Thanks to the following people who all contributed pictures to this page;
Dan McMullan
Nicole Gasser
Chris Williams
Hiromi
Kenny McIlwee
Will and Fish from Scotland
| BRUCE AIR 666 - LISBON 9/7/08 - PLENTY MORE PICS TO FOLLOW |
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| Set off from Middlesbrough Bus Station and immediately met this guy and his friend. He's called Marek and he has a tattoo shop in High Wycombe. Great company on the way to London! |
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| Victoria Station, two minutes to midnight! |
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| So after a three hour sleep on the floor of Gatwick Airport, I met, l to r, Chris, Viking I, Carlos, Viking II and that's me on the end. The Vikings have been to every European gig on this tour so far. Note Sagatiba bar! |
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| The Vikings again with Chris, The Stoopid American. Chris is holding the legendary 'Vitamins of Doom'. |
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| That's Nicole from Hamburg on the right. Five of the pics on this page are hers so thanks Nicole! Yeeeeaaahhhhh!!!! |
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| 666 - The Number Of The Flight. |
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| Ed Force One! They had to take the Maiden colours off though as when the aircraft went to Africa, the Africans got scared of Eddie and wouldn't get on. Bad ju-ju. Soft fuckers! |
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| They didn't wash the plane though so you can clearly see where the Maiden logo was, embedded in the dirt... |
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| Captain Bruce addresses the passengers. |
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| Bruce meets the fans. Great guy! |
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| Erm, who is actually flying this aeroplane??? |
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| The main man... |
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| Bruce, just after I gave him my postcard of Skull Hill (Golgotha), which may now be the next Maiden album cover... |
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| Two by two... |
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| Lisbon. There were plenty of Maiden fans on this shot but they must have walked away before I took the photo. |
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| Somewhere back in Coach Class. That's Hiromi with Chris and The Vikings... |
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| Somewhere back in coach class again... |
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| On the bus to the hotel. |
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| Drinking the bar dry before leaving for the gig. |
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| Rob - great guy, even though he's a sweaty sock. |
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| And getting into the mood... |
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| The festival entrance. I tried to bribe one of the stewards into letting us jump the queue but a load of Portuguese cops turned up with guns so we waited in line like everyone else. |
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| The festival car... |
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| The beer tents... |
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| Most people were fairly drunk before the bands started. Apart from me of course... :-) |
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| Super Bock is a very nice brew for rockers with a discerning palet... |
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| Will and Fish in front of the Avenged Sevenfold stageset... |
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| The car park starts to get busy... |
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| We came to town to drink all your beer... |
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| Chris starting flag a little.. |
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| The main stage. Lauren came on at 6pm and played a really great set. |
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| I hope she becomes really successful! |
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| Back to the beer tents... |
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| Avenged Sevenfold... |
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| ...who played a really excellent set... |
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| ...in the bright sunshine... |
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| ...very recommended... |
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| Slayer. One of our party got a bit drunk and was dancing in front of Kerry King. Kerry picked up the mic and said "Don't do that - it's gay!"... |
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| Janick in full flow... |
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| Adrian... |
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| Steve... |
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| Janick on the tele... |
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| Scream for me Super Bock Super Rock... |
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| Janick and Dave... |
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| Adrian on backing vocals... |
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| "I parked a 757 round here somewhere. Has anyone seen it?"... |
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| Greatest bass player and song writer ever... |
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| Fear of the (car) Park... |
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| Eddie takes the stage... |
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| Hasta la vista baby... |
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| Maiden were truly awesome. Much better sound than they have had for a while as well. |
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| I was actually right down the front for Maiden's first seven songs but it got too hot so I had to move back... |
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| Hello Mum(my)... |
| We blagged our way into the Portuguese radio tent for the last part of the gig after saying we were from BBC Radio One. Click here for a short clip. The guy with me is from a Portuguese band whose name I have forgotten... |
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| The Sagatiba Bottle Of Doom made a cameo appearance on the bus from the hotel to the airport... |
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| Carol, Nicole and Steve at Lisbon Airport... |
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| And it's time to go home... |
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| We didn't fly back on Ed Force One because it was needed for another Africa trip so Bruce chartered a French aircraft and sat with the fans in the passenger seats which was even better. The French airline were excellent and so were their sandwiches and beer. |
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| The Maiden Scandinavia FC guys produced this beautiful painting for Bruce's forthcoming 50th birthday and presented it to him on the flight home... |
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| Bruce really went out of his way to make sure everyone was happy. He must have signed over 300 autographs... |
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| Erik has a can of Kronenbourg growing out of the top of his head... |
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| Time to put the seat belts on... |
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| Mid air signing session... |
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| Handing out the certificates... |
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| Bruce laughing at the Stoopid American... |
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| Can anybody remember the name of this guy's band..? |
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| Kenny with Bruce... |
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| This is the bar at Gatwick Airport where we stayed for a few hours after we landed and proceeded to cause utter mayhem... |
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| Beer, beer, we want more beeer, all the lads are cheering, get the fucking beer in... |
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| Andy from Evil Eye Photography... |
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| A couple of hours later... |
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| Casey liked to be the centre of attention... |
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| Those god-damn vitamins of doom again... |
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| The origins of the nickname should be starting to become clear now... |
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| Drunken Scots. Is there any other kind..? |
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| Drunken English... |
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| Kenny and me on the train from Gatwick to Victoria. Kenny looks tired and I'm, well, just happy... |
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| Either I'll do this trip again or pigs will fly... |
| Click here for a load of pictures from Tim Jackson... |
| And finally, this is a very special piece of art from Chris Williams. It's a beauty! |
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Thanks to the following people who all contributed pictures to this page; Dan McMullan Nicole Gasser Chris Williams Hiromi Kenny McIlwee Will and Fish from Scotland |