In 1984, Iron Maiden were poised to take over the world. They’d been on a skyward trajectory since the arrival of vocalist Bruce Dickinson three years previously, and had laid the groundwork on the increasingly ambitious tours accompanying The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind.
But the band’s fifth album, Powerslave, would literally set the stage for their most epic undertaking yet. Beginning in August 1984 and ending 331 days and 189 shows later in July 1985, the Egyptian-themed World Slavery Tour helped turn Maiden into one of the biggest metal bands of the decade and produced one of the all-time great live albums in 1985’s Live After Death. The tour broke Maiden in America but also pushed the bandmembers themselves to their mental and physical limits, almost bringing the group to an end. We look back on that crazy time, in words of the band and those around them.
“We rehearsed for the tour in a wonderfully tacky nightclub in Fort Lauderdale, and stayed in a cockroach-infested seafront motel. Soon enough, the holiday was over. It was time to emigrate to the Evil Empire, behind the
