Maiden Central

Well, the news was released last night, and is as suspected:

Having established itself as the “Best New Festival” at the 2009 UK Festival Awards,SONISPHERE FESTIVAL KNEBWORTH moves from strength to strength with the announcement of our phenomenal 2010 headliners, as well as the first of many great bands for the three day event over July 30, 31 and Aug 1.

With the power to rock the very foundations of Knebworth Hall itself, the weekend headliners, both renowned for sensational live shows, are British Metal titans IRON MAIDEN – for whom KNEBWORTH will be their only UK appearance of 2010 – and German industrial rock monsters RAMMSTEIN, who make their first – and only 2010 – UK Festival appearance.

The legendary IRON MAIDEN, whose last UK concert was a sold out show to 50,000 fans at Twickenham Stadium in July 2008, are the biggest selling British Metal band of all time, with album sales in excess of 80 million based on a huge following around the planet built on extensive and spectacular World Tours and the sheer excitement of their live performances. Brit Award winners for BEST BRITISH LIVE ACT earlier this year, Maiden have been at the forefront of Metal for over twenty-five years and continue to go forward with ever increasing success both critically and commercially. Their last tour alone visited 38 countries and played to 2 million passionate fans, with the recent award winning DVD “Flight 666″ of this tour making it to No 1 in 25 countries including the UK and USA, where it is still the top selling music DVD so far this year.  We are delighted to present a rare opportunity for Sonisphere fans to see one of the world’s truly unique and legendary bands in the magnificent setting of the grounds of Knebworth.

Prior to playing a few selected dates next summer, Maiden are currently working on a new album expected to be released late next year. Iconic frontman Bruce Dickinson took time out to comment:

“Knebworth has been the home of so many legendary concerts going back many years it really will be a privilege to play there. We enjoy the camaraderie of playing great festivals and are very much looking forward to getting back out to do some shows next summer and, as it will be over two years since we played the UK, we will certainly be looking to deliver a memorable and spectacular night for our fans!”

What this means for UK fans, of course, is that Maiden will return in 2011 for a UK tour – their ‘only UK date of 2010′ is the standard framing of it being simply part of their European festival calendar, with a further tour to be scheduled after North American and Asian/Australasian dates.

Also, I would imagine this also means their next LP will be scheduled for a September/October release.