Iron Maiden started the 1980s on the crest of a wave, but there were hidden reefs ahead. On the back of the startling success of their debut album, the band had started to become seasoned road dogs. They’d already played major venues supporting Judas Priest on the metal gods’ British Steel tour, and now they undertook a first headlining tour of their own, including their first ever European dates. There was also the small matter of a European tour with KISS and a ‘special guest’ slot at the Reading Festival (then the Reading Rock Festival) – their first major festival and the biggest show they’d played to date. “We’d never played to so many people in Britain before and at one point [lighting engineer] Dave Lights turned the spotlights on the audience and as far back as you could ...
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