Following the recently announced news of the ‘Heavy Metal Truants’ charity bike ride to Download Festival at Castle Donington, organised by Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood and Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas, it has now been announced that Maiden’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson will be flying in specially from Germany – following two sold-out Maiden shows in Frankfurt on the Tuesday and Wednesday – so he can join the HM Truants in cycling the final 25 mile leg of the bike ride into the Download Festival.
The riders arrive on Friday June 14th, the day before Iron Maiden’s headline appearance there in front of an expected 100,000 fans. This ride by the Metal fraternity is to raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust,Childline and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy.
Asked how he felt about this most unconventional way to arrive at a major UK Festival where Maiden will be headlining on the Saturday night, June 15th, Bruce commented: “Yes, maybe it’s the first time the headliner has shown up on a bike, but I do use my bike to get around in London when l get the chance and have turned up at the BBC on a bike before, although the Commissioners were a bit surprised as they are too used to seeing limos! These are great causes, I am only sorry that due to our tour schedule l can’t do more of the ride, and hope our fans will support our efforts. I look forward to a day off after the ride seeing some great bands before we go into full Maiden action on the Saturday, with every intention of giving the fans a memorable show. Download and Metal fans are the best there are, so everyone expects something very special.”
As most Maiden fans already know, starting on Wednesday, June 12th, over 40 riders will set off from Alexandra Palace, London, cycling 165 miles up to Donington Park, arriving as the first bands take to the Download stage on the afternoon of Friday 14th. The sponsored riders will also include band members from British Lion, Paradise Lost, Pendulum, Tesseract, Thunder, Trivium and Young Guns alongside music journalists (Hammer, Classic Rock, Prog), radio presenters (Planet Rock) and music industry participants including Parlophone, Sony Music, Universal/EMI, BMG Rights, 5B Artist Management, Raw Power Management, Phantom Management and The Agency plus even an MP, Mike Weatherley. Joining them will be a variety of heavy metal fans who have all signed up for three days of hard cycling to raise funds for these deserving Children’s Charities.
There may be spaces available for a few more riders, so if you have the heart and the liver, check it out at www.heavymetaltruants.com - or go there to aid the cause with a donation!!!
To read the full press release from EMI click here.
For more details/tickets for Download go to www.downloadfestival.co.uk
