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“The Baphomet statue from The Number Of The Beast is huge – you can sit on its lap like it’s Christmas and he’s Santa Claus!”: Iron Maiden have thrown open their archives for their Eddfest museum – and it looks incredible
Iron Maiden are staging Eddfest, and alongside the music the event features the Infinite Dreams Experience, an on-site display of props and memorabilia drawn from the band's 50-year history. The exhibition matters because it gives fans a rare chance to see stage items up close, many of which have never been shown publicly outside of past tours. Creative director Ben Smallwood describes it as a way of "inviting the fans into the Maiden world" and offering greater access to the band's story.
The displayed items span from the 1980s to the band's most recent tours, with mascot Eddie featuring prominently throughout. Highlights include the "Clairvoyant" Eddie, a roughly three-metre-tall bust based on Derek Riggs' Seventh Son-era artwork and used on the Maiden England tour (2012-14), and the "Tank Commander" Eddie, which sat atop a tank turret on the A Matter Of Life And Death tour (2006-07). Smallwood notes the props' handmade character, though some items, such as the actual tank, will not fit in the display; the article's headline also references a large Baphomet statue from The Number Of The Beast.
Explained simply
Iron Maiden, the legendary British heavy metal band, are hosting Eddfest, an event combining live music with the Infinite Dreams Experience, an exhibition of stage props and memorabilia spanning five decades of touring. The display offers fans a rare opportunity to see items up close that have travelled with the band on tour but have rarely, if ever, been displayed publicly outside of concert performances.
The exhibition centres around Eddie, Iron Maiden's iconic mascot who has featured on album covers and stage sets throughout the band's history. By displaying different versions of Eddie across the decades, the show illustrates how the band's visual presentation has evolved and reveals the craftsmanship involved in creating the large-scale props designed to captivate concert audiences.
Highlights include a three-metre-tall bust of Eddie from the Maiden England tour, a figure that sat atop a tank turret during an earlier tour, and a large Baphomet statue used in performances of The Number Of The Beast. These pieces allow fans to fully appreciate the scale and artistry of stage items originally designed to command attention from a distance.