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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Bruce Dickinson to stage WWI dogfight over Sonisphere
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 2 June 2014
Sometimes bands have fireworks at the end of their sets when they headline a festival. Which is nice, I guess. But it’s no recreation of a World War One dogfight, is it? Yeah, bands, Iron Maiden are going to spoil festival shows for you all.
Marking the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson last week announced that he had arranged a twelve minute air display from The Great War Display Team ahead of his band’s headline performance at Sonisphere this year. The show will take place at around 6pm on the Saturday of the festival, and feature five different types of early 20th century fighter planes.
Says Dickinson, who will also be flying as part of the display team: “The air show over Sonisphere is something I’m really excited about and we’re determined to put on an unforgettable display for everyone. We’re planning an extravaganza of derring-do, especially when you consider the manoeuvres we’ll be performing are all based on true-life battles from a hundred years ago! What some of these fighter pilots achieved back then was nothing short of miraculous given the conditions they were working under and the seriousness of what was at stake”.
Sonisphere organiser Stuart Galbraith added: “We all got very excited when Iron Maiden approached us with this idea. It’s going to be a truly unique experience and tribute for everyone at Knebworth. We’ve made sure we were able to squeeze a gap into the outdoor stage programme on 5 Jul so that it has the impact it deserves”.
And, hey, you know what would be cool? If they could do this all again at Glastonbury. Yeah, well, good luck waiting for that to happen. Dickinson said last week that he and his band would never ever ever play there. Ever.
“Personally I have no interest in going to Glastonbury”, he told The Daily Star. “In the days when Glasto was an alternative festival it was quite interesting. Now it’s the most bourgeois thing on the planet. Anywhere Gwyneth Paltrow goes and you can live in an air-conditioned yurt is not for me”.
