Veteran hell-raisers Iron Maiden have announced five new tour dates in Brazil, within months of playing to capacity crowds in some of country’s biggest music venues.

Last March, they packed the 40,000 capacity Palmeiras Stadium in Sao Paulo. Next March, they’ll be following in the formidable footsteps of Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, rock band Kiss and the Pope, no less, to wow the crowds at the Autodromo de Interlagos.

The race track is one venue they don’t expect to sell out.

“Capacity is about 400,000. I don’t think we’ll get 400,000,” Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood said in a recent interview, “We’re set for about 60,000 and we hope to go past that.”

The band has every reason to be confident of strong ticket sales in South America where fan loyalty verges on fanaticism.

The band, which released its first album in 17 years last week, has found itself in a legal tussle with soft drink giant Dr Pepper over a promotion turned awry.

Dr Pepper rolled out a marketing campaign in March promising a “free soda” to “everyone in America” on one condition — Axl Rose, lead singer and frontman for Guns N’ Roses, had to “finally release his 17-year-in-the-making belabored masterpiece, ‘Chinese Democracy,’ in 2008.”

Guns N’ Roses, often called GN’R by its fans, released the album last week. And Dr Pepper followed through, posting a coupon on its Web site for a can of soda. There was one catch: fans had 24 hours to go the Web site and print out the coupon.

That’s when the Pepper hit the fan.

So many GN’R fans — and, no doubt, fans of free stuff in general — tried to get the coupon that they choked the site and it crashed. Disgruntled and downright ticked off, some blamed the band.

“When you go on the blogs and you read the responses from the fans, they associated Axl with this promotion … and blame him for the fact that they didn’t get their free soda,” said GN’R lawyer Laurie Soriano.

That’s when GN’R became GN’RN’L. Soriano fired off a letter to Dr P. No one is LOL.

Her letter asked the soft drink company to make good on its offer. She has yet to hear back, Soriano said this week.

**Nickelback will kick off their world tour on February 25th to supoport their new CD, “Dark Horse.” Seether and Saving Abel will open for them. Nickelback will begin a North American tour Feb. 25 in Nashville in support of its just-released Roadrunner album “Dark Horse.” Tickets go on sale Dec. 5 via LiveNation.com, but Nickelback fan club members get first crack on Friday (Nov. 28).

Seether and Saving Abel will support on the jaunt, which runs through April 23 in Columbia, S.C.

“Dark Horse” is expected to debut tomorrow in the upper reaches of The Billboard 200. First single “Gotta Be Somebody” has sold 570,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Asked recently by Billboard why NIckelback opted to wait to tour until next year, frontman Chad Kroeger said, “We’ve been bitten too many times by going out too early. I’m always adamant about making sure there’s at least a true rock song from the band that’s gone to radio, just to give a more diverse selection of music for people to listen to.

“We’ve been consulting with some people; I’m interested to see someone else’s take on what this band could look like live, and we’ve had some real interesting stuff come back,” he continued. “I think we’re gonna try some stuff that, believe it or not, no one has ever done live before.”

Thanksgiving’s eve is one of the busiest nights for bars. The night before Thanksgiving is touted as the biggest bar night of the year. Everyone’s back home gearing up for Turkey Day and excited to reunite with hometown friends. Plus, unlike New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day, when many people throw parties at home, Thanksgiving Eve is a chance to escape the confines of a house full of kooky relatives and just go out.

Oh, and the bars love it, too.

“We are 200-percent busier on the day before Thanksgiving compared to an average Wednesday,” says Russ Gretkierewicz, manager of the Inn Place in Royal Oak. “We do the business of a busy Saturday night, but it’s spread out over the entire day.”

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Jeremy Haberman, co-owner of the Magic Bag theater and the Bosco lounge, both in Ferndale, agrees.

“The night before T-day is always better than a regular Wednesday,” he says. “And the longer we’re in business — 12 years for the Bag and seven years for the Bosco — the more friends we see reuniting at the bars. Also, the fact that so many people have left town should correlate into even more mini-reunions.”

The night is most popular with those younger than 30, who can still recall their high school days but haven’t yet hit the big 10-year reunion.

“I make it a point to go out on Thanksgiving Eve,” says Dana Monforton, who graduated from Bloomfield Hills Lahser in 2000 and now lives in Cincinnati. “I figure I’ll at least come home with a good story to tell. And it’s tradition.”

But, she says, it can be a hassle going out when everyone else is.

“Honestly, it’s a little overwhelming. It takes forever to get a drink, all of my favorite places are packed, and since there are a ton of people out, you run the risk of running into the exact people you were hoping to avoid. … On the other hand, there’s a sense of fun and festivity on that night that only happens during the holidays. People are glad to be back on home soil, and everyone has the singular goal of just having fun. And they know the next day, there’s no work or school to worry about.”

Although Monforton tends to hit the Ferndale bars on Thanksgiving Eve, many of her old high school classmates meet up at what may be the closest watering hole to their alma mater.

“We call it ‘the Lahser kid night,’ ” says Lisa O’Shea, general manager of the Moose Preserve bar and restaurant in Bloomfield Hills. “It’s a Lahser reunion for all ages, and it’s wall-to-wall crowded. People are in from out of town. It’s a great, lively atmosphere.”

Inn Place manager Gretkierewicz says the night is one of his favorite of the year.

“It kicks off the holiday season,” he says, “and my place is full of people — regulars and newcomers — who are visiting with friends and having a good time. Customers who show up on that day are either preparing for the meal they are about to make, excited about a break from school or dreading dealing with the chaos of family. People are not on a mission to get drunk, but rather are looking for a good time and to hang out with friends and take a break.”

This was very surprising to me when I found such things said….. who knew!

Source: Liz Hill Metro Detroit freelance writer.

www.detnews.com

We are getting close to our second show put together which will be held in Gilbert, Arizona at Crabby Dons which is located at the corner of Val Vista and Baseline.  This show features four incredible bands three of them local favorites Razer, Big Mouth Mason and Daughters of Fission as well as one special guest Opus Dai coming in from California.

Tickets to the show only cost $7 for just about 4 hours of live music entertainment which is a better deal than you could find at almost any other type of entertainment venue.  In addition the first 100 people to come to the door will receive posters for the show signed by Opus Dai.

I broadcast the show updates on twitter regularly and feel free to hit me up for details and more information my twitter ID is dragonblogger.

I look forward to meeting everyone who is coming to the show, I will be the door man giving out wristbands for the show stop by and say hi, I look forward to meeting you.

-Justin Germino