Iron Maiden performing their Run For Your Lives Tour at The Utilita Arena Birmingham on Saturday 21st June 2025.

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Iron Maiden, a national treasure with their own beer, stamps and merchandise that was sold in Asda as part of their Father’s Day range, have been rocking out for a solid fifty years, and they marked this iconic milestone with a rip roaring concert at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Saturday night, on their Run For Your Lives Tour.

After the smashing fun of the Future Past Tour which leaned heavily into their 1986 sci-fi album, Somewhere In Time and their most recent studio album 2021’s Senjutsu, this latest tour is all guns and blazing nostalgia, promising songs exclusively from the band’s first decade and a bit more besides.

In the past the band have presented the crowd with gun toting cyborgs, inflatable spitfires and a real life dog fight happening over the crowd’s head’s, so there was a lot to live up to on this tour, and they really impressed with a giant sized screen that dominated the backline and dwarfed the band, which saw bassist Steve Harris, guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, drummer Simon Dawson (who has replaced Nicko McBrain who has retired from touring) and of course the legendary front man, Bruce Dickinson, who was constantly on the move, either darting from one side of the stage to the other whilst singing his heart out and dominating the room.

Opening with Murders In The Rue Morgue, a song that they have not sung live since The Ed Hunter Tour back in 1999 which was swiftly followed by Wrathchild which has not been played for almost a decade.

Promising a greatest hit set list, they delivered songs that were most loved as opposed to the best selling, as the crowd soaked up their most iconic moments. There was no sign of Can I Play With Madness? Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter or Holy Smoke. Instead they showcased Phantom Of The Opera which is 45 years old, and it still possesses one of the most evocative and memorable opening riffs in metal history. It is beautifully rendered and presented in an avalanche of kinetic energy. The three guitar attack of Smith, Gers, and Murray gave the sound real depth and texture.

Before a very enthusiastic crowd this concert was no longer just a mere concert, it was a musical extravaganza of Broadway proportions. Even Eddie has had an upgrade to a giant wandering version of the band’s habitual mascot during Killers and The Trooper respectively. He menaces the band with his axe and forces Gers and Murray to fend him off with their guitars. The Trooper variant of Eddie even starts to play a guitar on his sabre.

The Number Of The Beast was given an early appearance flanked by nosferatu-style black and white horror footage. There was a dusting off of The Clairvoyant before the backdrop was transformed into a stunningly rendered take on their iconic Powerslave set, which saw burning fires and flames bursting to life at the top of the rear walkway.

There was 2 Minutes To Midnight and a fan favourite epic Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, when a breathtakingly beautiful tale of a doomed ship at sea was displayed on the massive screen and was the centre piece in a whole set of centre piece epics. Visually, it was nothing less than spectacular.

The night was filled with their legendary tracks such as Run To The Hills and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son which had the crowd belting out the lyrics. As Hallowed Be Thy Name echoed around the Arena, Dickinson suddenly appeared on the screen, swiftly ascending a staircase towards a noose after being stuck in a cage. His performance and showmanship was top notch. He was constantly on the move and with his soaring vocals he was truly a master of his craft and a joy to watch.

Finishing the main set with Iron Maiden, the crowd were inpatient for the encore, which saw the iconic Churchill’s speech accompanied by videos of spitfires, lasers and search lights which led straight to Aces High. Fear Of The Dark was followed by an anthemic Wasted Years which brought the crowd home courtesy of another banger of a digital set. It seemed that Iron Maiden had pulled off a rare trick, celebrating the past by stepping into a bold new future.

The members of the band are all eligible for their bus passes but they have never been stronger, never been better and have never ever put on a show of this magnitude before. For old school fans it was pure heavy metal heaven. For younger acolytes of which there were plenty, it had been a chance to witness some songs they may well have resigned themselves to never seeing live. What a real treat and a concert to remember.

Iron Maiden performing The Future Past Tour at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Monday 3rd July 2023.

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

It has been quite some time since the Motorpoint Arena has been filled to the rafters, but there was not a standing place to be had when heavy metal legends Iron Maiden came to town on Monday night as part of The Future Past Tour.

As the unmistakable sounds of UFO’s Doctor Doctor and Vangellis’ Blade Runner filled the Arena, the atmosphere was at fever pitch and when the band took to the stage, the screams of delight nearly took the roof off.

