Bruce Dickinson slams restrictions forced upon Iron Maiden's shows in China

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has vowed to ‘have a word’ with Chinese authorities after they censored the band’s gigs in the country.

The Book of Souls World Tour landed in China this week for historic shows at Beijing LeSports Center and Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Arena, however the heavy metal heroes had a string of restrictions imposed upon them by the austere Chinese government.

Maiden were reportedly prohibited from using strong language, waving the British flag during ‘The Trooper’, using pyros and smoke effects, throwing merchandise into the audience and they had to change the lyrics in ‘Powerslave’ to “Tell me why I had to be a Wicker Man”.

On top of this, the fans weren’t allowed to take photos or videos of the show - a rule that was clearly flouted:

Slamming the restrictions on stage in Shanghai, Bruce Dickinson told the 18,000 capacity crowd: “They did say ‘no cameras.’ Do I care? Everybody take out your camera device. Take a picture.”

He later said: “It’s great to be in China tonight. We ripped it up in Beijing, and we thought, ‘That was a bit serious.’ They had a few rules, so we kind of stuck by the rules and we didn’t do any swearing.”

Mouthing his swear words, Dickinson continued: “We don’t really give a s about all that, because the most important thing is the music. The most important thing is that we’re here, and you’re here, and we’re going to have a great fing time.

“Next time we’ll have a word. Next time we come back to China.”

Iron Maiden’s spectacular live show – complete with glorious pyros, swearing and flag waving – will hit Download Festival on Sunday 12th June.

Tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.