Killer World Tour
| Tour by Iron Maiden | |
 |
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| Associated album | Killers |
|---|---|
| Start date | 17 February 1981 |
| End date | 23 December 1981 |
| No. of shows | 118 in total |
| Iron Maiden concert chronology | |
The Killer World Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 17 February 1981 to 15 November 1981. This would be the band's first world tour, including their debut shows in North America (where they supported Judas Priest on their World Wide Blitz Tour and UFO on select dates) and Japan where they recorded the live release, Maiden Japan. On top of this, the band moved into larger venues in the United Kingdom, including the Hammersmith Odeon, London.
This would be Iron Maiden's last tour with singer Paul Di'Anno, who was dismissed due to his unreliability. He was replaced with Samson vocalist Bruce Dickinson, with whom the band undertook a short series of concerts in Italy and the UK before they set about writing and recording their next album, The Number of the Beast.
Reference
The tour was subject to a number of cancellations due to problems with Paul Di'Anno's voice, causing four German dates to be cancelled and several Scandinavian dates to be rescheduled. According to band manager Rod Smallwood, the reason for the vocal issues were brought about by adopting a "rock star" lifestyle, which Di'Anno states was because of the fact that he "couldn't see [his] way to the end of" the band's heavy schedule and that he believed that this was "what you were supposed to do in a big, successful rock band." On the other hand, Steve Harris, the band's bassist, has since said that he did not "know whether he was seeking attention or what", arguing that having to cancel shows because of personal problems was intolerable and ultimately cemented Di'Anno's dismissal. The full list of cancelled dates are as follows:
Notes:
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