Kicking off with a dizzying double header of Caught Somewhere In Time and Stranger In A Strange Land, the energy levels were immediately raised as guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers ran around the stage, whilst founder member and bassist Steve Harris egged on drummer Nicko McBrain. And centre stage was the charismatic Bruce Dickinson brandishing his mic stand especially on the absolutely colossal The Writing On The Wall.

Performing songs from the band’s most recent studio album, Senjutsu as well as a healthy dose of songs from 1986’s underrated Somewhere In Time album, they aimed to bring together an old record about the unknown future and a new one fixated on the distant past, mixed up with a few fans favourite bangers.

New songs Days Of Future Past and The Time Machine were well received as was Death Of The Celts that started off very slowly and with Dickinson’s passionate delivery proved to be a real highlight. They delivered a riotous The Prisoner, the only song to feature from their legendary Number Of The Beast album which had the crowd singing along as did Can I Play With Madness.

With Dickinson leading the charge on the epic Alexander The Great, mobile phones were held aloft to record the nearly nine minute historical showstopper which is played live on this tour for the first time and the instantly recognisable classic Fear Of The Dark had the crowd singing along before the band closed their main set with an anthemic airing of Iron Maiden itself.

Disappointingly Run To The Hills and Hallowed Be Thy Name were conspicuously absent from this set list but their encore songs of The Trooper, the flame drenched Hell On Earth with its pyrotechnics and the euphoric closer, Wasted Years more than made up for them.

Iron Maiden performing The Book Of Souls Tour with special guests Shinedown at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Thursday 4th May 2017.

Images and review by Kevin Cooper

Iron Maiden, led by one of the most dynamic front men in the business, Bruce Dickinson looking as sprightly as ever, rumbled into Nottingham last night and rattled the rafters of the Motorpoint Arena.

But up first was American rock band Shinedown who have sold more than ten million albums worldwide, and on last night’s performance it was easy to see why. Opening with fans favourite, Adrenaline, they began a fifty minute set of guitar driven mania that many in the Arena had turned up early to see.

With Zach Myers on guitar, bassist Eric Bass and Barry Kerch on drums, the guitar led tracks of Unity and How Did You Love provided them with ample time to show off. But it was the soaring vocals of Brent Smith that were most impressive as he led the audience in a sing along through a thrashing Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom).

When he stopped the show to urge everyone to meet the person next to them, over 8000 people did just that. With the opening chords to Second Chance the crowd screamed so loud that it was hard to distinguish the song’s first lyrics from the crowd’s reaction. Finishing with Sound Of Madness, they almost blew the roof off the Arena and had warmed this crowd up very nicely.

With the first chords of UFO’s Doctor Doctor, the Arena erupted. Enter Bruce Dickinson, dressed in cargo pants and a hooded black sweatshirt and as an air raid siren announces the start, Worksop’s finest heavy metal singer is behind a smoking cauldron and it was If Eternity Should Fail from their latest and sixteenth studio album, The Book Of Souls, that started things off.

Joined on stage by the rest of the band, they kept up with their new material, going straight into the albums only single, Speed Of Light which showcased searing guitar melodies. Typical Maiden classics whipped up the enthusiasm levels, especially Wrathchild and Children Of The Damned.

Death Or Glory saw another return to The Book Of Souls whilst The Red And The Black showed that Iron Maiden remain just as vital as ever after four decades. With the pounding drums of Nicko McBrain, Steve Harris’ rumbling bass guitar and guitarists Dave Murray, Janick Gers and Adrian Smith all bringing their A game during the two hour onslaught, with Gers hilariously running through the legs of a massive version of Eddie.

With a killer stage, eclipsed by a big screen at either side, Dickinson made good use of the horse shoe runway, never keeping still for a moment. With the first notes of The Trooper, pictures of Trooper Eddie, who makes an appearance at every Iron Maiden concert, came on the back drop as Dickinson ran around the stage wearing Eddie’s battlefield regalia of red jacket, waving a Union Jack, before the bellowing laughter that marks the start of Powerslave had the crowd going wild.

Bringing the fun to an end with Fear Of The Dark and of course, the expected Iron Maiden, there had been no room for the likes of Bring Your Daughter…To The Slaughter or Run To The Hills, but nobody minded as Iron Maiden reclaimed the stage for the encore with The Number Of The Beast as goat faced devils bombarded the giant screens. Finishing off with Blood Brothers and Wasted Years, Iron Maiden are still a spectacular well oiled slick machine, and as Monty Python’s Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life rang out, they continued to demonstrate why they are up there with the best live acts in heavy metal.