Iron Maiden Will Skip The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Ceremony

Iron Maiden are being honoured by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – but Australian shows take precedence.

Take a bow, Australia -this is kind of our fault. After ripping it up for over 50 years, UK heavy metal legends Iron Maiden are fiiiiiiinally being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It’s an honour that’s long overdue, and sees the none-more-literary rockers join fellow Class Of 20206-ers Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross, and the Wu-Tang Clan.

A pretty fantastic cross-section of talent, I think you’ll agree, and we can expect most of them to front up to take a bow when the induction ceremony takes place on Saturday, November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.

But not Iron Maiden! No, they’ll be rocking out on the east coast of Australia, with shows scheduled at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on November 13 and Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on November 15. For all that lead singer Bruce Dickinson is a licensed pilot, there’s just no way to make it there and back again. The only thing that makes Melbourne to LA bearable is knowing Perth to LA is worse.

Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood dropped a prepared statement on Billboard to clarify the situation:

As the most observant have already noticed, the band will be on tour in Australia around the November date of the induction ceremony for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Los Angeles.

In accepting, Iron Maiden made it very clear to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that the fans always come first and that the shows will, of course, go on.

We would like to assure all our fans in Australasia that the Australian and New Zealand dates will remain unaffected, and we look forward to bringing the ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour to them on the penultimate stop of our 50th-anniversary celebrations.

Bless ’em.