Iron Maiden’s 50th Anniversary Tour Is An Ode To The Die-Hards

Iron Maiden’s highly anticipated Run For Your Lives world tour is now in full-swing across Europe. The 50th anniversary tour just hit Dublin, Ireland and showcased the band’s epic stage production and typical theatrics with a satisfying setlist that included a surprising number of deep-cuts. From a performance standpoint, Iron Maiden continue to outrun the retirement allegations.

Vocalist Bruce Dickinson belts through songs effortlessly, guitarists Gers, Smith, and Murray tear through iconic solos like it’s 1983, and bassist Steve Harris’ galloping bass lines haven’t lost their stride. Performing at this level for a two-hour set, all while running and quite literally jumping around the stage is some otherworldly feat, especially for a band that’s been around the block for 50 years.

How Was Iron Maiden’s 50th Anniversary Setlist?

When Iron Maiden announced the Run For Your Lives tour, they had made it clear that the setlist would only focus on albums that were released between 1980 and 1992, which is arguably Maiden’s best era. The albums between Iron Maiden’s self-titled 1980 debut to 1992’s Fear of the Dark feature the band’s most revered LPs and their most popularized anthems, but most notably these albums have the band’s finest deep-cut tracks.

It was delightfully surprising to see how committed the band was to keeping to this theme for their setlist. Right out of the gate, Iron Maiden kicked off their set by ripping through five songs from the Paul Di’anno era records. It was quite the shocking move and one that certainly paid off for fans of those albums, though it was hard gauge wether that was a majority of the audience in attendance.

The Structure of Iron Maiden’s Setlist

While Iron Maiden start their two-hour set in bold fashion, after the first five songs the band’s setlist followed a more consistent pattern: an epically long deep-cut, immediately followed by crowd-pleasing anthem. As a die-hard fan of the 1984 LP Powerslave, seeing Maiden effortlessly perform their near 14 minute opus “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was nothing short of a highlight. The same can be said for the other deep-cuts the band performed off their seminal 1988 LP, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, specifically “The Clairvoyant” and the title track “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.” As mentioned, the brilliance of Iron Maiden’s setlist came from how the band balanced the lesser known tracks with fan favorited anthems – “The Number of the Beast,” “Run to the Hills,” and “The Trooper” each followed an epic rarity.

It should be said that this setlist isn’t going to please everyone, specifically the more surface level Maiden fans. Many of these B-side tracks the band indulge in are very ambitious in length, and they might overwhelm or dis-engage those who are unacquainted with the band’s more progressive side. However, it would be an outright lie to suggest that Maiden don’t make up for this with the sheer number of hits they perform in the latter half of the set, especially with the three back-to-back bangers in the band’s encore.

How Was Iron Maiden’s Performance?

The average age of Iron Maiden’s members is 68. For a band that’s been touring for 50 years, performing over two-hour sets each night with nearly the same energy and musicianship they had in their prime, that’s an impressive feat. Furthermore, the fact the band hasn’t down-tuned or adjusted any of their songs for vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who still effortlessly sings each and every one of Iron Maiden’s songs is absolutely astonishing.

This bears pointing out as many legacy bands and even modern bands these days go back and forth between tunings for songs to accommodate their vocalist, which of course is completely fine. However, Iron Maiden’s relentless showmanship and authenticty can’t help but put to shame the many of these bands that rely heavily on these sonic modifications, especially those whose performances are entirely mapped around a click and a wall backing tracks. None of this is present at an Iron Maiden show, bar a pre-recorded intro for “Aces High.”

In fact, at one point early on in the set, Iron Maiden had dragged out an extra four bars at the end of one of their songs (unbeknownst to any of the crowd), and it spurred Dickinson to jokingly admit to the audience that Iron Maiden doesn’t use a click track, despite these allegations being thrown at them.

Iron Maiden’s New Drummer

Speaking of tempo, the Run For Your Lives tour is Iron Maiden’s first tour with their new drummer, Simon Dawson. Dawson replaced longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nick McBrain, who retired from touring at 73 last year due to a number of health reasons. McBrain had been with Iron Maiden since 1983 so the chemistry and relationship he had with the band was deep. That being said, it’s clear that Dawson is a good drummer capable of performing Iron Maiden’s material. He has chemistry with at least the core rhythm section of Iron Maiden being the drummer for Steve Harris’ side project, British Lion.

However, it would be a disingenuous to say Iron Maiden felt the same with Dawson as they did with McBrain. While it wasn’t often, a few tracks felt notably slower or inconsistent with their tempo. It was especially apparent when the band went into their uptempo anthem “2 Minutes to Midnight,” which sounded notably slower than usual. That being said, it was certainly impressive to see Dawson effortlessly tackle the band’s more demanding songs like “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Iron Maiden could’ve easily held auditions and picked a younger more established drummer, but they didn’t, and the fact Simon can hold his own with these metal titans is commendable.

Bottom Line

For those on the fence about catching Iron Maiden on the Run For Your Lives tour, there’s one thing they should keep in mind and that’s the setlist. For surface level Maiden fans it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the band’s setlist, especially the Paul Di’anno era songs and the deep-cut tracks, as these make up a large portion of the set Maiden is performing on this tour. Of course, for die-hard fans, this is only a primary incentive to go see the show. However, regardless of the setlist, witnessing the production and the pristine showmanship Iron Maiden continue to display is worth every penny. Furthermore, there are more than a handful of Iron Maiden classics the band plays that appeal to just about every Maiden-head.