or three months a year, and I would get unpaid leave to tour. ... How crazy is that? ... I went to my manager and I said, 'Look, I've got this crazy idea. How'd you fancy going out in a 747 on the next tour?' He went, 'Oooh ... that would be major.' ... I'm training for the 747 license now at a simulator in Cardiff.

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Not many bands' release double albums these days.

It's something that most people don't do now. It's something we have never done. But we didn't do it to prove a point. We did it because we ran out of space on one CD. We got to six songs and filled it up. I said, 'Guys, either we stop now, or this is going to be two albums.'

What do you think of the tribute bands?

I think it's a great. There's a female tribute band, 'The Iron Maidens' and they all dress up like us. That was an odd experience. We saw them in Mexico, sneaked in the back. Me and Steve were there and I went, 'Go on, do you fancy yourself?' (laughs) That's too weird... The crucial thing for us is that we don't become our own tribute band. There's that subtle distinction. The new music is what makes us not our own karaoke band.

- nzherald.co.nz with AP