In two recent behind the scene videos, Bruce Dickinson offered a guided tour of how he performs every night and detailed some of the problems he deals with. Revealing that he has a roadie to ensure costume changes go smoothly, and that he reuses clothes from previous performances, adding, “Nothing goes to waste!”
Dickinson also explained how the flamethrower backpack he uses weighs roughly 30 pounds and that, “Sometimes I get a few burns on the hands because the thing won’t go out,” Adding that, “I’ve got the hood down so people can’t see – and neither can I,” he said. “I have to get rid of the cape, and you have to really make sure it goes because it’s got stuck on the flamethrower a few times, and that’s really embarrassing.”
Later on during the show, Dickinson had to be extra careful around a prop noose hanging from above, because at one point it was set to fall to the ground. He added that, “Except one night it didn’t, It came down and nearly knocked me senseless – heavy piece of rope, whack, ow!” Further into the show, he had to pick up one of two prop swords in order to battle with the band’s mascot, Eddie. “Make sure you have the right sword, One of them is bendy, one of them is not. If you hit Eddie with the bendy sword, it’ll bend in half. it’ll look sh-t.”
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