When Iron Maiden performed at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota on 22 October, singer Bruce Dickinson delivered a speech in which he paid his respects to the band’s former vocalist Paul Di’Anno, who died the previous day.
Bruce was introducing The Time Machine, a track from the band’s 2021 album Senjutsu, when he spoke to the audience about Di’Anno, the singer he replaced in 1981.
Bruce said: “So, this next track is actually called The Time Machine. And I was watching Back To The Future last night on TV and it’s true. It is 1.21 gigawatts of power that you need to put a DeLorean through the portal of time itself. I normally tell a story about that [and] we have a bit of fun.
“But tonight is — I don't wanna put a downer on the proceedings at all, because our friend, our band member Paul Di'Anno passed away, as you are probably aware. And if you're not aware of that fact, you are now.”
Bruce went on to acknowledge Di’Anno's huge contribution to the band’s early career.
“Paul was instrumental in the first two [Iron Maiden] albums, groundbreaking with Killers [1981] and the first album [Iron Maiden, 1980]. An amazing voice, devoted to rock ’n' roll right up till the last minute of his life.
“So for those of you who were born and still remember those early albums, when obviously I wasn't in the band and he was, and those of you who were fans of the stuff he did with Battlezone and his own projects afterwards, and for anybody else that fancies having a listen to tracks like Remember Tomorrow and stuff like that, which are absolutely awesome, I'm just gonna ask everybody to just take like a few seconds to just close your eyes in silence and say, just internally, mentally — if you believe in God, if you don't believe in God, it actually doesn't matter; just believe in what you believe in and just say, ‘Thanks for doing what you did.’”
After a brief pause, Bruce added: “So, Paul, if you're listening, this is a little message from Minneapolis to wherever you are, upstairs or downstairs, you're having fun. Minneapolis, for Paul Di’Anno, scream for me.”
Iron Maiden’s The Future Past tour is scheduled to end in Brazil in December 2024.
The band then head out on their Run For Your Lives Tour in May 2025, in which they will perform some of the classic songs from those two albums they recorded with Di’Anno.
