Wednesday 16 July 2008

Tour Books, a brief introduction.

Tour books are just marvelous items to collect.
This books are made to give the fans something extra so they can remember years later that outstanding night ( or not!). Normally they are full of photos , tour dates, band members profiles, band members thoughts about their expectations for the new tour, we get to know the working crew and normally some tour dates are listed. On Maiden programmes there is always the Rod Smallwood thoughts about album sales and other stuff, and he always say thanks to the fans for their support, they never forget us.
When someone told me one day that this books bring a lot of photos and stuff, I said to myself: You must collect this!! The first ones I ever bought was, if I'm not mistaken, here in Lisboa, my hometown, again, in a second hand record shop called Neon Records, run by a metal maniac, his name is Francisco, unfortunately the shop no longer exists. In one of my week collector rounds to Neon Record shop I saw three tour books, Seventh Son, Piece Of Mind and Powerslave. WOW!! I said. I bought all the three, and then it was!! I start collecting this programmes and never stopped since then.I'm very proud to show you boys and girls here in my blog.
They are listed by Chronological order, I hope you enjoy this marvelous journey, cheers!!


Jorge

Tour Books: Europe 1980, first tour programme. 16 pages with colour and black and white photos.








Here it is, the very first tour book ever made by Maiden for their 1980 European tour. This books are made to give the fans something that they can remind years later, it comes with bios, band history, band members and manager thoughts about the tours etc etc.This item is so special to me because it was signed by the great Steve Harris at Eddies Bar, Algarve, Portugal on late August 2006.
It has 16 pages with marvelous colour and black and white photos as well as the tour dates from May until July. As you guys can see for the photo, its really signed, fantastic!!!

Tour Books: Reading Festival 1980.


Awaiting for purchase.

Tour Books: Killer World Tour 1981.21 pages with superb photos all in colour. Europe, Australia and Japan dates.









This is the first tour book of the Killers World Tour 1981.It has 21 pages, A4 size, loads of great photos, all in colour. It also brings the tour dates from February to May. Its also factory signed by all the band members.

Tour Books: Killers Japanese Tour programme 1981.32 pages colour and black and white.










This book was made just for the Japanese dates and sold at those venues. It was the first Japan tour so they made something special to offer the Japanese fans.Its completely different from the World tour book, it has 32 pages with lots of black and white and colour photos,the size is like a vinyl LP, a real and fantastic item that you guys must have!

Tour Books: The Beast On The Road 1982. Just the European dates. 28 pages all colour.








This is the first Tour Book for The Number Of The Beast World Tour , more known as The Beast On The Road World Tour 1982, made for the European dates of the Tour.This programme is just a bit bigger than a A4 sheet, has 28 pages with fantastic colour photos. The tour dates are from February to May. Also, this programme has different photos in comparison with the second programme made mostly for the USA and Canada leg of the tour.

Tour Books: The Beast On The Road 1982. Europe, USA and Canada dates. 28 pages all colour.








This is the second programme made mostly for the USA and Canada leg of the tour. It has 28 pages with great colour photos and it is factory signed by all the band. The Tour dates are from February to December. It also has different photos in comparison with the first programme.

Tour Books: Reading Festival 1982


Awaiting for purchase.

Tour Books: The Beast On The Road 1982 World Tour. Book made only for the Japan dates,32 pages colour and black and white.









Simply colossal this Japanese Tour Book. As always it has nothing to do with the other previously two. It has 32 pages with superb colour and black and white photos. The size is like a Vinyl LP. See the photos, FANTASTIC!!!

Tour Books: World Piece Tour 1983. Just the European dates.27 pages all colour.








This Tour Book is for the colossal World Piece Tour 1983 !!This is the European edition, the Tour dates are just from May to June ( there is also the USA book as you will see on the other post). It has 27 pages, all colour, the size of the book is a bit smaller than a vinyl LP.
They were supposed to play here in Portugal but the show was canceled.
A curious thing about this copy is that brings one ticket from the HammerSmith Odeon dates, exactly May 27th.It has different photos in comparison with the book for the USA leg of the tour, check the photos!

Tour Books: World Piece Tour 1983.27 pages all colour. USA and Canada dates.








This is the Tour Book made for the USA and Canada leg of the Tour.It has also 27 pages, with colour photos and different in comparison with the Europe programme. The Tour dates are from June to August.It has different photos in comparison with the Europe programme.

Tour Books: World Slavery Tour 1984/1985. 23 pages all colour. Europe, USA and Canada dates.









Here it is, the first Tour Book for the phenomenal World Slavery Tour.It has 23 pages all colour with loads of promo and onstage photos.The tour dates are from August to December. It has also different photos in comparison with the programme for the USA leg of the Tour. Spectacular!!!