Online petition to get Iron Maiden to play Wembley Stadium in 2013

The economy is worse in the UK now, too, and might be about to dip again. Maiden's going to have a hard time selling tickets, especially with parking and such.
 
Much easier, I'd guess, to say "we're playing the O2". Then if this sells out, & ticket demand is deemed to be very strong, add another date; and so on. The very fact that Maiden, like many other acts, have done this previously (i.e. add another date), suggests ticket demand is difficult to predict. Hence, don't book a 90-100,000 capacity stadium like Wembley; what happens if you only sell 20-30,000 tickets? They didn't play the old Wembley either, back in the day.
 
I'm from the US. I often wonder about things like how are they received in the UK? I am surprised by what people are saying that they couldn't fill up bigger arenas back home. Also, I noticed that they don't seem to play that many dates overall in England. Am I perceiving this correctly? I could be totally wrong. just looking for some info.

ps...there is some behind the scenes footage of IM playing the O2. Looks like a pretty cool venue.
 
I have major problems saying Maiden don't sell out big venues when I saw them in the O2 in London last year. Honestly. That's pretty much the biggest indoor venue I've ever seen, and it was packed.
 
According to Wiki it's capacity is 20,000, with Maiden selling about 15,000 each night. It isn't even the biggest arena in the UK; that's the Manchester Arena. Wembley Stadium takes at least four times this, for one show.
 
Just to reiterate another point, when Take That were mentioned. In 2009 they played to "over 80,000" (i.e. pretty near capacity, which, for the new stadium, is claimed to be 90,000) on four seperate nights i.e. they sold over 300,000 tickets. I'm not sure why people keep imagining Maiden are in this bracket (--forget the reasons why.) This is more tickets sold than Maiden sold for all the UK dates of TFF tour; times three. I know they tour the world, but Wembley Stadium is proper big, even for Maiden.
 
And a crowd of 15,000 is small according to what calculation? Maybe the O2 isn't the biggest venue in the UK (which I didn't even say - I said it was the biggest indoor venue I've ever seen), but 15-20,000 is pretty much the biggest category of indoor venues in Europe. Take Berlin, a major urban centre with every size of venue available. Maiden played the O2 World there last year, which is perhaps a tad smaller than the O2 in London. It fits an audience of 17,000 for concerts, and it was sold out (something I know for a fact). There are only two bigger venues in town, and both are outdoors, one which holds 22,000, and the Olympic Stadium, which holds something like 70,000. The latter hosts none but the biggest international acts, and it is hardly ever sold out. I'm talking about Robbie Williams, The Rolling Stones and AC/DC here. Maiden falls well short of that category, as much as we love them.

So, just because they aren't football stadiums doesn't mean the venues Maiden sell out aren't huge.
 
According to a discussion of Maiden playing Wembley Stadium, the focus of this thread, & a petition. If you regard arenas as "huge" ("just because they aren't football stadiums doesn't mean the venues Maiden sell out aren't huge."), then I'm not sure what word you'd use to described stadiums. Huge...r? :D

Either way, yes, the O2 (London) is a fine size to sell out for two nights. Twickenham (a stadium effectively) is also even bigger. They've also played a couple of other 40,000+ gigs if Wiki stats are to believed. But, as you state,70,000 capacity stadiums & Wembley Stadium are into another category. Perun, you're been asked to sign a petition to get Maiden to play a Stadium bigger than the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Maiden fall "well short of that category", as you point out. I think what's hard to accept (for some) is that Maiden aren't a bigger international outfit than some (& I'm not comparing them to all of these acts; the Rolling Stones & AC/DC are huge) of the acts that play stadiums.
 
I get the spectacle aspect, but I fail to see what else is appealing about a stadium show anyway.
My dream concert would be to see Maiden with the members of this forum (or anyone else who loves Maiden that much) in a club or theatre fit for a couple hundred.
 
Green Day have just played Wembley Stadium, they are not that popular in the UK! If they can manage it then I don't see why Maiden couldn't. Yes it ambitious but so are they! I'm not expecting them to do an 8 night stint like Take That did just one night! They have a big fan base. maybe not quite in the Metallica, AC/DC, Foo Fighters or Muse league but more than enough to justify one massive show at the home of football
 
I think one of the points that is being made in this thread is, even if they can, why should they? Why should it be about having the biggest audience. Iron Maiden is doing pretty f'kin awesome to be able to continue playing in front of audiences as large as they are 37 years after their formation. Rod Smallwood (or whoever plans these tours) clearly either does not believe that Maiden can fill Wembley or does not think playing there is a good idea. Okay, great. Yes, it would be cool in a way if Maiden had enough fans to fill massive stadiums, but that's not the way it is. But that doesn't have any effect on your ability to enjoy the band. You can enjoy the band just as well in a small to mid-size venue as you can in a huge stadium. In fact, the experience might be better in a smaller venue, because it's a more "intimate" setting with everyone being closer to the stage. So I guess this all boils down to one point: Why is it so important to you that Maiden plays Wembley? It's not as though Wembley makes things better. So why does it matter so much?
 
Green Day had an established track record of stadium playing in the UK; something Maiden have not. In 2005 they played the Milton Keynes National Bowl over two nights; it has a capacity of 65,000. Returning in 2010, for their 20th anniversary (or whatever it was), they decided to play Wembley Stadium. They obviously felt there was demand in the UK, what with previously selling 130,000 tickets (or thereabouts) for those, previous, two nights --at a stadium in the UK. Three days before playing Wembley Stadium (in 2010) they played Old Trafford Cricket Ground, which has a capacity of about 50,000 i.e. similar to Twickenham --that place Maiden didn't sell all their tickets for. Green Day not popular in the UK? The facts say otherwise.
 
Greenday are far more mainstream than maiden, I know many many people who would happily listen to Greenday whilst refusing to go near Heavy Metal fullstop.
 
That point didn't even come to mind. Maiden play festivals such as Rock am Ring, Graspop and Wacken. Those aren't little underground festivals. They are the biggest festivals in Europe, with an attendance of upwards 100,000, the biggest crowds legally possible. Sonisphere is modest, by comparison. And Maiden don't play somewhere in the bill, they are headliners.
 
I could see them doing Download/Sonisphere 2013, and they've done the Leeds/Reading weekend in the past as well but I would expect them to do ONE festival in the year not multiple (as many people only go to one festival a year they are kinda in direct competition).

But those festivals are of course a full weekend, and far from just being Maiden - even excluding the other bands present I know lots of people who go purely for the camping experience and barely see any bands at all (weirdos). So should not be compared to selling tickets for a gig that is purely the band and 1-2 support acts.

I would much rather Maiden played several smaller gigs around the country than one large one, not everyone can travel to gig's (My major issue going to out-of-city gigs is that the trains often don't run late enough for me to catch the full gig AND get back), but it is what is cost effective from the bands point of view.
 
Clearly, crowd wise, I was discussing Maiden only gigs (Crimson Idol --exactly my point) --as this is what the petition is for. When Maiden said Chile was one of their biggest ever concert crowds they were referring to their own concerts; not festivals, etc. We know they've played bigger festival crowds --but people are buying tickets to see loads of bands when they go to festivals. This is totally irrelevant.
 
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