Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focused on the band's 1980s material, in particular songs from Powerslave, Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The tour tied in with the second part of the DVD series, entitled "The History of Iron Maiden",^[1] and prompted the release of a new greatest hits compilation, Somewhere Back in Time.^[2]

The tour was advertised as a way of bringing back the 1980s stage show and forgotten "classics" for an audience of younger fans, not having been born in time to witness the original. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time, as much as 21 years in one case, and two of them ("Moonchild" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner") never having been played by the current line-up. The stage set was based around that of the widely celebrated World Slavery Tour of 1984–85, featuring similar pyrotechnics and the return of the giant mummified Eddie, but also included a lighting rig and cyborg walk-on Eddie based on that of Somewhere on Tour 1986.^[1]

The tour would also see the first use of Ed Force One, Iron Maiden's customised Boeing 757, designed to carry band, crew and equipment across continents, which is piloted by the band's lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who also received the qualifications to flight the Boeing 757.^[1] The ground breaking nature of the tour led to the documentary entitled Iron Maiden: Flight 666, released in select cinemas in April 2009,^[3] followed by a Blu-ray, DVD and CD release in May and June,^[4] which would top the music DVD charts in 25 countries.^[5]

The 2008 tour was the second highest grossing of the year for a British artist,^[6] with the band reportedly playing to well over than 2 million people worldwide over both years.^[5]

The first leg of Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour opened in Mumbai, India on 1 February, and continued through Australia, Japan, Los Angeles and Mexico, followed by concerts in Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico and New Jersey, before finishing in Toronto, on 16 March. Over the 45-day period the band played 23 concerts to over 500,000 fans in 11 countries, flying close to 50,000 miles in the specially refitted plane: Boeing 757, dubbed "Ed Force One" after a competition to name the plane. On this leg of the tour, the Iron Maiden: Flight 666 film was shot.

Concerning concerts in Scandinavia, EMA Telstar announced that the Iron Maiden tour will be the biggest rock tour that any band has ever undertaken in these Nordic regions. Tour promoter Thomas Johansson of EMA Telstar commented:

"We are all very proud to be making history by giving our rock fans the biggest Nordic Rock Tour there has ever been and certainly one of the most spectacular. Maiden is so hugely popular with the Nordic peoples that we wanted to ensure that as many fans as possible got the opportunity to see this very special show next year as we expect demand for tickets to be enormous.",^[7]

Maiden had also announced that they would be returning to cities that they hadn't returned to for years. Western Canada is included, as their five city run through Western Canada had sold out the very day they went on sale. Calgary and Regina had sold out in just under an hour. Edmonton sold out completely in a few hours. Winnipeg and Vancouver sold out within two hours. Calgary also had the highest pre-sale ever for the band, in which they sold out half the tickets. Edmonton and Regina were not far behind. Says Dickinson about the results: "We are truly overwhelmed by this response, especially as some of these cities we haven't played in 20 years!! Being Brits we are always very comfortable with Canadians and it will be a great pleasure to get back on the prairies again. It was always a LOUD response there! We look forward to this immensely and hope to give you all a show to remember."^[8] Most recently they played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tickets to this show were sold out. During the performance of "Powerslave" the band's instruments lost power for a brief period of time and they passed time by playing football on the stage. Once the equipment was fixed they returned and asked the audience if they should play the last verse of the song or do the next one. The band opted to play the next song which was "Heaven Can Wait". Due to storm damage to the PA and lights at the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain, Iron Maiden had to cancel their 12 July date. The Metalway Festival in Zaragoza could be rescheduled, but it seems unlikely that Iron Maiden can appear for their fans in Zaragoza.^[9] The 15 March presentation, in São Paulo's Race Course, had Iron Maiden's all-time biggest attendance for them as sole performers (not a festival). Bruce Dickinson announced to the crowd that "100.000 fans" were at the venue.

The opening bands on the tour were:

• First Leg: Lauren Harris, Vanishing Point (Melbourne), Behind Crimson Eyes (Sydney and Brisbane), Parikrama (Mumbai), Introspeciión (Bogota)
• Second Leg: Lauren Harris^[10] Anthrax (30 and 31 May only) and Trivium (Holmdel only).^[11]
• Third Leg: Lauren Harris, Within Temptation (London and Assen only), Kamelot (Assen), Avenged Sevenfold (from 1 to 31 July), Trooper (Bucharest), Made of Hate (Warsaw), Salamandra (Prague), Slayer (Lisbon and Mérida), Tainted (Christchurch), Rising Dream (Split)
• Fourth Leg: Lauren Harris, Carcass (Monterrey and Guadalajara), Atreyu (Monterrey and Mexico), Morbid Angel (Monterrey), Anthrax (Bogota), Loathsome Faith (Bogota), Abstract Enemy (Bogota), Ágora (Mexico City), IRA (Monterrey), M.A.S.A.C.R.E. (Lima), Witchblade (Chile)

(Credits taken from the official tour programme.)^[13]

• According to sponsors and the Flight 666 documentary, the concert held in Costa Rica was the largest in Central America, with over 27,000 attendants.
• The Metalway Festival appearance was cancelled due to extremely bad weather.
• The European Leg was the biggest sales achievement in band's career. Most shows were sold out in rapid time and streams of tickets were officially extra added due to high demand. The band's performance at Wacken Open Air in 2008 was their largest festival performance of the year. According to Metal Hammer DE, "...not less than 83.000 metal maniacs from all over the world attended this show".
• On the Latin American Leg in 2009 Iron Maiden played 16 gigs to well over half a million people. Their show at Autodromo de Interlagos had the biggest attendance for a rock music event in history of the venue.