The first-ever Power Trip festival happened in October and featured the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, and Tool. Sitting up front for all three days would run you at least $1,399 per seat, and that's before fees. So y'know, not exactly the kind of price that a lot of us for casually opening up the wallet for.
Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson took notice of the type of person up front and spoke about his experience in a recent interview with Brazil's 92.5 Kiss FM radio station. Dickinson said he felt that everyone up front was the type of person that was just there to film everything and share it online, while the real fans were stuck all the way in the back.
"Power Trip was a slightly strange experience for us. And we did a good show, and actually at Power Trip, we did a Maiden show. We didn't do the, 'Oh, 'cause it's Power Trip, we have to suddenly do greatest hits.' No — we did the Maiden show with all the stuff we're doing on the 'Somewhere Back In Time' tour; 'Death Of The Celts', everything else like that. And it was a little bit strange because people had been standing out in the heat all day. There was no support band. Completely cold, go on stage. Well, cold as in no warm-up. But, no, I think we sounded pretty good. But it was an unusual situation.'
"I think what was a little bit strange for us was that the people who should be down the front of the stage, because the tickets for the festival were so expensive, they were at the back, and the people who were at the front were just like rich people that wanted to film everything on their phone. But the kids who you wanted to play to were at the back. And that sucks, actually. It wasn't our festival; it wasn't our organization. We're going into America next year and we're doing our own tour. And the people who are down the front are gonna be the people who deserve to be down the front. They're gonna be the real fans, which is gonna be great."
To be fair, a quick look at Iron Maiden ticket prices for front row seats at their 2024 North American tour shows that they're charging anywhere between $150 and $350 per seat. Which is still a lot, especially after the insane amount of fees, but it's at least marginally more affordable. And let's be real for a second – Power Trip was aimed at an older, richer (possibly even Blues Lawyer-leaning) audience.
Iron Maiden's 2024 North American tour is as follows. Get your tickets here.
10/4 North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, San Diego, CA
10/5 Michelob ULTRA Arena, Las Vegas, NV
10/8 Kia Forum, Los Angeles, CA
10/12 Aftershock Festival, Sacramento, CA
10/14 MODA Center, Portland, OR
10/16 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
10/18 Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
10/19 Ball Arena, Denver, CO
10/22 Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN
10/24 Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL
10/26 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
10/27 Videotron Centre, Quebec, QC
10/30 Centre Bell, Montreal, QC
11/1 Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
11/2 Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
11/6 DCU Center, Worcester, MA
11/8 PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
11/9 Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
11/12 CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, MD
11/13 Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC
11/16 Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX
11/17 Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
