“Hello Anaheim, wherever the fuck that is!” Bruce Dickinson’s voice thundered through the stadium. “We know Disneyland is nearby, but this isn’t Disney shit!” he declared, kicking off the two-hour tour de force as Iron Maiden rocked the Honda Center Thursday night.
Before Iron Maiden hit the stage, Trivium opened the show. The band from Florida is made up of vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto and drummer Alex Bent. The band was powerful and energetic, bringing the fans to life and warming up the mosh pits before Iron Maiden’s set.
After Trivium’s set, Japanese pagodas were raised on the stage, portending Maiden’s opening song, “Senjutsu.” Enters a ten-foot-tall Eddie, donning Japanese samurai armor, terrorizes the stage wielding a katana and his signature menacing grimace.
Iron Maiden is Bruce Dickinson on lead vocals, Steve Harris on bass, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers on guitar, Nicko McBrain on the drums. Dickinson’s stage presence is impressive, as his energy never wanes and his theatrical antics keep your eyes glued on the stage. Gers and Harris ripped from stage right to left, making sure that each side of the venue had enough time to watch their performances up close. Gers also posed across amps and monitors, holding his guitar up in the air, swinging himself and his instrument around, all without missing a note. At the end of “Iron Maiden,” Gers laid down his guitar and stomped on it, letting out a loud and eerie sound, making every musician in the crowd cringe at the thought of their own instruments being brutalized in this fashion. McBrain’s drums thundered through the venue, putting to good use every tom and crash on his towering drum kit.
Numerous fans brought in signs, one which read “Iron Maiden is better than court-mandated anger therapy,” which Dickinson found funny enough to read out to the enrapt crowd between songs. Someone even brought a lightsaber, which Dickinson called out was against the rules of admission…as it was a weapon.
As a standard for post-COVID performances, there was a mention of the pandemic pausing music & touring. As Dickinson introduced the song “Blood Brothers,” he stated that we all had to “endure shit for the past three years…none of that matters because we’re all family tonight. We’re blood brothers.”
Between songs, Iron Maiden’s elaborate set changed, between extravagant backdrops and lighting. The elaborate transitions onstage kept the momentum of the concert moving forward, making the two-hour show seem to speed by. Relying on the road crew to switch the curtains, practical effects and props out between songs, the mise en scène loomed over the crowd, making them feel in the middle of the action. With many bands now relying on LED backgrounds setting the stage, the massive props and wrap-around backdrops were dramatic and locked in your gaze. Some of the impressive sets used in this show included a soaring angel for “Flight of Icarus” and a surprisingly scary massive horned devil staring down the audience during “Iron Maiden.” And a fan-favorite setup was ‘The Number of the Beast,” where the backdrop showed the mouth of the underworld, while the stage was flooded with red lights and fog, as grotesques lined the back with cauldrons of fire, making the venue a noticeable 10 degrees hotter.
Dickinson donned numerous costumes to engage with the stage sets throughout the show, including an oversized hooded cloak representing the Grim Reaper while holding a large cross for “Sign of the Cross.” Changing into a plague mask, holding a green lantern, while walking across a raised platform at the back of the stage for “Fear of the Dark.” Showing up behind prison cell bars for “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
Even before a fan’s bra made its way onto the stage, (someone clearly loves “Run To The Hills”), the band members were all clearly having a great time. Unsure of which band member the bra was meant for, Gers grabbed it and strung it to the headstock of his guitar for the rest of the song. At the end of the set, McBrain tossed out drumsticks & heads for the hungry fans. When tossing the drum head, it flew like a frisbee, making its way from the stage all the way to the back of the Honda Center, making the crowd erupt in cheers while McBrain looked shocked and impressed by his toss. One could assume such a throw would impress even the Anaheim Frisbee Golf team.
For the first encore, the band came back with “The Trooper” with Dickinson wearing a military jacket waving the Union Jack. A soldier Eddie stormed the stage, engaging in a sword fight with Dickinson. The song ended with Dickinson grabbing a musket with an American flag waving on the end of the gun, pulling the trigger, with sparks flying, vanquishing the cadaverous Eddie for the night.
As is the concern of any fan of a band as legendary and long-lived as Iron Maiden, one often leaves a concert with the knowledge that this may be the last time they are able to witness their favorite band perform live. Iron Maiden, however, is as powerful and engaging as ever, and Bruce has stated they all plan to tour as long as possible, and fully plan on dying onstage, so as the flames die down and the lights dim, letting the dark of the night swallow the stage, Iron Maiden fans need not have any “Fear of the Dark.”
Setlist:
Transylvania (song played by tape)
Doctor Doctor (song played by tape)
Senjutsu
Stratego
The Writing on the Wall
Revelations
Blood Brothers
Sign of the Cross
Flight of Icarus
Fear of the Dark
Hallowed Be Thy Name
The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden
Encore:
The Trooper
The Clansman
Run to the Hills
Encore 2:
Churchill’s Speech (song played by tape)
Aces High
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (song played by tape)
Iron Maiden
Opening act: Trivium
Photos by Boston Schulz
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