Iron Maiden’s frontman complains about the impact of Brexit on music industry despite voting for it

Iron Maiden’s frontman Bruce Dickinson is used to singing ‘Run to the Hills’ but at the moment he can’t even run to Europe because of something that he voted for.

During an appearance on Sky News on Monday, the 62-year-old frontman of the iconic British metal band told Kay Burley that Brexit is making it harder for British acts to do tours and concerts in Europe and that the government should be doing more to help.

However, during the interview, Dickinson makes reference to the fact that he voted to leave the EU but believes that the UK should have handled the departure much more sensibly.

He said: “We [the music industry] are probably one of the UK’s major exports...I mean come on and we are sitting here, we can’t do anything.

“It’s very well known that I voted for Brexit but the idea is that after you’ve done it you then go in and be sensible about the relationships that you have with people.

“So at the moment all this guff about not being able to play in Europe and the Europeans not being able to play over here and all the work permits and that rubbish...come on, get your act together.”

This comes off the back of comments made by Sir Elton John who branded the government ‘philistines’ for failing to properly deal with the implications that leaving the European Union has had on musicians.

Young musicians must now require visas, work permits and equipment carnets when touring the EU something which John claims is ‘crucifying’ performers.

While it would appear that Dickinson shares the sentiments of John, few had sympathy for him as he was one of the 52 per cent of the UK that voted to leave the EU back in June 2016. Cue the Iron Maiden song puns...

Back in 2018, Dickinson told L’Obs that he thought Brexit would make Britain “more flexible” and that “Brexit actually opens our borders, Brexit opens the United Kingdom to the whole of the world.”

“Brexit will not change the status of the [country] by very much”, except for enhanc[ing] our economic capabilities,” he added.