Images © IronMaiden.com Ltd.
Check the page and more infos @ www.maidenaustria.at
In January 2005, the first Austrian Iron Maiden Community was found by the four members of the board:
Iron-Alf, Maidenaustria, Rudytrooper666 and NomadOfVienna.
It is our goal to organise the Austrian fans and all Maiden-concerned activities in Austria.
How Iron Maiden got me...
It was 1987 when I borrowed a tape from my sister. One side was Scorpions' "Love At First Sting" and the B-Side was a
mix of various Maiden-Songs... Scorpions sounded quite powerful to me, but there was
something about Maiden I wasn't able to describe.
In autumn 1989 I bought my first CD ("Iron Maiden") when I still even hadn't had a CD-player. I began to buy continously every Maiden CD that was
available and the more I got of them, the more I went into it!
It continued with becoming a member in the offical F.C., buying T-Shirts, Posters, videos and all that stuff that a
Die-Hard Fan would buy. Not only in Austria, but in Germany and England as well.
In 1997 I began to play Bass due to my shining example Steve Harris.
So, in recent years, my Maiden collection has been growing more
and more. Nowadays I don't spend that much money on collecting, I try to see as many concerts as possible.
Up to now (December 2008);I've seen them 23 times:
1993 Vienna
1995 Vienna
2000 Vienna
2000 Munich
2003 Vienna (where I was accessed to the "Listening Bus" and heard the first
4 tracks of the new -prior 3 month to release date - album "Dance Of Death")
2003 Munich
2005 Prague (the first gig of their tour)
2005 Graz (where I met the band for the very first time!)
2006 Zürich
2006 Stuttgart (met the band again and had a couple of pints with Dave and Bruce!)
2006 Dortmund
2006 London (Dec. 22nd)
2006 London (Dec. 23rd)
2007 Sofia
2007 Ostrava (met Nicko and Rod Smallwood)
2007 Düsseldorf
2008 Paris (July 1st)
2008 Paris (July 2nd) - where I had the great honour to be on stage while "Heaven Can Wait"
2008 London
2008 Bucharest
2008 Prague
2008 Budapest
2009 Belgrade
In 20 years of being a fan I finally managed to meet Steve personally, had a
little chat with him, showed him my tattoo and eventually also had a picture
taken! (See in the images / thumbnail section).
THE NIGHT was on December 7th 2006 in Stuttgart, where we met the band in a Pub. A night to remember a life-time.
I had a very nice and long chat with Dave and afterwards with Bruce as well. We even sang the Chorus of "Alexander The
Great" together! It really felt like talking to a fellow musician and not to a Super-Star. Of course, they meet hundreds
of people on every tour, and can hardly remember any of the faces they were talking to. But for us, who had this honour,
this night will remain a lifetime's memory!
This is an image showing me (left circle) at the Munich 2003 gig.
(image taken from www.ironmaiden.com)
Vienna, June 8th 2003:
Weeks before I attended a drawing of the Iron Maiden F.C. which enabled
the winners to listen exclusively to 4 tracks of the forthcoming album
"Dance Of Death" which will be released in late September.
Four days before the gig I received a phone call by Steve Lazarus,
Maiden F.C. telling me that I would be listening (together with a
guest of mine) to the album before the gig.
I couldn't believe it! What I great honour happened to me.
So I was even more looking forward to this gig.
Paris, July 2nd 2008:
I had won a Fan Club drawing which enabled me to be on stage while "Heaven Can Wait"!
I learnt it two days before flying to Paris and decided to take Mr. H (nomadofvienna) with me on stage.
We had to gather 3 songs prior to HCW at the right front side of the stage and
then we were taken backstage where we would had to wait another song until HCW.
This gave me time to have a look at all the stage and the technical equipment,
watching Bruce from the side singing "Powerslave". I also met Steve Gadd and
we shook hands.
When HCW was started at last, we were let up the stairs to the stage behind
the curtain. We watched there Michael Kenney playing the keyboards to this song
and also shook hands. Last instructions were given to us and once Bruce sang
"the path for you is decided", we dashed out to the stage. What an incredible
view! Seeing all those ten thousands of people all looking at you. We gathered
in a semi-circle around Steve and were chanting along to the song.
(I'm the very right one with the Austrian T-Shirt)
I tried to get as many impressions as possible in these 50 seconds, looking at Steve so close playing, at the other members
of the band, at the audience and the M.A.U. guys within who were waving our Austrian flag.
Too quickly it was over and we had to clear the stage, but so happy!
I shall never forget these moments in my entire life!
I usually try to be in the first rows, thus to get eye contact with each member
of the band, especially Steve. He always greets me at the beginning of a gig
when he spots my West Ham-Scarf. (Update Feb. 2009: He still does!!!)
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MAIDEN AUSTRIA UNITED
www.maidenaustria.at
I founded Maiden Austria United together with three other Austrian most hardcore fans in January 2005.
check out the website (klick the picture links on this side) about our activities.You can also download our
press-kit (either German or English):
click here to download the press kit of Maiden Austria United! (3,04 MB)
Just in brief, some of our achieved goals and successes:
17 concerts visited with M.A.U.
met members of the band in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008
organised, promoted and hosted five pre-release parties and the world-premier
of Flight 666 (some ot them were world exclusive!)
radio live interview and live appearances
Our main project is the creation of the world's biggest Iron
Maiden Encyclopaedia. It temporary contains more than 4.200 items,
documented in more than 18.000 images; growing daily. It is free
for anyone who registers with our board.
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