Blaze Bayley Announces Iron Maiden Anniversary Shows

Blaze Bayley, singer with Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999, announces that he will be playing a special Iron Maiden setlist at selected festival appearances in 2019. Choosing songs from his era with the band, these shows will celebrate 25 years since Blaze joined Iron Maiden. This will be the first and last opportunity to see such a setlist.

Blaze, who releases a new album and DVD, Live In France, on March 1st, and has just returned from a successful stint touring Latin America, sees this as the perfect opportunity to celebrate his time in Maiden which was such a positive experience and influence on his career as a whole.

Blaze has this to say, "25 years ago my great adventure with Iron Maiden began. It was a wonderful five years in my career and something I’m very proud of. Since then I have toured almost every year, and made 11 studio albums and three live albums. Recently, many fans have asked me to perform songs from the two albums I recorded with Iron Maiden, so this year to celebrate that magical time, I’m doing a full set of my favourite songs from the X-Factor and Virtual XI albums at festivals. My voice has developed and changed since my time as lead vocalist with Iron Maiden. Now I feel I’m singing better than ever, so I’m very excited about singing those old songs with the voice I have now."

These festivals will feature a special Iron Maiden setlist from Blaze Bayley:

June 6 - Sweden Rock - Sweden
June 14 - Rock The Coast - Spain
July 27 - Headbangers Open Air - Germany
August 9 - Mannried Open Air - Switzerland
August 10 - Dark River Festival - Finland

The band at these shows will be Blaze’s regular touring and recording outfit taken from British band Absolva, plus Iced Earth bassist / Absolva guitarist Luke Appleton. The lineup is as follows:

Chris Appleton - guitar and backing vocals
Luke Appleton - guitar and backing vocals
Martin Mcnee - drums
Karl Schramm - bass and backing vocals

Chris Appleton adds, "Normally when we perform as Blaze’s band we are a four-piece including Blaze, so just myself on lead guitar and that really works for us. But for these Maiden sets, we think it’s really cool to bring in my brother Luke as second guitarist to enhance the Maiden feel. It’s an honour for us to play these songs with Blaze, increasingly recognised as an important chapter in Maiden’s history."