British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden‘s best laid plans ran headlong into fate last night, June 22nd. The group’s set at the Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre, France was meant to serve as a future showcase for their current live show, having been announced last September that the concert would be filmed for an upcoming live release. To that extent, the group announced last fall that the concert would be a phone-free experience, with concertgoers being subject to keeping their phones in Yondr pouches, preventing them access to them while catching the band’s set.
That decision was in part made to make for a more compelling footage for the film, but also adhered to Iron Maiden‘s growing wishes that fans keep their phone usage to a minimum at live events. As it so happened, some 8 songs into their set last night, Iron Maiden set was paused for roughly an hour due to a power outage. When the group were eventually able to resume the concert, the encores they had intended to play wound up being cut short due to venue curfew concerns.
Speaking today, June 23rd, on the matter, the band issued the below statement:
“Last night Maiden returned to La Défense Arena in Paris. Having played two sold out nights there last year in the 37,000 capacity indoor stadium, home of Racing 92 rugby club, this return a year later was specifically to film the show for posterity and future release, and an indoor stadium and exuberant French fans were ideal for this. However, about fifty minutes into the set towards the end of ‘2 Minutes to Midnight’, a total power cut brought everything to a stop.
As stated by Le Figaro, the French national newspaper, today – “Officials are investigating whether the outage was linked to the extreme heat. However, French electricity distributor Enedis said the problem did not appear to originate from the public power grid and was more likely related to the arena’s own electrical installation. The exact cause remains under investigation”.
We will find out in the next few days exactly what happened with the power and why.
The band were able to resume on stage about an hour after the cut occurred continuing the set with ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. The concert was scheduled to finish by 11pm with a curfew at that time which the local police chief would only extend to 11.35pm after the cut off because, we were told, all local transport in the area stopped by 12.15 and they could not have over 30,000 fans on the streets unable to get home. This gave just enough time for the band to complete the set finishing with ‘Iron Maiden’ but unable to play any of the encores.
Bruce comments, “Despite everything the audience and atmosphere last night were fantastic and, like every other challenge Iron Maiden have faced over the years, we’ll find a way to deal with and overcome the missing songs in the encore when it comes to the final film.
“We know that many of you travelled long distances, waited patiently throughout the interruption, and were looking forward to experiencing the complete Run For Your Lives show. We share your disappointment. No one is more frustrated than the band and crew, who were eager to deliver the full performance you deserved.
“What we will remember most from last night is the incredible spirit inside the arena. Your patience, understanding and unwavering support through an extremely challenging situation meant the world to us. The energy in the room was remarkable and is exactly what we have to come to expect from Paris, and a reminder of why we always love playing here.
“Thank you, Paris.”
Manager Rod Smallwood adds, “The fans were magnificent and a huge thanks to them from the band for their patience and support. it just illustrates again what great fans we have. The temperature in Paris was as high as 44°C that day and the hall AC went off with the cut so of course, with so many people in there, it soon got hot while they were waiting for us to be able to resume playing. Naturally when we continued with the lights and pyro and excitement it got seriously hot for fans and band. Despite that the energy of the reaction was incredible!””
