Iron Maiden's lead singer Bruce Dickinson reportedly blasted a fan, calling him a "Greek cunt" and a "fucking cocksucker" for lighting a flare during the band's concert on Saturday night (July 16) in Athens, Greece.
According to Blabbermouth, when Dickinson noticed the flare he broke into expletives at the fan.
"The cunt with the fucking flare, I've gotta sing up here," he reportedly shouted into the microphone. "You fucking cocksucker. You Greek cunt. All right. I've gotta fucking sing. All right. Fuck you."
Flares are part and parcel of the Greek sporting and entertainment landscape, a phenomenon widely spread in the European south and Balkans.
'As Bruce's bandmates continued playing the opening riff of "The Number Of The Beast", he apparently briefly left the stage in hopes that the smoke would clear up. However, when Dickinson eventually resumed singing the song, he was notably off time and not in sync with the rest of the group.
'Dickinson has a history of publicly admonishing fans and security at MAIDEN's concert if he feels like they are out of line. Back in 2019, he stopped a MAIDEN show midway through to slam a Tacoma, Washington venue for a violent and bloody incident in the crowd for which he claimed the venue's security was to blame. In 2012, Bruce called out a fan at a Indianapolis show who had been texting for three straight songs.
'The incident occurred as MAIDEN launched into the tenth song of its set, "The Number Of The Beast", at the Olympic Stadium. After singing the opening line of the track, Bruce noticed the flare lighting up and immediately burst into an angry rant, apparently concerned that the smoke from the flare would negatively affect his singing voice.'
