Bruce Dickinson has spent a lifetime on the shortlist of the greatest singers in the history of heavy metal, having taken Paul Di’Anno’s place in Iron Maiden just in time to lend his operatic wail to their iconic third release, “The Number of The Beast,” in 1982.
The man turned 66 in August.
But no reasonable human being would’ve guessed that watching him power his way through such career-defining classics as “The Prisoner,” “The Trooper,” “Caught Somewhere in Time,” and “Wasted Years” while rocking a steampunk look in his hooded cloak and shades when Iron Maiden brought the Future Past Tour to Footprint Center in Phoenix on Oct. 9.
His vocals were beyond impressive from the time he hit the stage with “Caught Somewhere in Time.”
And he managed to get stronger as the night wore on, from the awe-inspiring note that seemed to last forever, if not longer, on the stunning conclusion of “Alexander the Great,” a song that hadn’t made a setlist before this tour, to the dramatic “Hell on Earth,” the song that ushered in the encore.
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Iron Maiden setlist:Every song they performed in Phoenix on the 2024 Future Past Tour
Bruce Dickinson was wildly entertaining, frequently hilarious
He also brought an ageless energy to the proceedings. Dickinson rarely stopped moving, tossing his mic stand in the air and catching it, racing about the multi-tiered stage and lying on the riser just above the drum riser to bash the hell out of a gong during “Alexander the Great.”
His sense of humor added so much to the entertainment value. Two songs in, he shared the tale of flying into Phoenix at roughly the same time as two politicians running for Vice President and seeing a plane emblazoned with the Make America Great Again sales pitch.
“But somebody in LA last night was wearing a T-shirt, a big (expletive) red T-shirt,” Dickinson continued. “It said ‘MAMA!!’ And I read the small print. Always read the small print. It said, ‘Make America Metal Again!’”
Dickinson paused the fans to cheer, then shouted, “Finally! Something we can all agree on!”
He also did a very funny bit about the DeLorean time machine from the “Back to the Future” franchise in the course of setting up “The Time Machine” and returned to John DeLorean and time travel in a rambling intro to “Death of the Celts.”
Iron Maiden concerts are gifts for those who worship lead guitar
There’s obviously more to Iron Maiden than the vocals.
And for much of Wednesday’s show, the spotlight fell directly on the three extremely talented guitarists trading leads behind him, often harmonizing, a key component of the Iron Maiden sound.
Adrian Smith and Dave Murray have a history that predates Dickinson’s arrival on the scene. At that point, Iron Maiden had already staked a claim as a pioneering presence on the New Wave of British heavy metal movement. And Janick Gers, whose onstage antics often rivaled Dickinson’s, has been on board since 1990.
Bassist Steve Harris is a founding member who’s also been the band's primary songwriter from the beginning, while Nicko McBrain signed on in time to drum on their fourth album, “Piece of Mind,” and never left.
This tour focuses on two releases – 1986’s “Somewhere in Time” and Maiden’s latest album, 2021’s “Senjutsu.”
They played five songs each from those two albums, rounding out the set with highlights of their early years, from 1980’s “Iron Maiden” to 1992’s “Fear of the Dark.”
Iron Maiden's 2024 tour features several guest appearances by Eddie
In addition to releasing some of heavy metal’s greatest albums, from “The Number of the Beast” to “Powerslave” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” Iron Maiden have the rare distinction of having introduced the genre’s most iconic mascot, Eddie, a constantly evolving undead fixture of the Iron Maiden legacy.
He made his first appearance Wednesday during “Stranger in a Strange Land,” towering over Smith as he soloed while dressed as a gun-toting cowboy.
The mascot returned during “Death of the Celts,” engaging in a firefight with Dickinson, who manned a machine gun turret shooting sparks, and made a third appearance in samurai garb as they brought their set to a fiery finish with the title track to their first album, Gers playfully running between Eddie’s legs as he brandished a sword.
Eddie also made frequent appearances on the video monitor behind the stage, his face superimposed on the Statue of Liberty on a scene straight out of “Planet of the Apes” and dominating the screen as “the trooper” on “The Trooper.”
Iron Maiden kept pyro on reserve for the big finish, flames shooting out of the floor for “Iron Maiden,” and fire cannons putting that display to shame when opened the encore with a suitably foreboding “Hell on Earth.”
By the time they followed “Hell on Earth” with the “Trooper” and an encore-closing “Wasted Years,” it would be hard to picture any reasonable Iron Maiden fan leaving that concert feeling even slightly disappointed.
Mongolian folk-metal heroes The Hu played a show-stopping opening set
Mongolian folk-metal heroes The Hu have blazed one of the more intriguing trails in recent heavy-metal history, finding bold new uses for the traditional instrumentation of their homeland while adding throat singing and war cries to the mix, their touring members fleshing out the sound on instruments more often found in metal circles.
The early arrivals were in their corner from the time they hit the stage, chanting “The Hu” (which is Mongolian for “human beings”) before their set had even gotten underway.
They’re an imposing force, eight members strong, a percussionist reinforcing the beat by battering huge toms with mallets.
Throat-singing growler Nyamjantsan "Jaya" Galsanjamts played an Asian flute known as the tsuur while flanked on either side by Galbadrakh "Gala" Tsendbaatar and Enkhsaikhan "Enkush" Batjargalon the morin khuur, a bowed string instrument, with Temuulen "Temka" Naranbaatarcompleting the core lineup on the tovshuur, a Mongolian lute.
This wasn't something you see every day at Footprint Center. And it hit like a battering ram, the folk in their folk metal having to do more with instrumentation and tradition than the slightest hint that these guys could just as easily be gigging at your local coffee shop.
The 45 minutes they were given seemed to fly by, from the opening blast of “The Gereg” to the set-closing splendor of “This is Mongol.”
Highlights ranged from the stadium-rocking post-glam swagger of “Upright Destined Mongol” to the hypnotic grind of “TATAR Warrior,” from the pile-driving forward momentum of “Gray Hun” to the headbanging swagger of “Yuve Yuve Yu.”
Sadly, they decided not to treat us to that version of “The Trooper” they released a few days back to celebrate the U.S. tour launch.
Iron Maiden 2024 tour setlist: All the songs they played in Phoenix
Here's a look at all the songs that made the setlist when the Iron Maiden Future Past World Tour played Footprint Center in Phoenix on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
- “Caught Somewhere in Time”
- “Stranger in a Strange Land”
- “The Writing on the Wall”
- “Days of Future Past”
- “The Time Machine”
- “The Prisoner”
- “Death of the Celts”
- “Can I Play With Madness”
- “Heaven Can Wait”
- “Alexander the Great”
- “Fear of the Dark”
- “Iron Maiden”
Encore
- “Hell on Earth”
- “The Trooper”
- “Wasted Years”
The Hu 2024 Iron Maiden tour setlist: Every song they played in Phoenix
Here's every song The Hu played in the course of a breathtaking opening set at Footprint Center:
- “The Gereg”
- “Upright Destined Mongol”
- “TATAR Warrior”
- “Gray Hun”
- “Black Thunder”
- “Yuve Yuve Yu”
- “Wolf Totem”
- “This Is Mongol”
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.
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