Bruce Dickinson paid tribute to fallen comrade Paul Di’Anno during the Iron Maiden show at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul in Minnesota last night. Instead of his planned talk about the “1.21 gigawatts of power that you need to bring a Delorean through the portal of time and stuff,” Dickinson led a heartfelt moment of remembrance.
“I don’t want to put a downer on the proceedings at all,” Bruce said. “Because our friend, our band member, Paul Di’Anno, passed away, as you’re probably aware. And if you’re not aware of that fact, you are now.
“Paul was instrumental… The first two albums, groundbreaking, with Killers and the first album. An amazing voice.. devoted to rock ‘n’ roll right up ’till the last minute of his life.”
This was met with a moving applause.
“So, would just like to give maybe,” Bruce said, “for those of you who were born and still remember those early albums, when obviously I wasn’t in the band and he was. And those of you who are fans of the stuff he did with Battlezone and his own projects afterwards. And for anybody else who fancies listening to tracks like Remember Tomorrow and stuff like that, which are absolutely awesome.
“I’m just gonna ask everybody to just take like a few seconds to just, say, close your eyes in silence and say just internally, mentally. If you believe in God, if you don’t believe in God, it actually doesn’t matter. Just believe in what you believe in and just say thanks, boss, for doing what you did.”
Here, Bruce Dickinson led a moment of remembrance, which was broken in parts by the crowd.
“So, Paul, if you’re listening, this is a little message from Minneapolis to wherever you are. Upstairs or downstairs, you’re having fun.
“Minneapolis, for Paul Di’Anno, Scream for me….. We need a Time Machine.”
