Photo Credit: Maryleen Guevara (Manchester – 22nd June)
The Iron Maiden 50th Anniversary Tour hit Glasgow for the final show of the UK tour, we maybe can’t top the crowd that attended the London Stadium show on Saturday when they played in front of an incredible 75,000 at the home of West Ham United FC but we definitely had the passion. During this short tour Iron Maiden put on as near as you will get to a greatest hits tour covering all the bases from album number one onwards.
The OVO Hydro had a sea of Maiden t-shirts all around from every tour you could imagine as The Raven Age hit the stage at 7.30pm, the standing area below was already packed, we made sure to have a good listen to the English band before heading over tonight and also discovered that the guitarist George Harris of The Raven Age is the son of Maiden bassist Steve Harris. Frontman Matt James tries hard to get the crowd onside but they seem quite sleepy at the start of the set, by the end of the set though the phone torches light up the arena during Grave Of The Fireflies while last track Fleur de Lis is the best of the set while new song Hangman also sounded great. Matt announced that the band would be back in Glasgow towards the end of the year. 7/10
It may be a Monday night but the Run For Your Lives Tour has the Glasgow metalheads out in full-force, after the UFO track Doctor Doctor plays through the PA system the crowd are chanting the chorus in excited voice, The Ides Of March welcomes the band to the stage as do the crowd with a massive roar. This is when a chap sitting in front of me decided he would stand up for the whole show, while there was no doubting his enthusiasm it made us question whether to say something to him or not, in the end we decided not to as it would have spoiled his night and we did admire his enthusiasm throughout the performance … thankfully the seat next to me was free!
There are songs on the setlist tonight that we don’t get to hear live too often, such as opener Murders In The Rue Morgue and Phantom Of The Opera, the visuals on the screen behind the stage are jaw-dropping and the best we have seen at the OVO Hydro, Bruce Dickinson is running around the stage like a twenty-five year old defying his years. The early material is well appreciated among the crowd and also a tribute to original vocalist Paul Di’Anno who died last year, Killers from the second album of the same name has ‘Eddie’ running around the stage with a hatchet replicating the 1982 album cover. We have waited years hear Phantom Of The Opera live and it doesn’t disappoint, the guitar solos are extraordinary taking the crowd to another depth of expression, the standing area is bouncing now. The big hitting songs just keep on coming with Number Of The Beast, The Clairvoyant and Powerslave all excellent as Bruce dons a mask for the last-named track.
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner makes a rare appearance and seems to last for ten minutes while Run To The Hills gets everyone singing along, this was one of the standouts songs from the set while The Trooper has Dickinson in his trademark red army outfit as he swaps the union flag for the saltire to the delight of the Scottish crowd, Eddie is also looking smart with the same outfit as he chases Bruce around the stage. Dickinson is in a cage for Hallowed Be Thy Name as he awaits his fate, he finally breaks free and is then chased around by a spirit, this is more like a theatre production at times. After the retirement of Nicko McBain from drums Bruce introduces Simon Dawson as the new drummer but it’s the usual gang other than that with Janick Gers, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray all on guitar and Steve Harris on bass. For the encore Churchill’s speech plays out before they break into Aces High and that is quickly followed by the epic track that is Fear Of The Dark, the explosiveness of this song alongside the energy from the crowd makes it a massive highlight to take away from the performance. They have now been on stage for exactly two hours and there is one last chance for the crowd to go wild to Wasted Years, and that we do.
This is our fourth time seeing Iron Maiden and is without a doubt the best of the lot, band’s half their age would be proud to play over two hours. Bruce Dickinson comments during the set “we are looking forward to the next fifty years!”, these guys aren’t for stopping right now that’s for sure and we get a feeling that a stadium tour may be on the horizon for 2026, here’s hoping. Iron Maiden are now touring Europe after the UK shows. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
