Bruce Dickinson stares out across a sea of 300,000 Brazilian faces, and a sea of 300,000 Brazilian faces stare back at him. What they see is a sweat-coated Englishman, blood running down his face, barely bothering to hide his anger. It’s Friday, January 11, 1985, and Iron Maiden are playing the opening show of the 10-night Rock In Rio megafestival, second on the bill under headliners Queen. This is the biggest gig Maiden will ever play, and it should be a triumph.
Except things aren’t going as planned. A local monitor engineer is messing up their sound, and Bruce is getting increasingly irate about it. During Revelations, his fury spills over. Frustrated, he rips off the guitar he’s been playing, only to bash the instrument against his forehead, cutting it open. Blood begins to flow and he sees red in more ways than one.
