Bruce Dickinson recalls concert that had only one fan watching

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson recalled in an interview with Chris Jericho (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar) the experience he had in the early days when he was the vocalist of a band in the university where they made a show and only one person appeared and watched the concert.

Bruce Dickinson recalls concert in the early days that had only one fan watching:

“I had one, one show, I was in a band at university. There was one… In the old days, it would have been called a disco. Except there was nobody there. It was like the phantom disco, and there was like mirror balls and lights. And there was also the stage.”

“And there was nobody, nobody there. But we were getting paid like 50 bucks to go and play. So then, the door open. And one person walked in. Looked a bit shocked that there was somebody actually on stage. And so he got a chair and he put it right in the middle of the dance floor, and sat down on this chair. And I thought, ‘This is great!’”

“So I got off the stage. And I went up to him with a microphone. I said, ‘Excuse me, sir, I got to know, what’s your name?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, I’m so-and-so.’ I said, ‘Can I buy you a beer? Because we’re about to do this performance just for you. The least I can do is buy you a beer. You may hate it, you know what I mean?’”

Bruce Dickinson continued:

“And, and then we kind of relaxed and we had this… We actually had a relationship, we had an audience of one who didn’t know who we were. But actually, we had a great time. Nobody cared, nobody knew. But we had a great time.”

“And I think you have to take that there’s always a way in to a bad situation. You just have to think outside the box. A pet peeve of mine is when a band goes on in what is obviously a toilet with two beer crates at one end of the stage. They go on there, and they pretend that they’re in Madison Square Garden.”

“And it’s like ‘Hello, Cleveland!’ And I’m just like, ‘No, it’s not Cleveland, you’re in a toilet with two beer crates.’ If you just said to people, ‘Hey, we’re all in the toilet with two beer crates,’ everybody would go ‘These guys are great! I love these guys!’ But instead they go, ‘Ah, yeah, just a bunch of poses.’ So you’ve got to be real with it.”

Dickinson’s 2022 Spoken Word tour

January

• 26 Jan – Nashville, Polk Theater
• 27 Jan – Columbus (OH), Jo Ann Davidson Theatre
• 29 Jan – Pittsburgh, Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead
• 30 Jan – Detroit, The Fillmore

February

• 01 Feb – Buffalo-Niagara Falls, Buffalo State Performing Arts Center
• 02 Feb – Albany, The Egg
• 04 Feb – New York City, The Town Hall
• 05 Feb – Boston, Schubert Theatre at the Boch Center
• 07 Feb – Philadelphia, The Fillmore
• 08 Feb – Washington DC, Warner Theatre
• 10 Feb – Cleveland, MGM Northfield Park
• 11 Feb – Chicago, Vic Theatre
• 13 Feb – Minneapolis, Pantages Theatre
• 14 Feb – Milwaukee-Racine, Pabst Theater
• 16 Feb – Des Moines, Hoyt Sherman Place Theatre
• 17 Feb – Oklahoma City, Rose State College Hudiberg Chevrolet Center
• 19 Feb – Kansas City, Uptown Theater
• 20 Feb – Denver, Paramount Theatre
• 22 Feb – Dallas, Majestic Theatre
• 23 Feb – Houston, Stafford Centre
• 24 Feb – Austin, Paramount Theatre
• 26 Feb – Phoenix, Mesa Arts Center
• 28 Feb – San Diego, Balboa Theatre

March

• 01 Mar – Los Angeles, Orpheum Theatre
• 03 Mar – San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts
• 04 Mar – Portland (OR), Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
• 06 Mar – Seattle, The Moore Theatre
• 12 Mar – Las Vegas, House Of Blues
• 14 Mar – Vancouver (New Westminster), Massey Theatre
• 16 Mar – Victoria, Royal Theatre
• 18 Mar – Edmonton, Winspear Centre
• 20 Mar – Winnipeg, Burton Cummings Theatre
• 21 Mar – Calgary, Jack Singer Concert Hall
• 23 Mar – Montreal, MTELUS
• 26 Mar – Ottawa, Algonquin Commons Theatre
• 27 Mar – Quebec City, Palais Montcalm
• 29 Mar – Hamilton, FirstOntario Concert Hall
• 30 Mar – Kitchener, Centre in the Square