Iron Maiden’s Final Frontier World Tour – named in honour of the group’s fifteenth (and, as usual, brilliant) studio album – has been nothing less than a mammoth logistical undertaking.
This year’s series of gigs – there were plenty of others in 2010’s initial leg, let me tell you, which started in Dallas – began way back in February with a show at the Olympiski in Moscow, followed by concerts in (among other countries) Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, the USA, Germany, Holland, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, France, Sweden and Portugal.
The band eventually found their way home to the UK this summer for an extensive ‘Arena Tour’ (as they tend to be called by the promoters these days), finishing up with two sold-out nights at London’s fabulous O2 venue in Docklands where Dragonforce and Trivium (who’ve supported Maiden in days gone by) were also on the bill.
In total, the Final Frontier World Tour saw the New Wave of British Heavy Metal pioneers perform no less than 98 shows in 40 countries across five continents to an estimated audience of over two million people. Staggering, isn’t it?
The five times SMT Online’s Editor saw the band on this tour – at Glasgow’s SECC, the NIA in Birmingham, Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena, the O2 and at Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena – takes his personal tally of Iron Maiden gigs between 1986 and 2011 to 60. So now you know!
Setting the scene: The Final Frontier
Throughout this tour, the stage was decorated in a futuristic, space-focused manner befitting The Final Frontier. Two large antennae adorned the back corners, both topped by lights. The long-used ‘wraparound’ set enveloping the band and providing a ‘runway’ for vocalist Bruce Dickinson (complete with two podiums) was made to look like a space ship, the monitors painted to match and feature the all-new Maiden ‘cross keys’ symbolism.
The legend ‘S-15’ appeared multiple times on the set, again as a reference to the album title, along with a succession of dots and lines at the back spelling out ‘Eddie Lives’ in morse code. Neat, eh?
As has been the case on previous tours, Nicko McBrain’s drumkit featured a Sooty puppet, this time around dressed in a spacesuit! Not sure what Harry Corbett would have made of that, mind…
The walk-on version of the band’s aforementioned mascot and talisman Eddie (The Head) appeared in his new incarnation as an extra-terrestrial.
Complete with an ‘Ed-cam’ (a point-of-view camera which fed directly to the stage-side projector screens), the other giant Eddie appeared from behind the drum kit during the eponymous track Iron Maiden complete with flashing eyes and hands gripping either side of the rear walkway (the walk-on Eddie being used during The Evil That Men Do).
Heading for the East Midlands
The huge Iron Maiden entourage hit the East Midlands on 27 July for a stunning show at Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena (complete with all the usual pyrotechnics and interchangeable flag backdrops depicting the tracks played on the night). There would also be a quality performance by that evening’s support band – Airbourne – who paid homage to Aussie rock legends AC/DC by appearing to sound and look exactly like them!
Maiden’s classy set-list was one that would have pleased fans young and old, spanning as it did the band’s entire and hugely successful 35-year career. Opening track Satellite 15… The Final Frontier was followed by Eldorado, Two Minutes To Midnight, The Talisman, Coming Home, Dance of Death, The Trooper (a classic from the Piece of Mind opus released in 1983), The Wickerman, Blood Brothers, When The Wild Wind Blows, The Evil That Men Do, the ‘headbanging fest’ that is Fear of the Dark and Iron Maiden.
The band would come back to the stage for a fantastic encore including Number of the Beast, Hallowed Be Thy Name and show closer Running Free. No Run To The Hills or Sanctuary this time around, but you can’t have everything.
Security and crowd safety for the evening’s festivities was expertly handled by the dedicated Showsec team orchestrated via East Midlands area manager (and head of security for this gig) Joe Milner with vital input from backstage area supervisor Tony Preston, event control specialist Kirsty Whyte and general supervisor Sam Hodkin.
Also in attendance to both advise and support the team were Showsec’s much respected managing director Mark Harding, Richard Church – the event management concern’s regional manager for the Midlands – and Geoff Huckstep (the venue’s chief executive).
A couple of hours or so prior to the Capital FM Arena’s doors opening to the expectant throng of Heavy Metal fans, there was time for a pre-show discussion with Church and Harding and an overview of security and safety issues.
“To frame how we approach tonight’s event, we’ve already been fed information by a network of security managers who’ve told us what has happened at previous gigs on Iron Maiden’s UK Tour,” explained Church, whose employer takes care of event security and crowd safety at nine of the UK’s 14 major arenas.
“We’ll take into consideration any security issues that have arisen, and feedback on crowd dynamics,” added Church. Showsec is also heavily involved with crowd modelling in terms of computer simulation to evaluate typical patterns of movement during an event. Such modelling has been conducted for the Capital FM Arena.
Speaking of ‘crowd dynamics’, at the SECC show in Glasgow there was an impromptu rendition of Flower of Scotland by all those Maiden fans in situ (but, thankfully, no security incidents).
