Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden recently spoke to The Guardian about Download Festival among many other names. Dickinson recalled having used a fighter aircraft during their live show in 2013 and mentioned it was, indeed, a real one. He explained:
“In recent years, we’ve had a replica Spitfire on stage for the song Aces High, but for the occasion of us headlining Download in 2013, we actually had a real one – a Battle of Britain memorial flight Spitfire.”
He described the Spitfire show and what the crowd thought of it:
We phoned up [the RAF] and said: ‘I know you do displays… any chance you could do one for us?’ So at the beginning of the show, the Spitfire flew over and did a couple of circles round the stage. In typical fashion, the RAF were precise to the second, so as it headed off, back over the top of the stage, we started our intro tape. It completely stunned the crowd.”
Held for the 20th time this year, Download Festival has welcomed many bands over the years, including Iron Maiden seven times. Known for their peculiar stage productions, the band didn’t take place in this year’s festival.
The band is now on tour and they will visit more than 15 countries. You can see the dates and the setlist here.
See the earlier-named aircraft performance down below.
