Bruce Dickinson

Bruce answer on: Why Maiden won't perform orchestral shows -> http://ultimateclassicrock.com/iron-maiden-no-orchestral-shows/

In 2015, drummer Nicko McBrain talked up the concept. But speaking to fans in Copenhagen on Sept. 8 (via Blabbermouth), Dickinson said, “It's been tried a lot by all kinds of people, many of whom I respect, and, to be really honest with you, I don't think it works. I think it might work for the odd specific song. For example, ''Empire of the Clouds'', my thing, has kind of got orchestra all over it. But that's just one song, and that was written specifically with that kind of thing in mind. And I can see that working under certain circumstances, but that's only one song. And the problem with orchestras is what do you do with them when they're not in use? Which is actually quite a lot of songs, if they're going to be really proper rock ’n’ roll type songs.”
 
Bruce answer on: Why Maiden won't perform orchestral shows -> http://ultimateclassicrock.com/iron-maiden-no-orchestral-shows/

In 2015, drummer Nicko McBrain talked up the concept. But speaking to fans in Copenhagen on Sept. 8 (via Blabbermouth), Dickinson said, “It's been tried a lot by all kinds of people, many of whom I respect, and, to be really honest with you, I don't think it works. I think it might work for the odd specific song. For example, ''Empire of the Clouds'', my thing, has kind of got orchestra all over it. But that's just one song, and that was written specifically with that kind of thing in mind. And I can see that working under certain circumstances, but that's only one song. And the problem with orchestras is what do you do with them when they're not in use? Which is actually quite a lot of songs, if they're going to be really proper rock ’n’ roll type songs.”

I think that shows they haven't thought about it, really. There is a lot of songs, especially in reunion era, that would be amazing with an orchestra:

Songs that would work a treat with orchestras (IMO), of course with clever arrangment that doesn't overpower the band:

Children Of The Damned
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Powerslave
Rime Of The Acient Mariner
Alexander The Great
Infinite Dreams
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Fear Of The Dark
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
Sign Of The Cross
Brave New World
Blood Brothers
Paschendale
Journeyman
Dance Of Death
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
For The Greater Good Of God
The Legacy
Coming Home
The Talisman
When The Wild Wind Blows
The Book Of Souls
Empire Of The Clouds
 
I think that shows they haven't thought about it, really. There is a lot of songs, especially in reunion era, that would be amazing with an orchestra:

Songs that would work a treat with orchestras (IMO), of course with clever arrangment that doesn't overpower the band:

Children Of The Damned
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Powerslave
Rime Of The Acient Mariner
Alexander The Great
Infinite Dreams
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Fear Of The Dark
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
Sign Of The Cross
Brave New World
Blood Brothers
Paschendale
Journeyman
Dance Of Death
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
For The Greater Good Of God
The Legacy
Coming Home
The Talisman
When The Wild Wind Blows
The Book Of Souls
Empire Of The Clouds

Yeah, there are a couple of songs (especially in the reunion era as you said) that would work well live with an orchestra. I'll add Face In The Sand to your list too.
 
Nice story from Bruce about a prized award:

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/rocky-on-the-oche/

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson on how darts trophy is most prized award
As lead singer with one of the biggest-selling bands in the world, Bruce Dickinson has won countless prestigious awards over the decades.
But the Iron Maiden vocalist has revealed that taking pride of place on his mantelpiece among the Grammys, Brits and Ivor Novellos are two makeshift awards – including a modified darts trophy – given to the rockers when they played Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“If you sold out the Glasgow Apollo, you were given a little plastic trophy – a raised clef that said ‘Glasgow Apollo, sold out’,” Bruce explained. “It was one of the few venues that did that.
“The award was given to our manager Rod Smallwood, who was very fond of trophies like gold albums and discs.
“The next night we were playing at the Edinburgh Playhouse which was also sold out, so Rod went to the promoter and said ‘Where’s my trophy?’
“The promoter panicked and said to himself, ‘I haven’t got a trophy, what do I do?’ He went to the show runner and told him to go out and get a trophy.
“The runner came back later and said ‘will this do?’ and handed over a darts trophy, which had a great big dartboard and three darts coming out the top.
“The promoter, in an absolute stroke of genius, put on it ‘Iron Maiden, Edinburgh Playhouse, sold out – on target with the first of many’. And like all of these things, the trophy gets chucked or stored away. But when it was left one night I nicked it, and I have that trophy, I’ve kept it, alongside the sold-out Apollo one and, 35 years on, I can show them and say, ‘see, the story is true’!”

The 60-year-old, who discussed his memoirs at last month’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, also shared his memories of the Apollo. “It was a legendary three-tiered venue where the stage was immensely high – all the people standing at the front could hardly see anything,” he smiled.
“Those standing in front of the stage were all bouncers wearing dicky bows, looking like they were just out of jail for grievous bodily harm.”

With sales of more than 100 million, Iron Maiden have proved to be one of the most enduring and popular bands in the world.
 
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For the Maiden history nerds among us: on the story where he talks about visiting the Dio concert and eating that spacecake.

That was not in Arnhem, but in Zwolle (Maiden played Zwolle in 1984 & 1995 and played Arnhem in 2011, 2016 & 2018) and the Dio concert took place on 3 May 1986. According to Bruce the Somewhere in Time album was in the mixing fase during that time. Adrian said the album was mixed in New York (remember the Tom Jones story on the last history DVD)? Either the album was mixed in both Hilversum and New York, either Hilversum was "only" for recording the guitars and vocals and album production (other than the final mix).
 
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By the way: terribly annoying is the laughing of the filming person. Was anyone able to finish this?

This could be the car he talked about:

39283784001_original.jpg
 
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