HARDWARES

To the uninitiated, this may very well appear to be quite simply a heavy metal coffee table book – nothing could be further from the truth! In reality it’s a tremendous 250-page photo documentary, captured in jaw-dropping brilliance, by official band photographer John McMurtrie – who was the seventh member of IRON MAIDEN from 2008 until 2011. The man behind the lens has published over 600 unbelievable pictures, all snapped while the band criss-crossed the globe. Beginning with the Somewhere Back In Time World Tour, and wrapping with the Final Frontier World Tour, this truly terrific hardcover tomb gloriously showcases Maiden’s rabid and fanatical following. But what makes the whole endeavour even more special, is the fact that vocalist Bruce Dickinson piloted the group’s specially equipped Boeing 757. Dubbed Ed Force One, this one-of-a-kind airliner carried band, crew and 12 tons of equipment across every continent, with the exception of Antarctica and Africa. Yes, the man who belts out ‘Run To The Hills’ and ‘Can I Play With Madness’, in addition to countless other classics, flew the plane as well. In an overly thorough foreword, Dickinson describes in detail what it took for him to get this truly unique “flying tour bus” in the air. Short of being a pair of sweaty, stage-worn socks, getting closer to Eddie – decked out in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey – is damn near impossible.