Iron Maiden: Flight 666

We shall go on to the end.

we shall fight in France.

we shall fight on the seas and oceans.

we shall fight with growing confidence

and growing strength in the air.

we shall defend our island.

whatever the cost may be.

we shall fight on the beaches.

we shall fight on the landing grounds.

we shall fight in the fields

and in the streets.

we shall fight in the hills.

we shall never surrender.

It's January 28th 2008

and I'm at Stansted Airport in England.

I'm here because my favourite band.

Iron Maiden. has invited us

to film the first leg of their

Somewhere Back In Time world tour.

This tour is based on the classic

World Slavery tour from 1 985.

which is back when I first became a fan.

That's a thing of beauty.

Over the next six weeks.

we'll travel 40.000 miles

on lron Maiden's

private 757. Ed Force One.

and watch them play 21 cities

in 1 2 countries across 4 continents.

That's an average distance

of 2.000 miles between each show.

And what's even more impressive

is that lead singer Bruce Dickinson

is flying the plane.

The aeroplane idea started off

as a crazy gleam in my eye.

I went. "Wow. if you could get

all your gear into an aeroplane.

"you could cut down hugely on the amount

of dead space we have in touring."

So I said. "What if you join up

"all the countries that accountants say.

'You can't go there. it costs too much'?"

And we just join them up. And we go...

Yes. we can.

'cause we've got our own magic carpet.

The idea of especially modifying a plane

to take the band. 70 crew.

and over 1 2 tons of equipment.

has never been attempted before.

This could be the most ambitious tour

in rock history

and everyone seems a little nervous

to see if they can pull it off.

When you're going round the world

and you're trying to combine

passenger and freight on the same plane.

on that level it's very hard.

We knew what we had to do.

we had to get the engineers involved.

to make sure the plane

could stand that stress.

of flying with that much freight in the back.

To get all of that together took a year.

Everything else was in place.

We'd got the visas and the equipment.

The only thing we hadn't got

was the authorization to fly the plane.

I was the nut in the nutcracker. as it were.

Because when it came to that morning.

and we still hadn't signed the papers

we needed to get the aeroplane airborne.

I was in a stressful place.

Tire was a little bit flat this morning.

Not dangerously so

but just as a precaution

we put a new wheel on it.

It's not like Formula One.

Is that the young man

who brought the wine?

Yeah.

Take your hands out of your pocket.

How come we shouldn't have

our hands in our pockets?

'Cause it shows a slovenly attitude.

the type of attitude that is easily

displayed by ex-colonialists like you lot.

Ian. what did you tell me to do

with the documentary people

if they annoyed me?

He said I've got to be nice to you.

Iron Maiden's always been a band that's

maintained their privacy over the years.

They've never had a camera crew

come into their lives. who are outsiders.

And we don't really know what to expect.

Turn that off.

Good morning. Welcome to Stansted.

Who's he? Who are you?

As we drove into the airport

there was you guys with the cameras

and Rob was telling us to be nice to you.

"Get that camera out of my face!"

Right. come here!

I didn't sleep a lot the night before.

It's like going on holiday

when you were a kid.

and getting anxious and don't want

to go to bed. just want to go away.

Oh. yes. here we go! Ed Force One!

You all right?

You frickin' beauty!

And you've got a whole case on there.

I must admit I was a bit sceptical about it all.

The idea of band and crew

travelling on the same plane.

It's like a trip away in a coach.

a few cans of beer in the back.

Iike a day trip.

except that it lasted six weeks.

The only time we'd ever travelled with

a crew was back in the late '70s.

where. basically.

there was only one crew member.

There was the band and one guy.

I think it's something to look forward to.

All crews are maniacs. and ours have

got their share of characters.

No interviews. Tax purposes.

You're not allowed in this section.

I'm sorry. You haven't got a special pass.

They got the rubber stamp of approval.

Yeah. we're all strapped down

and palleted and fire-bagged

and everything else.

- And we're good to go.

- We're good to go.

Everything was just going swimmingly

and I was sat on the flight deck going.

"There are so many things

that could go wrong.

"Just take a deep breath

and wait till they close all the holds."

And then we can go.

Four hours 45 is the flying time.

A bit windy when we get to Baku.

And then a stonking power wind'll take us

to Mumbai. Three hours 47 to Mumbai.

Plenty of time to drink

Nicko's bottles of wine.

See you later. and we'll get ourselves

under way. All right? Bye for now.

..and you know you are!

You're sh*t and you know you are!

Five star 666 to Sierra 1.

Clear for takeoff.

Wind 290. Ten knots.

Clear for takeoff. Flight 666.

I've done plenty of take-offs in Boeing 757s.

but this particular one was rather special.

I was so glad to get the wheels up

and get under way.

London five star 666 passing 2.800 feet.

Everybody was chuffed to bits

on the aeroplane.

The seats were all comfy and

the road crew couldn't believe the leg room

and then the cabin crew

started serving the drinks and the grub.

Everybody was like. "Yeah. great!

This is the way to do it!"

Since getting here on Thursday.

the band's been mobbed by young rock

fans keen to get a look at their heroes.

Although lron Maiden struggle to get

any radio airplay back home.

they still fill stadiums around the world.

This new plane means

they can play more shows in more countries

than any other group can.

Despite being around for decades.

Iron Maiden are spearheading

a new wave of hard rock in lndia.

Teenagers fed up

with mass-market Bollywood music

are buying into heavy metal in a big way.

Sky News. Mumbai.

Are you happy?

It's not even funny. man!

Sh*t. Sh*t. man.

Maiden!

This tour for us

is a retrospective look

at a classic period in the band's history.

We're playing songs

we haven't played in 23 years.

But. most importantly. for an audience

which has never seen us

perform these songs.

this is a real treat.

It's every guy's dream to be a rock star

and you guys are living that dream.

So can you give us a little insight

about what it's like backstage on tour.

the kind of stuff

you wouldn't want us to know?

If we told you.

then you'd know. wouldn't you?

Yeah. we could tell you

but we'd have to kill you.

So how did you first discover lron Maiden?

At my friend's uncle's place.

I saw this Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

cassette box over there.

And I just freaked out on the artwork.

to be honest.

It was love at first listen. I just got hooked

onto Maiden. just like that.

And I haven't looked behind ever since.

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