Iron Maiden review – Bruce Dickinson defied his age as he took control of London

Screaming fans threw up their horns as the British legends group took to the stage and drum kicks reverberated around London’s O2 arena.

After a stunning instrumental opening cast a trance over the stadium, Iron Maiden sent excited cheers through the crowd as they exploded onto the scene with ‘Caught Somewhere in Time’ – a song not performed on tour since 1987 – and barely stopped to breathe during their two-hour set list featuring some never-performed-live songs.

Bruce Dickinson, 64, served up a tremendous amount of energy throughout the performance, sustaining his renowned operatic vocals alongside non-stop movement around the stage.

The closing notes of ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ gave Bruce the opportunity to welcome London crowds to what was set to be a “dysfunctional, dystopian” performance of a lifetime.

He was keen to engage with the audience across all seated and standing tiers, making light banter and ensuring all in attendance were invested in what was yet to come. 

Inspired by the wild west, science fiction, and dystopian pop-culture classics, it is no surprise that the dashboard from Back to the Future’s iconic DeLorean made its way into the visual backdrop for ‘The Time Machine’ sporting the unmissable “1.21 gigawatts” of energy as a metaphor for the more-than-ample supply Iron Maiden would be giving the performance.

Eddie the Head – Iron Maiden’s iconic mascot – also made his mark on the performance a total of three times as he took to the stage near the beginning, middle, and close of the set to add an extra layer of spectacle and flair. Fans cheered as Eddie first hit the stage in a full gunslinger outfit for ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’, despite the appearance being more of a tease at less than a minute long. However, when cyber-Eddie engaged in a cinema-worthy battle with Bruce during ‘Heaven Can Wait’ firing impressive pyrotechnic shots at each other, that was truly a pinnacle moment of the show where the crowd was alight with phone screens recording in unison.

More impressive was the use of spark-firing pyrotechnics on Eddie’s costume that sold the ferocious nature of the fight with Eddie’s final returning shot causing Bruce’s flare-firing mounted grenade launcher to explode into a mushroom cloud of smoke and sparks.

Eddie’s final appearance was also nothing to be sneezed at, appearing in full samurai garb and even competing in a skilful guitar VS sword battle with Dave Murray, the band’s second longest-serving member.

Pyrotechnics and the appearance of Eddie weren’t the only feasts for the eyes though, as special animations illuminated the sides of the stage while a combination of projections and real backdrops made for seamless transitions between each song. Fans roared for classics such as ‘The Writing on the Wall’ and ‘Fear of the Dark’ but were also taken aback by the live performance debuts of ‘Days of Future Past’, ‘The Time Machine’ and ‘Alexander the Great’.