๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป
Jewish Telegraph, June 2025
Mike Cohen is out of breath watching Iron Maiden at Manchesterโs Live Arena
Two weeks from my 58th birthday and just the thought of walking up a flight of stairs leaves me gasping for air.
Yet in the last month or so, Iโve watched 75-year-old Bruce Springsteen race around the stage for almost three hours โ and this week at the same venue, Iron Maiden โ who are all approaching 70 โ gave a two-hour long high energy performance.
Itโs incredible to think that this was their 50th anniversary tour, during which time theyโve had three lead singers.
Bruce Dickinson, 26 years into his second stint with the band, is one of the greatest frontmen in rock. Heโs a non-stop ball of energy, changing costumes regularly and shouting his battlecry โscream for me Manchesterโ at regular intervals.
Even at the sprightly age of 66 and having survived a cancerous tumour on his tongue, Bruce sounds just as incredible as he did on all those early tours.
After an elongated intro with the video screen showing a cartoon tour of venues close to Maidenโs history, the band launches into Murders in the Rue Morgue.
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And from there it is all killer and absolutely no filler.
Wrathchild, Killers, Phantom of the Opera, Powerslave, 2 Minutes to Midnight, a stunning Rime of the Ancient Mariner . . . every single one a stone cold classic.
Bruce announces that this is as close to a greatest hits tour as they will every perform โ yet they couldnโt find room for the number one hit Bring Your Daughterโฆ to the Slaughter or Can I Play With Madness?, which reached number three.
But this is a minor quibble when they can just throwaway songs like The Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills and The Trooper in the main set, when most bands would have saved them for the encores.
Then again, I have no complaints with the three encores โ Aces High, Fear of the Dark and Wasted Years.
The triple guitar threat of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, along with bassist Steve Harris, create such a wall of incredible riffs, some of the greatest in heavy metal history.
And new drummer Simon Dawson slotted in perfectly, filling the shoes of the departed Nicko McBrain perfectly. And you canโt ignore the seventh member of the band, the mascot Eddie. This huge character patrols the stage menacingly at various points in the show and features prominently in the amazing video displays behind the band.
After 17 songs, everybody left with their ears buzzing, but happy.
Iron Maiden probably have a few more anniversaries left in them, itโs just whether us fans are able to keep up with them.
