Battling for the Beast

Iron Maiden is one of the most acclaimed and successful heavy metal bands in history – and they will soon be landing in South Africa. While these behemoths of metal, known for songs such as Number of the Beast and Fear of the Dark, have had sold-out concerts worldwide, a group of aspirant local rockers were battling it out on a much smaller stage at Rumours Lounge in Roodepoort in The Battle 4 Iron Maiden.

The lucky winners were Jasper Dan, a Joburg four-piece formed in 2011. To learn more about them and what you can expect to hear ahead of the Iron Maiden concert, visit their website here.

The competition pitted 28 bands against each other, with one given the ultimate honour of being selected to open for the metal legends from Britain. Photographer Michel Bega waded through the mosh pit to bring you this picture feature on SA’s slaves to heavy metal who were vying to share a stage with the men who brought all those gorgeously terrifying Eddie the Head posters to every second teenager’s wall in the ’80s and ’90s – and made their parents feel just a little bit of misplaced concern about their sanity.

De Wallen

Lead vocalist of De Wallen, Jeandre Swanepoel, from Stellenbosch, performs. The Battle 4 Iron Maiden was hosted by Barney Simon, who has been at the forefront of promoting alternative, rock and heavy metal in South Africa since the ’80s.

The Jack Rolling Dandy

The Jack Rolling Dandy from Potchefstroom performs. The battle of the bands took place over the past three months, with the finals happening on Saturday, May 7 2016.

Jasper Dan’s guitar

A guitar belonging to the band Jasper Dan is seen on stage. Iron Maiden’s tour has been billed the Book of Souls World Tour to promote their 16th studio album, released last year. Overall, the band has sold between 80 and 100 million units worldwide.

Crowd shot

A reveller in the crowd headbangs during a performance by Jasper Dan. The Raven Age, featuring George, the son of Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, will be accompanying Iron Maiden on this tour.

Deadline

Members of the band Deadline, from Pretoria, pose with a reveller wearing a mask of the iconic Iron Maiden mascot Eddie. At each event bands played four original compositions, plus one Iron Maiden song. Bands were judged on musicality, stage performance and crowd interaction.

Gunslinger

Gunslinger, from Roodepoort, performs. Lead singer of Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson, who is also a commercial airline pilot, is currently piloting an ex-Air France Boeing 747-400, known as Ed Force One. The plane allows the group to carry the band, their crew and stage production.

Rescind

A masked entertainer with a ukulele forms part of the band Rescind’s stage show.

Deadline

Deadline peforms at Rumours Lounge in Roodepoort. The bands that performed in the final are were New Born Fire, Deadline, Jasper Dan (the winners), De Wallen, Man As Machine and The Slashdogs. Tickets cost R50 per person and the bands will start at 7pm.

Hope is for Heroes

Hope is for Heroes, from Bloemfontein.

Jasper Dan

Jamie Hendry, lead vocalist for Jasper Dan, from Roodepoort, with guitarist Daz Roux, perform. Jasper Dan will open for Iron Maiden on 21 May at Carnival City’s Festival Lawns. This is the second Iron Maiden tour to South Africa. In 1995 the supergroup performed in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town during their X-Factor world tour.