Former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley recently opened up about his decision to stop hosting meet-and-greet and signing sessions before his solo concerts. In a new interview with “Dales Rock Interviews” and Metalliville-zine, the British vocalist explained that the choice was driven by severe health concerns, a need for proper vocal preparation, and frustration with autograph resellers.
The singer detailed how growing crowd sizes were taking a physical toll, preventing him from saving his voice or managing his health. He also publicly revealed a new medical diagnosis for the first time.
“The first thing is my health, because I’ve got bigger and more popular, and so it’s gone from meeting 30, 40, even 50 fans to a hundred fans each time. So what happens is I can’t talk. I can’t use my voice, so I can’t get into conversations. Especially if we’ve got two or three, four, five, six gigs in a row, I can’t talk, so then I’ve gotta sign on this ‘I can’t talk’. Whereas in the old days, I could say hello to everybody and meet them properly. But now I can’t talk before the gig. Then it takes so long to do the meet-and-greet, I don’t get a chance to warm up before the show and check in, like, is my heart okay? I’ve got diabetes as well. I didn’t put that in the press release. But I’ve found out, at the time of my heart attack, they tested me. I’m diabetic. I didn’t know that before, so I’ve gotta watch that as well,” Blaze explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Blaze Bayley underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery following a major heart attack, a procedure that has permanently altered his energy levels on the road.
“The thing is, normally I would want 45 minutes to warm up to prepare from nothing to going on stage and singing,” he continued. “Well, I wasn’t getting that. I wasn’t hardly getting any time to warm up. I wasn’t getting the time to warm up. I can’t check in with myself. Is my diabetes okay? Is my heart okay? And, of course, I’m much more tired now. It’s a normal thing with people who have a quadruple or triple bypass operation, heart surgery. You’re just more tired. You don’t have the energy levels. So all of that was, ‘Okay, this has gotta stop.'”
Beyond his health, the singer expressed sharp disappointment over people exploiting his time to make a quick profit online, a trend he says has worsened in recent years.
“It was a huge effort to do it,” he added. “I loved meeting my fans and [hearing] a lot of the wonderful stories about when they first got into music. And then to see I’ve given up my warmup time, really put myself out to see that it’s been abused by someone with a picture of me signing the thing that’s [being sold] on [eBay] for two hundred quid or three hundred quid. That’s really wrong. And this is a problem that didn’t exist when I started. Hardly anybody did that. So it was all people who were keeping things for their own memorabilia. It’s a thing that’s happened over the last five years, and a lot more, I think, over the last three years.”
Pointing to other major rock and metal icons, Bayley emphasized that skipping autographs is becoming an industry standard. Moving forward, he plans to use his signature exclusively to raise money for good causes.
“[There are a lot of] people that don’t sign,” he noted. “So it’s not like, oh, suddenly I am this unusual thing. No, it’s more common not to sign. Alice Cooper doesn’t sign anything, and he’s been around a lot longer than me. He’s a much bigger artist than I am. Dave Grohl doesn’t sign anything. There’s lots of people. Paul McCartney, he’s an icon of British music. He doesn’t sign anything. So I just thought, ‘You know what I’m going to do then? If my signature is so valuable, I’m gonna save it for charity, for the causes that I support.’ So you will see signed stuff by me, but you’ll see it where all the proceeds go to charity.”
While it was a tough call to make, the singer confirmed that eliminating the pre-show sessions has already yielded massive improvements in his live delivery.
“The meet-and-greet was never really free. It was always included. ‘Cause it’s inside the venue, and you’ve bought your ticket. So it’s been included. So I’m stopping the meet-and-greet. That’s it. I’m not going, ‘Oh, I’m stopping the free meet-and-greet.’ I’m stopping the meet-and-greet, so I can look after my health. And you know what? It’s been really difficult, because I miss my fans and meeting my fans, but my performance and my voice and my confidence level has just gone up so much. ‘Cause, again, my warmup time, which I haven’t had for quite a few years — unless you’re on a festival or something, where you don’t have a normal meet-and-greet. So, that’s it. So, my performance has improved so much because I’ve got the proper time to warm up, get ready for the show and everything. That’s it. So I think it is time. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years.”
Earlier in February, Blaze Bayley announced the end of a long-standing tradition at his live shows, confirming that he will no longer conduct meet-and-greet or signing sessions during his solo headlining tours.
In a statement released on social media on Tuesday, February 3, Bayley also expressed frustration with the immediate resale of signed merchandise on auction sites, which contributed to his decision.
He wrote at the time:
“I have decided to stop doing free & included meet & greets & signing at my headline shows.”
“This is a massive decision for me to take, mainly to protect my health following my open-heart surgery after a near fatal heart attack. But also, I feel I must protect my health as much as possible, prioritising my energy, focus & voice for the performances at shows where the highest standards are my aim.”
“A further reason is the disappointment of seeing signed items appearing the very next day for sale on ebay & other auction sites after the meet & greets. This is in no-one’s best interests. So, there will be no signings in the foreseeable future.”
“If you see me out & about & would like a selfie, that’s fine. Just say hello & get your phone or camera ready. That isn’t changing.”
“After 25 years this is a massive decision for me to take. You are my inspiration and my comfort, my warriors & my friends & together we have moved the sun. I thank you so much for all your help & support over the years, & thank you in advance for understanding this very difficult decision.”
