Music
Review
Iron Maiden live in Europe: 50 years in, the metal giants still upstage everyone
Armed with enormous songs and cinematic visuals, and still in shape after half a century, the Brits put every other metal show to shame
Metalheads will never tire of Iron Maiden, and the last year has proved it. Since the London titans started celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2025, they have been everywhere. Their new book Infinite Dreams is in shops. Their documentary Burning Ambition is in cinemas. Plus, they’ve been filling some of the biggest venues of their career on the Run for Your Lives tour, which is set to stretch from last May to next December and feature a two-day festival at Knebworth Park in July, curated by them. You couldn’t blame anyone who told them to f*ck off for a bit. And yet, no one has.
This endless appetite is because Maiden are one of one. Countless since their 80s heyday have tried to emulate Bruce Dickinson’s wail, Steve Harris’ galloping basslines, the soaring songwriting and the spectacular concerts. You could fit the names of those who succeeded on the tip of a pin. Tonight – at a 60,000-capacity Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria – the venue is heaving with fans who still need that singular fix.
This is the second show of the second Run for Your Lives European leg, and the band are sticking to the tour’s original premise: only playing cuts from their 1980 debut album up to 1992 chart-topper Fear of the Dark. Despite this nostalgic focus, the production keeps things in the 21st century. They’ve swapped their old slideshow of curtain backdrops for lavish video screens. They exploit the cinematic potential early, too, as opener ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ is preceded by a POV traipse through the East End, honouring their roots.
The ensuing two-and-a-bit hours are best when Maiden imbue their already-overblown tracks with sheer, visual spectacle. By itself, ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ requires the kind of extended bellows which should make Dickinson explode like the songbird in Shrek. But, combine that with the imagery during the guitar solo, where the singer’s digital stand-in is pursued by a ghoul before leaping to his ‘death’? It’s melodramatic enough to make Brian Blessed seem subtle.
There are analogue thrills, as well. Dickinson goes through a laundrette’s worth of costumes, from a masked Egyptian priest (‘Powerslave’) to a Spitfire pilot (‘Aces High’). Midway through ‘The Trooper’, a stagehand stands on stilts and dresses as undead mascot Eddie, then stumbles out and harasses guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers.
Even if they were to unplug the TVs and keep the outfits backstage, though, Maiden would still be the fittest 60-somethings around. Dickinson has lost none of his vocal strength through his 45 years of touring, not to mention his 2014 battle with throat cancer. During ‘Phantom of the Opera’, he projects as if he were Pavarotti while running around the stage. The rest of the lineup keeps up, anchored around new live drummer Simon Dawson, who replaces the retired Nicko McBrain and adds an extra blast of speed throughout.
Operating at their tightest and most extravagant form in… maybe ever, the band apply that energy to a setlist of nonstop classics. Of course, all the hits are here, with ‘Run to the Hills’, ‘Fear of the Dark’ and ‘The Number of the Beast’ each making the audience explode out of excitement. But just as stirring are the longer, deeper cuts. ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is a 13-minute odyssey where, for its ominous bridge, there’s enough dry ice to recreate an ocean fog. Not long after, ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ flaunts more killer riffs than most peers’ entire catalogues.
‘Wasted Years’ sends Sofia home on a wave of PMA, Dickinson urging, “Realise you’re living in the golden years!” These veterans could themselves be enjoying their golden years, retired in some mansion somewhere. Instead, as much as metalheads will never tire of Maiden, it seems that Maiden will never tire of Maiden. They continue to raise their own bar after half a century, as well as the bar for live acts across their genre.
