I fucking LOVE Iron Maiden. I always have and I always will. I’ve been a fan since 1984 and I would die on just about any hill but in all honesty, I can see it in them and even in their setlists that they are getting tired. Iron Maiden is doing what they do best by playing live and they’ve been doing so barely stopping to take a breath over the last decade or so. I love love that they’re still at it but it can see them aging. In watching the footage, Steve Harris isn’t moving like he used to, Nick McBrain sounds great after his stroke but even then he’s had to simplify some of his playing. With that being said, it’s Iron Fucking Maiden and they still sound better than all their peers. Bruce is still Bruce but even he looks like he’s losing just a little bit of steam and his voice is straining a bit. I have thought that over the past decade or so that tuning down a full step would be perfect for Bruce to get that range back into his voice on these songs. It worked for Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, and many others. Why would you have the greatest vocalist of all time struggling to hit notes?
The setlist was made of 15 songs featuring five songs from Somewhere in Time with the only real “surprise” of sorts being “Alexander the Great.” This is the first time since the Blaze Bayley era that I felt this lack of excitement for a setlist.
01. Caught Somewhere In Time
02. Stranger In A Strange Land
03. The Writing On The Wall
04. Days Of Future Past
05. The Time Machine
06. The Prisoner
07. Death Of The Celts
08. Can I Play With Madness
09. Heaven Can Wait
10. Alexander The Great
11. Fear Of The Dark
12. Iron Maiden
Encore:
13. Hell On Earth
14. The Trooper
15. Wasted Years
An Iron Maiden show is definitely better than no Iron Maiden show but this footage and setlist are making me less excited than I was before about seeing them. They also announced that in 2025 they will be embarking on the Run For Your Lives tour which will, once again, be a legacy tour of sorts this time covering from the debut Iron Maiden album to 1992’s Fear of the Dark album. I’m sure it will once again be a predictable setlist with maybe one or two (at the most) “wow” moments but I’m pretty sure that it’ll be nothing out of the ordinary. Bruce did say about the tour, “Next year is a very special one for IRON MAIDEN and we’re going to be giving our fans a once-in-a-lifetime live experience. This is a tour that’s gonna put a smile on your face and a cheer in your throat. If you’ve seen us before, then get ready to take that experience to a whole new level. If you’ve never seen us before, then what the hell have you been waiting for? Now’s your chance to find out what you’ve been missing! IRON MAIDEN’s definitely gonna get ya!”
We’ll see about that Bruce and regardless, I’m sure I’ll have ticket in hand ready to scream for Iron Maiden.
Iron Maiden 2024 Tour Dates
Oct. 4 – San Diego, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Oct. 5 – Las Vegas, NV @ Michelob ULTRA Arena
Oct. 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
Oct. 12 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
Oct. 14 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
Oct. 16 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
Oct. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
Oct. 19 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
Oct. 22 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
Oct. 24 – Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
Oct. 26 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
Oct. 27 – Quebec, QC @ Videotron Centre
Oct. 30 – Montreal , QC @ Centre Bell
Nov. 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
Nov. 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
Nov. 6 – Worcester, MA @ DCU Center
Nov. 8 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Nov. 9 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
Nov. 12 – Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
Nov. 13 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
Nov. 16 – Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
Nov. 17 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center (formerly AT&T Center)
About The Author
