There are lots of ways a crowd can express enthusiasm. They can sing along, scream, dance, mosh. But maybe they shouldn’t start a fire. That’s what someone(s) in the audience did at Iron Maiden‘s show at Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece over the weekend. The band, unfortunately, did not appreciate the gesture.
“The c*nt with the f*cking flare,” frontman Bruce Dickinson said, pausing his singing. “I’m trying to sing up here, you f*cking c*cksucker. You Greek c*nt. I’ve got to f*cking sing, alright? F*ck you.”
In all fairness, the fire looks, well, not so safe. It’s burning in the middle of the crowd, and it reaches over many people’s heads. A lot of the comments on the video claim that the vocalist’s anger is valid.
Dickinson’s temper is nothing new. In an interview in 2015, he said that he regretted not punching Axl Rose when Guns N’ Roses were opening for Maiden at a Quebec City show in 1988, and Rose made fun of the largely French-speaking crowd. “I should have come onstage and given him a punch,” Dickinson said. “How could he dare speak to my audience in that way? I always regretted not having done so.”
Watch the video of the fire and Dickinson’s outrage above.