(Classic Rock) Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has promised Chinese fans that he'll do something about government censorship that prevented the band from delivering their full-power show in China.

The country's Ministry of Culture is well-known for requiring changes to musicians' performances, including the banning of songs that might be seen to criticise the government, or which are regarded as subversive.

That didn't stop Iron Maiden from visiting China for the first time on their The Book Of Souls world tour - but it meant their performances didn't include pyros, smoke effects, Dickinson's flag-waving antics during The Trooper, throwing merchandise into the crowd or using strong language.

A fan video shot in Shanghai earlier this week shows Dickinson joking with the crowd, saying: "They did say 'no cameras.' Do I care? Everybody take out your camera device - take a picture."

He goes on: "It's great to be in China tonight. We ripped it up in Beijing, and we thought, 'That was a bit serious.' They had a few rules, so we kind of stuck by the rules and we didn't do any swearing. There's another thing I can't do - see if you can guess what it is later on."

With each swearword mouthed instead of spoken, he says: "We don't really give a sh*t about all that, because the most important thing is the music. The most important thing is that we're here, and you're here, and we're going to have a great f***ing time."

Dickinson then refers to a TV interview with guitarist Janick Gers, saying: "They've got these great pictures of the show with flames everywhere, dry ice and smoke. I thought, 'That's a f***ing shame, because we can't do that - we got a little bit restricted.'"

He adds: "Next time we'll have a word. Next time we come back to China." Watch video here.

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