Iron Maiden stage a celebration of British Heavy Metal and a statement of unity at the O2 Arena.
After receiving a body scan and a long moment of being intensely watched, I would have usually thought that I’ve pulled. In this case, it’s just a symptom of the attack in Manchester that happened only last week. In true rock ‘n’ roll style, Iron Maiden have turned up and opened the show regardless. Not forgetting the attendees that also showed up, Bruce thanked us for putting on “a bold face to those who’d destroy us”. The night continued in a similar fashion that could only be described as a force of British heavy metal nature.
Being an artistic band, they didn’t hold back on the visuals, much to our delight. A zombie-fied 15-foot Eddie began fighting with the band only to have his heart ripped out by Bruce Dickinson and chucked into the audience. The frontman is on top form tonight with an energy that could run a jet. Dickinson’s theatricality becomes slightly eccentric at times but he seems to laughing at himself with us.
Maiden took on six tracks from the [amazon_textlink asin=’B00ZVFYXWA’ text=’Book Of Souls’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thecaro-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’0e616b78-4499-11e7-b788-5bd7ee3526a0′], presented in the ruins of a Mayan temple littered in props including a cauldron. The drummer Nicko McBrain is almost hidden by his huge kit. To an outsider, this all may be mistaken for the set of a children’s play, but fans knew to expect this. Maiden are now on their 16th studio album- this is why we love them.
Even though they’ve played the long game, the 60 year old men certainly don’t hold back on delivering the classics. Janick Gers shreds through “The Number Of The Beast” while Steve Harris plays with the audience on closing track “Wasted Years”. It is a little disheartening to find favourites like “Aces High” are being shelved to make room for the new material. But the band had enough enthusiasm to take us through them without us getting bored.
As Dickinson pulls on his Crimean War costume and runs around with a Union Jack for “The Trooper”, the crowd glows with a sense of pride. These guys are our home-grown heroes that seemed to have outlived a lot of other bands who have thrown in the towel. As we cheer for Iron Maiden, they cheered back at us. “When we’re all together like this it sends a message of love, of peace, of joy.” Dickinson says, “We don’t care what colour you are, what religion you are, what race, what sex. We don’t give a shit.”
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