The Virtual XI Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 22 April 1998 to 12 December 1998. As with their previous tour, several of the band's U.S. shows had to be cancelled after vocalist Blaze Bayley had issues with his voice,[1] this time reportedly from an allergic reaction to pollen and dust while the group were in Nevada and Arizona.[2] The band later made up the Los Angeles and San Diego dates. This would be Iron Maiden's last tour with Bayley as then former vocalist Bruce Dickinson would return to the group the following year.[3]
Following the more basic stage sets that they had been using following 1988's Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour, the band returned to a more elaborate stage set in 1998.[4] The tour also saw the group make their first visits to Turkey and Malta.[5]
Setlist
"Dance Of The Knights", theme from Romeo And Juliet, served as the intro.
"Fortunes of War" was played only in Lille (the first show). In Nancy, it was replaced by "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (from Killers, 1981) (also played in Paris and some other shows). In Genova, they played "Lord Of The Flies" which stayed in the set for most of the shows till middle autumn.
"Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger" (from Virtual XI, 1998) was played only at the first 3 gigs and was replaced by "Sign Of The Cross".
"The Clairvoyant" were dropped from some sets most notably in the U.S. and towards the end of the tour in South America.
"The Educated Fool" was dropped from the set on the last 3 shows.