Feeling a wee bit bummed out now that Iron Maiden have left town? Well don’t worry folks as the good people at SD Entertainment are ensuring that life will remain turned up to 11 with their announcement that Blaze Bayley will play an Irish tour next February.

Hailed as the most indomitable man in rock by this very magazine, the former Tamworth Terror and current Heavy Metal Hall Of Fame inductee will tread the boards of six of our finest venues. Performing an exclusive Iron Maiden-themed set dedicated to his time fronting the band between ‘94-’99 which saw them deliver a brace of chart busting LPs (‘95’s dark and brooding masterpiece The X Factor and ‘98’s all killer, no filler Virtual XI) plus a fistful of hit singles (who can forget Blaze serving up some most welcome blood and thunder to a gaggle of grinning Take That fans on Top Of The Pops?), these exclusive shows will be nothing short of incendiary.

He’ll also play some songs culled from his critically acclaimed solo career (his most recent record War Within Me was one of this Hot Press scribe’s favourites of ‘21) and perhaps the odd Wolfsbane tune too (AKA his should’ve been massive “other” band) if you ask him nicely.

An artist who can always be relied upon to put his heart and soul into every performance, expect Blaze to light up the stage next winter.

Here’s those all important dates for the diary:

• Skylite Room, Warrenpoint Feb 3
• Bogan’s, Omagh Feb 4
• Voodoo, Belfast Feb 7
• Whelan’s, Dublin Feb 8
• Dolan’s, Limerick Feb 9
• Fred Zeppelin’s, Cork Feb 10

Tickets are onsale now and support on all dates is from Absolva.

For more details visit sdentertainment.co.uk and blazebayley.net. Insider tip: get those tickets for his opening night in Warrenpoint A.S.A.P. as it’ll be one of the shows of the year.

And to get you in the mood for February, here's reminder of what happened when Hot Press saw Blaze play nearby Banbridge a while back. Spoiler alert: if the venue had a roof, he would’ve blown it off. [LIVE REPORT].