So here it is . . . the eagerly awaited Ed Hunter North American/European Tour

MONSTER MAGNET (www.amrecords.com/artists/monstermagnet) will be special guests on the tour from Cleveland to Las Vegas. With their recent album "Powertrip" just having gone Platinum in the States, we look forward to Monster Magnet joining Maiden and giving the fans a great night with Maiden plus one of America’s biggest and best new metal bands.

Plus ... opening from Montreal to Detroit is the mighty MACHINE HEAD (www.frontlines.com) who release their new album, "The Burning Red" in July. Definitely one for the future.

Plus ... after Detroit, another opening act will join the tour ... this we’ll announce soon.

The set list of songs and the staging and production will complement Ed Hunter, Maiden's recently released PC Game/double album, which means that the band will play live most of the Top 20 Maiden tracks from Ed Hunter all in one set.

The game was released in all territories, except USA, on Monday 17 May. However, an announcement on the US release of Ed Hunter will be made very soon and the band hope to have it available for their US fans before the tour starts.

Says Bruce Dickinson, "We’re itching to get started in Montreal. We’ve just started rehearsing for the tour and the 3 guitars are working really well together - it certainly gives us plenty of fire! We’re taking over the full production, so this should be a pretty spectacular start to our touring."

"We’re ready for America. The question is . . . is America ready for the new Maiden?"

This is a unique opportunity for fans old and new to see the new line-up playing Maiden classics spanning their entire career.

Special Guests on the European dates (exc. Greece) will be US giants MEGADETH (www.megadeth.com) who will have a new album out around that time.

Steve Harris: "We plan to make a new studio album this year but wanted to play 20 or so gigs before the recording started. It’s a great way to take the excitement from the road into the studio. As our fans will know we’ve been going to release Ed Hunter for about 18 months now. Well, it’s finally ready and well worth the wait.So Ed Hunter gives us a great opportunity to warm up for the new album by playing a load of the fans’ favourite tracks on the tour, and putting on a hell of a show which follows the terrific graphics in the game.

"We’re all very excited about getting up on stage together, especially with three guitarists!! Nicko thinks it’s gonna be chaos… It will also be good to see Megadeth again. They’ve played with us before but it’s been quite a while. And it makes for an even better night out for the fans"

Tickets for all shows go on sale on April 26 except Paris (already on sale) and Spain (check local press for details) - BE QUICK OR BE DEAD!!! UK Fans see coach details for Paris/Rotterdam below.