Photo – Down The Barrel Photography. Exclusively for www.overdrive.ie © 2023. All Rights Reserved
With the news of the bands ‘Future Past‘ tour causing palpitations around the world back in November, Ireland waited patiently for their arrival and to say that Maiden didn’t disappoint, would be a sensational understatement.
Naturally, tickets sold out in no time resulting in a huge attendance for German Industrial-Synth-Pop/Goth squad, Lord of The Lost (imagine a hybrid of Rammstein, Deathstars, and The 69 Eyes, and you’ll be somewhere in their parking lot), who effortlessly took control of the huge venue with surprising ease, and proceeded to win over the audience, one track at a time.
Fresh from representing Germany in this years Eurovision, vocalist, Chris Harms wasted little time in utilising the full capacity of his bands artillery with such tracks as, ‘Blood and Glitter‘ and ‘Drag Me To Hell‘, which were consumed with glee by the rabid Irish audience.
There are few things in life that guarantee a wide smile, and a full heart, one such thing is the giddy feeling of excitement as soon as the house lights drop and UFO’s ‘Doctor Doctor‘ fills the atmosphere. The reason why?
Well, over the course of 30 odd years since I first time seeing them, it can only mean one thing…
IRON. ‘FUCKING’. MAIDEN!
Without question, one of the most important bands of all time are about to raise the bar, yet again, for this, their ‘Future Past World Tour‘ which sees a return to their iconic ’86 opus, “Somewhere in Time‘.
As soon as the all too familiar chords for ‘Caught Somewhere in Time‘ ring out, the entire capacity of the 3Arena is giddy with excitement, and rightfully so. Generations of fans young and old become one for the next 70 minutes as the band rip through a set list that is dripping with nostalgia, and as always, heartfelt passion.
‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ sees cyborg-enhanced Eddie making an early appearance to deafening roars, among a stunning Blade Runner-style cityscape, complete with vivacious neon colours that wrap around Nicko’s tremendous drum kit.
With a peppering of new tracks from ‘Senjutsu‘ (‘The Writing on the Wall‘, Days of Future Past‘, ‘The Time Machine‘, ‘Death of The Celts‘, and ‘Hell on Earth‘), Maiden deliver a selection of tracks that, if anything, truly confirms the sheer depth and brillance of their rich discography.
Having seen Iron Maiden many times over the course of my concert-going history, the last three times I’ve witnessed a band that have superseded their own reputation, and are sounding as good as they did back in their heyday. What’s even more impressive is how the natural flow of tonights setlist works so well. Old classics such as, ‘The Prisoner‘ fit seamlessly alongside the likes of ‘Death of the Celts‘ (which incidentally, have an almost 40-year age gap), proving Maiden to be a consistent, reliable and utterly vital presence, not only within the genre Heavy Metal, but as a recording music entity.
Hit after hit comes rolling off the stage with the likes of ‘Can I Play With Madness‘, ‘Heaven Can Wait‘ (complete with a spectacular gun fight between cyborg Eddie and Bruce), and the debut Irish performance of ‘Alexander the Great‘ (which included a funny incident with Bruce accidentally knocking Nicko’s giant gong off it’s stand). The last quarter of the show keeps the energy levels at an all-time high with ‘Iron Maiden‘, ‘Hell on Earth‘, ‘The Trooper‘, and the mighty “Wasted Years‘. Absolute quality!
We live in an unfortunate time where standards of live music performance are dependent on backing tracks, lip syncing, and a litany of cutting corners, Iron Maiden stand tall when representing the true definition of what “live music” should be.
This is the real deal. It always has been, and it always will be.
Up the Irons!
Enjoy the full setlist with our curated playlist below:
Words – Oran O’Beirne
Photo – Down The Barrel Photography
All images © www.overdrive.ie. All Rights Reserved.
