05/11/2005 23:34

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden announce 'Death on the Road' DVD/CD

Iron Maiden have confirmed they are to release a double DVD and live album titled 'Death on the Road' through EMI Records on August 29th 2005.

The show was filmed at the Westfalenhalle Arena, Dortmund, Germany during the Dance of Death European Tour in December 2003 and fully captures the magnificent stage production and electricity of the band's performance. Steve Harris once again took weeks personally editing the footage and like 'Rock in Rio' this means thousands of cuts right into the heart of the action.

Says Steve Harris, "The shows on that tour were perhaps far more theatrical than some of our recent tours so it has a very different feel than that of, say, Rock in Rio which was a massive festival environment. The 115 minute show was originally filmed by Viva TV in Germany to broadcast across their national TV network a few days afterwards. However TV and DVD are always very different mainly owing to the time restrictions. So we've spent time starting from the bare bones to create a full length concert feature that captures the excitement of the show but also the drama as well. I think when people see songs like 'Paschendale' and 'Dance of Death' they'll be blown away by the spectacle. At the same time there are some great moments in 'Journeyman' that I think will surprise a few people. Iron Maiden with acoustic guitars?! I'm really happy with the end result as it captures the dark and lighter moments perfectly."

The album and PCM Stereo / 5.1 Surround sound for the DVD has been mixed and produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley and co-produced, as always, by Steve Harris.

The Double DVD also features a full 70-minute documentary directed by Matthew Amos charting the album's creation and then subsequent preparations for the following tour. The feature length program includes candid and personal footage of the band during the recording and writing of the album, which is the first time it's ever been filmed.

Says Manager Rod Smallwood, "The documentary is something quite special for the fans as it really is a very revealing portrait of how Maiden work together recording and it took me hours to persuade them to let the cameras in the recording studio. Previously they'd never allowed any of that to be filmed but this time we decided to have a camera floating around to try and capture the Maiden recording process. A lot of it was filmed by the Kevin Shirley and the band themselves. I think it's a great representation of the talent, effort and humour of a Maiden recording session. The documentary also covers what it takes to set up a major World Tour and has various interviews with our Killer Krew and hopefully it will be as insightful and interesting as the well received Early Days documentary footage.

"As usual we have crammed as much as possible into the DVD's with a host of extras including all of the promo videos from the album, footage of the band performing in South America, background interviews with members of the production crew and fans along the tour, artwork and photo galleries. Many hours of Maiden mayhem.

"Like 'Rock in Rio' we have again decided to release a DVD and CD. Those who have DVD players will presumably opt for the DVD but we wanted to ensure all fans could get at least the audio of this tour and many countries of the World do not have widespread capacity to play DVDs."

The full set list from the show is:

WILDEST DREAMS
WRATHCHILD
CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS
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
RUN TO THE HILLS

(source: the official Iron Maiden website)