Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson is launching an international tour in support of his new solo album, The Mandrake Project. The outing, which includes dates in Mexico, Brazil and Europe, will bring Dickinson’s famed vocals into more intimate theater-type venues, as opposed to the arenas he normally plays with Maiden.
“The main part of the show is the music and the musicians, ’cause it’s real,” Dickinson tells ABC Audio of the theater experience. “It’s real human beings, flesh and blush. You can touch them. Not only can you touch them, you can smell them!”
Before the tour begins in earnest, Dickinson will play one-off warmup shows in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, California, on April 12 and April 15, respectively. As for a full U.S. tour, Dickinson’s certainly down for that.
“Obviously a certain amount of it depends on how well the album is received, how well it goes down, whether people go, ‘Oh my God, we gotta go and see this,"” Dickinson says. “If they do, which I hope they do, then I’ll be more than happy to bring it to the U.S. and Canada and all of the above.”
If and when a U.S. tour happens, it won’t be until at least 2025, as Dickinson’s schedule is full for 2024. After the solo shows wrap up in July, Maiden will launch a tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan in September, followed by a U.S. run kicking off in October.
“I know what Maiden are doing [in 2025], which is all sort of top secret at the moment,” Dickinson says. “But what Maiden are doing gives me a lot of space to go and plan something.”
The Mandrake Project is out now.
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