In a new conversation with The Everyman Podcast, Dream Theater singer James LaBrie recalls the time of Dream Theater and Iron Maiden back in the days. Here’s what the singer said:
“We’ve done so many shows with Iron Maiden. Before ‘Images and Words’ came out [in July 1992], we actually played about five shows – we just went out and we were playing just to kind of see how this feels.
“So this was June of ’92, and we just said, ‘Let’s go and do like six shows, and then in September we’re going to start the official ‘Images and Words’ tour.”
“And I believe on September 27th, at The Limelight, New York – that’s where we were – that was our first official show of ‘Images and Words.’
“I don’t know why I’m remembering that – maybe it’s the wine – but in June of ’92, we backed up Iron Maiden at The Ritz in New York.
“And I remember Bruce Dickinson came out on stage after we had performed and he made a point of it. He said, ‘Man, let’s hear it for f*cking Dream Theater! These guys kick a*s!’
“And I remember we were just like, ‘That’s cool!’ Because they all haven’t even come out yet. So we were like, ‘Holy s*it – right on, awesome!’
“And when he came up saying, ‘I love you guys, this is the first album…’ – all this stuff, it was crazy!
“The other reason that we did that was – because their management was thinking about managing us at the time, and then that kind of fizzled out.
“And then we went, and we started getting managed by people that managed us, but that’s a whole other story. But it was kind of crazy because I remember going out in front of Iron Maiden at the time, we were like, ‘Holy s*it!’
“We’re not just gonna go out there and play some heavy madness freaking music, we’re going out there with ‘Take the Time,’ ‘Metropolis,’ and ‘Learning to Live’ – are you freaking kidding me?
“We were thinking about Iron Maiden there going like, ‘What the f*ck is this?!’ We got out there and they were going nuts! Something’s happening here, something’s going on.
“When we were out on Yes, our management would get in touch with their management and go, ‘Yeah, man, you’re going to the boards – it’s crazy, people are loving you! All these Yes fans!’
“And we’re going, ‘What do you mean? Are you saying that they’re just discovering us?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, there’s a lot of Yes fans going, ‘Who the hell is this band Dream Theater? I’m going to pick up some of their albums and stuff.”
“And we’re going, ‘And why wouldn’t they already know who the hell we are? Isn’t that bizarre?'”
