Iron Maiden

Rod have finally sorted the problems with his laptop and here's his latest update from the boys on the road!

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day as a day off. l had the same online problems trying to work in the morning so more frustration. We drove to Boston at around midday - Nicko went off earlier to get some golf in. I was with Steve and Bruce and we chatted over some ideas for the future which is always fun, some good ones too but l am not going to reveal them now!

Drive took a couple of hours. Much better hotel in boston, got some lunch then set up laptop to work and .....isnt life great sometimes, it fired up online straight away when connected and at a really good speed. It makes such a difference when l am getting a lot of large files with art, film clips or photos and makes a huge difference to how you feel. Anyway pretty boring stuff for you all so lets move on.

Went out to a couple of bars near the hotel in the eventing with Steve, Gaddsy and a couple of Steve's mates from around here. Typical non-eventful day on the road really. Its really not that glamorous a lot of the time and we dont really get into the rock star lifestyle, whatever that is. We have been to a lot of these cities many times so know them pretty well and the band tend to spend time with people they have met there over the years. Friends in many ports l guess.

Woke up really early - jet lag l suppose - and basically have sat around for 12 hours just catching up on a load of stuff on the phone and laptop so I can get a break over the weekend. Must get to the gym tomorrow. Thank god its a gig tonight - some action again!! Very much looking forward to it. The first 3 shows are a bit smaller than usual as they are really warmups - it takes a gig or two for the band to start gelling, especially with complex material like the new album to play, but any set with a lot of new songs takes a while to really get there. Not that its sloppy, its just a matter of fact. That's why we usually do some smaller gigs first. Hartford was about 6000 capacity and was close to sell out but Boston (6000) and Camden near Philly (7300) have been sold out for a week or so.

About time to go so will jump in shower and get ready to for another bombardment of all the senses. More tomorrow about the gig - lets hope it goes well!!!

• Rod