Iron Maiden have returned to Australia for the first time since 2016. Considering it has been 44 years since the first album ‘Iron Maiden’ in 1980, the Australian tours have been few and far between.
In 2016 it was ‘The Book of Souls World Tour’. Iron Maiden played Australia in 2011 for Soundwave on ‘The Final Frontier World Tour’ and 2008 for the ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ tour. Prior to that we go back to the ‘World Slavery Tour’ of 1985 and ‘The Beast on the Road’ tour of 1982.
Watch the Noise11 interview with Bruce Dickinson:
With UK bands like Black Sabbath no longer active, Motörhead no more and Judas Priest and Deep Purple with maybe a last tour in them, Iron Maiden have reached “elder statesmen” status. The ages of most of the band is between 66 and 68 (drummer Nicko is 72). Rob and Glenn from Priest are mid 70s now, Roger and Ian of Purple late 70s and the Black Sabbath founders mid to late 70s. That considered the Maiden members have potentially another 10 good years of fuel left in the engine.
The 2024 ‘The Future/Past’ takes the Iron Maiden live experience to a whole new level. Mascot Eddie has always been prominent in the Maiden shows over the decades but now with technology and mechanics, the larger than life characters join the stage and become part of the show with Bruce Dickinson fighting out a lazar battle, alien attacks and a mechanical Maiden in clash mode with a giant sword as the band plays on. This was closer to an Alice Cooper show this time than Metallica.
The ‘Future/Past’ tour has an almost completely different setlist to the 2016 tour. Only ‘The Trooper’, ‘Fear of the Dark’, ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Wasted Years’ cross over bringing a completely new live experience to the fans. Note: They did not perform ‘Run To The Hills’ at the 2016 show I saw as well.
Bruce Dickinson was very talkative on this show. I like that. He connected the band to the audience with his banter about lots of nothing between Perth and Melbourne, wound up the crowd over Sydney and told a few anecdotes about the songs that felt more like pub talk. Like, we are supposed to believe ‘Can I Play With Madness’ was originally a song called ‘Can I Play With Agnus’ about an early pickup on an Australian tour.
Consider the seniority with this band. Bruce Dickinson didn’t join until the third album ‘Number of the Beast’, released in 1982. Of the founding members, only Dave Murray and Steve Harris remain from the first album. Adrian Smith joined for the second album ‘Killers’. ‘The Number of the Beast’ gave Maiden their first UK no 1. It was also Top 10 in Australia but it wasn’t until 2006 when Iron Maiden cracked the US Top 10 for the first time with ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. With Bruce every UK album has gone Top 10. Five have reached number one.
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- Dave Murray of Iron Maiden at Rod Laver Arena Melbourne 6 Sept 24 photo by Jason Rosewarne
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- Steve Harris of Iron Maiden at Rod Laver Arena 6 Sept 24 photo by Jason Rosewarne
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- Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden in Melbourne 6 Sept 24 photo by Jason Rosewarne
With Maiden you have this great rock band with multiple members working in unison and occasionally grabbing a moment of spotlight but Bruce is the showman. He was equal parts frontman, a vocal instrument of the band and an actor for the performance in the backdrop. His energy is incredible. He was so active I was surprised we didn’t see some of those Jake and Elwood Blues .
Of course, it is worth going to an Iron Maiden show just because they once got name-checked in a Bill and Ted movie.
Iron Maiden setlist 7 September 2024
Caught Somewhere in Time (from Somewhere In Time, 1986)
Stranger in a Strange Land (from Somewhere In Time, 1986)
The Writing on the Wall (from Senjutsu, 2021)
Days of Future Past (from Senjutsu, 2021)
The Time Machine (from Senjutsu, 2021)
The Prisoner (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
Death of the Celts (from Senjutsu, 2021)
Can I Play With Madness (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
Heaven Can Wait (from Somewhere In Time, 1986)
Alexander the Great (from Somewhere In Time, 1986)
Fear of the Dark (from Fear of the Dark, 1992)
Iron Maiden (from Iron Maiden, 1980)
Encore:
Hell on Earth (from Senjutsu, 2021)
The Trooper (from Peace of Mind, 1983)
Wasted Years (from Somewhere In Time, 1986)
The 2024 AUSTRALIAN tour dates are:
Sunday 1 September: PERTH, RAC Arena
Wednesday 4 September: ADELAIDE, Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Friday 6 September: MELBOURNE, Rod Laver Arena
Saturday 7 September: MELBOURNE, Rod Laver Arena
Tuesday 10 September: BRISBANE, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Thursday 12 September: SYDNEY, Qudos Bank Arena
Friday 13 September: SYDNEY, Qudos Bank Arena
Also New Zealand:
Monday 16 September: AUCKLAND, Spark Arena
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