Half a century on, Iron Maiden still sound hungry
Half a century on, Iron Maiden still sound hungry
Nick RuskellSun, July 12, 2026 at 9:22 AM UTC
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Bruce Dickinson: ‘Anybody would think there was a football match on…’ - Jim Dyson/Getty
An unbeatable squad of Englishmen? Tales of heroism and glory? Bags of drama and theatre? Big dreams? Thousands of loud supporters, all singing loudly, all proudly wearing their team colours? “F--- me,” winked Bruce Dickinson as Iron Maiden hit the stage at Knebworth, “anybody would think there was a football match on…”
Even if England had crashed out in the opening kicks of the World Cup, Saturday was always going to be a red-letter day for the British metal icons and their religiously devoted followers. Long before the football fixtures were announced, Maiden announced that to celebrate their 50th anniversary, they were putting on their own bash at this storied venue, Eddfest.
It’s not so much a celebration of a milestone as a celebration of Iron Maiden themselves. As the biggest and arguably most important heavy metal band of their lifetime, it’s worth a knees-up. But you’re also reminded that Maiden got where they are through graft and grit.
In the 1980s, they became the band of the decade by releasing almost an album a year and touring until it nearly ended them. At Knebworth, that doggedness remained. Even at the biggest they’ve ever been, and to a home crowd – all, as ever, wearing their merch – they remain a band who still want to earn their wins, even when they’ve already won.
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But this golden anniversary, complete with a museum of props and memorabilia from tours gone by, doesn’t have the dusty, things-were-better-years-ago feeling of a group caught in time. Yes, the set looked backwards, taking a ride through the 1980s and early 1990s as they did at London Stadium last summer, with the addition of Infinite Dreams for the first time in 38 years (“Well, that’s a lie, we played it last Tuesday in Lisbon”), but even this was more vital than nostalgic.
Steve Harris pounding out galloping basslines - Jim Dyson/Getty
Steve Harris in particular played like a man firmly believing his own words that you’re only as good as your last gig, pounding out his galloping basslines with far more aggression and energy than men half his 70 years. Dickinson, meanwhile, remains one of rock’s best frontmen, with a flair for the theatrical, his air-raid-siren vocals still a thing of wonder and excitement.
It’s the mix of brawling energy and big ambition that powers these songs. They take in war (The Trooper, telling the story of the Charge of the Light Brigade, which saw Dickinson raising a St George’s Cross for the England team), ancient Egyptian curses (Powerslave), war (2 Minutes to Midnight), fear of the occult (The Number of the Beast), fear of the dark (Fear of the Dark), war (Aces High), and their epic, 13-minute metal retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, complete with eerie fog.
All of this Iron Maiden play like they still mean it, like they’re still trying to achieve something. That’s why, even at 50, they don’t feel like a legacy band. That’s worth celebrating. And that’s a victory in itself.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
