IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson says that he “lost [his] temper when he blasted a fan as a “Greek cunt” and a “fucking cocksucker” for lighting a flare during the band’s concert in Athens, Greece less than two years ago.
The incident occurred on July 16, 2022 as MAIDEN launched into the tenth song of his set, “The Number Of The Beast”, at the Olympic Stadium. After singing the opening line of the track, Bruce He noticed the flare lighting up and immediately burst into an angry rant, apparently concerned that the smoke from the flare would negatively affect his singing voice.
“The cunt with the fucking flare, I’ve gotta sing up here,” Bruce shouted into the microphone. “You fucking cocksucker. You Greek cunt. All right. I’ve gotta fucking sing. All right. Fuck you.”
Ace Bruce‘s bandmates continued playing the opening riff of “The Number Of The Beast”, he apparently briefly left the stage in hopes that the smoke would clear up. However, when Dickinson He eventually resumed singing the song, he was notably off time and not in sync with the rest of the group.
Dickinson addressed the incident during a new interview with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece about his upcoming solo album, “The Mandrake Project”. Asked about his response to the flare at the concert, Bruce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Oh, the guy swinging his thing and everything else. You know what? I probably got his nationality wrong. [Laughs] I just lost my temper, because it was such… That activity that a very, very small minority of people do is so selfish and so disturbing. They think it’s really cool. Actually, it’s not about the band. It’s not about the audience. It’s about them drawing attention only to themselves and damaging the people around them who have this thing, this extremely toxic thing flying around. Of course, if you happen to be asthmatic, if you haven’t been having any lung conditions, ‘Oh, we don’t care about them. We’ll just fill the place with smoke, ’cause it makes me feel important,’ is their attitude. It just annoys the hell out of me. Anyway, yeah, I lost my temper. I shouldn’t have called him a Greek cunt; I should have just called him a cunt. [Laughs]”
Dickinson has a history of publicly admonishing fans and security at MAIDEN‘s concert if he feels like they are out of line. Back in 2019, I stopped MAIDEN show midway through to slam a Tacoma, Washington venue for a violent and bloody incident in the crowd for which he claimed the venue’s security was to blame. In 2012, Bruce called out a fan at an Indianapolis show who had been texting for three straight songs.
“The Mandrake Project” will be released on March 1 via BMG. Bruce and his long-term co-writer and producer Roy “Z” Ramirez recorded the LP largely at Los Angeles’s Doom Roomwith Roy Z doubling up as both guitarist and bassist. The recording lineup for “The Mandrake Project” was rounded out by keyboard maestro Mistheria and drummer David Morenoboth of whom also featured on Bruce‘s last solo studio album, “Tyranny Of Souls”in 2005.
