Photos + text by Alex Brown
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson brought his highly anticipated solo tour to the UK to celebrate his latest release, ‘The Mandrake Project’. The album itself has been massively successful across the globe, including reaching number 3 in the UK charts, showing that even after four decades in the music business Dickinson can still dominate the industry. The tour marks his first solo shows with absolutely zero Iron Maiden songs in the setlist in over 20 years and showing the UK just how incredible he is.
The night started with the only support of the night, Black Smoke Trigger, a band who were completely new to me but have gained a new fan. Their 30 minute set was fast paced and enjoyable from start to finish. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for in the future.
Now time for the main event, the one and only Bruce Dickinson. A man who’s music I have grown up with my entire life, my dad being a life long fan of Bruce and Maiden. I felt as though I was in a dream and it was only a matter of minutes before I woke up. Instead it was just a matter of minutes before the legend was stood 2 feet in front of me with a huge grin on his face as he took in the Rock City crowd. The crowd erupted with excitement at just his presence so I could only imagine how wild they were going to get once he got into it. Dickinson opened the show with ‘Accident of Birth’ and from the opening note the crowd were immediately putty in his hands. He orchestrated his band and fans in perfect unison. The power one man holds over a sold out Rock City was a sight to behold.
The night was filled with heavy hitting songs, powerful vocals, incredible guitar solos and a monster of a drum solo. The crowd acting as the perfect backing vocals, some of my personal favourite songs of the night were ‘Afterglow of Ragnarok’, ‘Jerusalem’ and finishing up with ‘The Tower’ (which during Dickinson threw his beanie into the crowd, which accidentally ended up on the lighting rig instead of in a fans hands). As someone who grew up with Iron Maiden, Bruce’s voice was always a part of my life and I can say that his voice is just as powerful and incredible in 2024 as it was when he started his incredible musical journey back at the end of the 70’s.
The man knows how to put on a show that will leave you speechless and full of excitement. He knows how to get the crowd involved without even having to indicate anything. The smiles and waves to his loyal fanbase show that he is still connected to the people who adore him. It was the ultimate pleasure to watch the show as well as photograph such an icon in the metal scene. I hope someone was able to retrieve the hat from the lights, but its a nice bit of memorabilia for the venue to keep.
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