Bruce Dickinson is proud that he performed in Sarajevo when Bosnia and Herzegovina was ravaged by war.
The 57-year-old singer made the decision to perform with his solo band in the country’s capital city in 1994 at the height of the Bosnian War.
Bruce was well aware of the dangers involved but he felt that by performing a rock show for the people affected by the conflict was a way of giving them hope.
Discussing the famous concert – which is to be the focus of new documentary film ‘Scream For Me Sarajevo’ – he said: "It was my choice. Actually our choice, collectively, ’cause we all, collectively, said, ‘Yeah, we’re all crazy enough to try and do this thing and drive into Sarajevo in the middle of a war and see if we can go and do a gig. And we’re not quite sure when we’re gonna come back.’ "
Bruce has always wanted to take risks in his career and he and his most famous band Iron Maiden have always wanted to bring their music to the furthest flung parts of the world whatever the danger.
However, he accepts there is a level of responsibility to calculate the balance between the risk and rewards involved that comes staging concerts in countries with political problems.
In an interview with Radio Sarajevo, he said: "You can’t take the responsibility for what might be some lunacy, massacring people, just because you wanna be kind of ‘macho man’ and stand up and say, ‘Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did this and people threatened us, but we were like macho men.’ All that’s great until one day it turns out that somebody does go and do [something] and then you have lots and lots of dead women and children, and you go, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have done the show, because there was a credible threat.’ So, unfortunately, you’ve gotta be grown up about it. But, at the same time, you still need to be able to offer people that hope and send that message out there. They can’t stop … Real life just carries on."
Bruce and Iron Maiden are currently on their ‘Book of Souls World Tour’, and the ‘Run To The Hills’ singer is flying the band around the globe as the pilot of their Ed Force One Boeing 747 plane.
The run of shows sees them travel over 55,000 miles across the globe with stops to over 30 countries including the band’s first visits to China and El Salvador.
They also headline Download Festival in the UK this summer.
Bruce Dickinson is proud of Sarajevo concert