“There has been lots of pre-planning for tonight,” continued Church. “Joe [Milner] completed the risk assessment under the usual structured approach that we adopt for all venues. In fact, it’s often the case that we’ll present any new or Best Practice ideas we unearth at the Arena Managers Forum. At the end of the day, everything we’re doing here is in the best interests of public safety and customer service.”
Typically, Best Practice techniques adopted for indoor shows will be transposed by Showsec onto the outdoor shows for which the company is responsible and vice-versa.
Change of mindset, switch in emphasis
At this point, Mark Harding offered some of his own views. “In the old days, I think it’s fair to say we didn’t have great engagement with the clients. Nowadays, it’s much more of a true partnership in terms of venue and event security. We work hand-in-hand on Security Industry Authority licensing of staff, for example, and offer a combined development path for each member of the team.”
Clearly, for Harding the client-solutions provider relationship hinges on an understanding of each other’s notional ‘product’ and how each ought to be managed by the other.
Although there are standard operational procedures that may be rolled-out at any given indoor venue, Church was keen to point out that the preference is always for a bespoke service.
“From our own point of view,” he said, “in the modern age we’re taking it upon ourselves to be proactive as an event security and safety solutions provider. We’re an energy-based organisation with the skill and desire to refresh what it is we do all of the time. The Showsec Management Development Programme has assisted us here in that it has brought in fresh people via a rigorous recruitment process which necessarily means that only the very best shine through.”
Interestingly, Church described how Showsec’s stewarding team encompasses people like solicitors and occupational therapists who involve themselves with event security on a part-time basis because they genuinely love the role and engaging with members of the public in an educational and helpful manner.
“In the events sector,” stated Church, “the hardest part is to keep hold of your staff. If you don’t manage to hold on to them then you’re letting all of their knowledge go with them. We always strive to value our team members by way of first class training and really making them feel a part of the operation.”
By way of supporting that assertion, Harding then ventured that Showsec subcontracted less than GB pound 300,000 of work (representing fewer than 2% of turnover) in 2010. They’re obviously doing something right.
Specifics for the Iron Maiden gig
To be precise, 8,713 tickets were sold ahead of the Maiden gig – just shy of capacity for Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena, Blocks 3 through to 17 being those in use – with 20 suites on Level 4 playing host to nigh on 200 guests (among them yours truly and Graham Brown, managing director for Showsec’s PR company Plaster Creative Communications).
Doors opened at 6.30 pm sharp (although 15 minutes prior to this the 100 or so diehard Maiden fans who’d won a ‘first to the barrier’ competition were allowed in to claim their places at the very front of the floor standing section).
One element many of you will not be aware of is how the standing area at a gig such as this is ‘loaded’ or populated. The front side entrances to the arena floor are used first, and then there’s graded ingress from front to back marshalled by the stewards.
In terms of the show running order, Airbourne took to the stage at 7.30 pm and, after their 45-minute rock ‘bombast’ (with lots of hair flying around in circles), there was a 30-minute interval prior to the lights going down and the Maiden intro music blasting through the massive PA stack.
In total, there were 115 Showsec staff on duty (among them the head of security and multiple supervisors each responsible for eight or more members of the team). Tasks laying before the Showsec team members were incident response, bag searching, radio control and backstage area monitoring duties.
There’s obviously a need to cover the ‘inside’ arena areas, but also the peripheral spaces such as the concourse (where merchandise is sold and many a burger/drink is consumed).
All of the detail in terms of what the Showsec people were required to do on site had been logged on the Smartgate system, which loads all of that information and then generates a quote for the solutions buyer. “That way,” added Richard Church, “we can cherry-pick the best set of operatives for any given role.”
As far as policing involvement with the Maiden gig was concerned, it necessarily focused on 999 response and keeping tabs on any bootleg merchandise vendors who might pitch up outside the venue in an attempt to sell their fake Maiden T-shirts. Anecdotal evidence suggests those who buy their Heavy Metal gear from these phonies are invariably disappointed after their ‘lush’ garments have endured one spin in the Hotpoint.
One security solution designed to assist door staff which hasn’t really grabbed the zeitgeist as much as manufacturers were predicting has been the ‘headcam’. Theories abound as to why… One such suggests that stewards and door supervisors are reluctant to wear so-called ‘robocams’ because they feel it immediately renders them a target for any aggressor who fancies taking them on in a physical brawl.
“The biggest mistake,” asserted Church, “is that these headsets have been given to the wrong people: the frontline staff. It’s usually the case that they have to be on the move most of the time and so they’re not always going to be in place to capture an incident.”
In Part Two, SMT Online reports on the pre-show team briefing conducted by Showsec, evaluates the physical security systems in place and speaks to Capital FM Arena CEO Geoff Huckstep to find out the client’s view