“SCREAM FOR ME, DENVER!!!”
That’s the classic, beckoning call of irrepressible front man Bruce Dickinson that raised a sea of 12,000-plus fists (many holding $9 beers), devil-horned hands and, yes, plenty of screams as the English heavy metal giants played to a capacity crowd at on Monday night.
In a move both risky and admirable, the veteran metal outfit (filled out by drummer Nicko McBrain, bassist Steve Harris and a trio of guitarists: Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers) hit the stage and performed an inspiring set of almost all “new” material.
That is to say, tunes drawn largely from their discography of the years 2000 to present. That left a few longtime fans hoping to hear favorites such as “Run to the Hills,” “The Trooper,” “Aces High,” “Wasted Years” or “2 Minutes to Midnight” scratching their heads rather than banging them. But for the most part, the crowd — a communal mix of several generations of metalheads — roared approval to every song, often singing along, air guitaring and responding to cheerleader Dickinson’s immensely likable personality and infectious energy.
Following an impressive 40-minute opening set by prog-metal noodlers Dream Theater — highlighted by crowd favorite “Pull Me Under” — Maiden hit a sci-fi inspired stage, complete with outer-space backdrop and Ridley Scott-like design elements (to emphasize their upcoming “Final Frontier” LP’s theme). The band launched into a 1-2 punch of the anthemic “Wicker Man” and labyrinthine “Ghost of the Navigator” from 2000’s “Brave New World” LP and added the knockout blow by following with the chestnut “Wrathchild” from 1981’s “Killers” — one of the few older songs they would perform this evening.
A noted soccer (er… football) fan, Dickinson greeted the crowd and joked briefly about the recent 1-1 tie World Cup match between the U.S. and England. He singled out the English goalie who made a grievous error. “We could give him a yellow card,” said Dickinson, “But we’d rather YOU give him a Green Card!”
The band continued with a supremely heavy, brand-new song from their upcoming album titled “El Dorado” — another in the long line of Iron Maiden history lessons (see “Alexander The Great,” “Powerslave,” et al). The one misstep of the evening: the very Spinal Tap-like title track to 2003’s “Dance of Death,” which was quickly redeemed by two crushing tracks — “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” and “These Colours Don’t Run” — from the band’s most recent masterpiece, 2006’s “A Matter of Life And Death.”
Continuing on, the band hit highlights from their recent years with the sing-along rockers “Wildest Dreams,” “No More Lies,” and “Blood Brothers” (propelled in waltz time by McBrain’s clock-like rhythmic punches). They closed the set with the classic “Iron Maiden,” which saw the latest sci-fi “Predator”-like version of band mascot Eddie appear onstage to the glee of all in attendance.
An encore of old favorites sent the crowd over the top as fans grew hoarse singing along to the blissfully blasphemous chorus of “The Number of the Beast,” the gallows lament of “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” and lastly, the punkish anthem “Running Free.”
Dickinson, now sporting an English police (or Bobby) helmet chided the crowd when they didn’t respond to his approval. His band members looked on, smiled and laughed. Iron Maiden — together since the 1970s — is still putting out excellent music, as evidenced by Monday’s setlist. They put in 110 percent for their performance, shaming bands even less than half their age.
They deserve those screams.
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Michael Behrenhausen is a Denver-based writer, and occasional Reverb contributor. In 1986 he had a door-sized poster of Eddie that scared his mom.
Joe McCabe is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb. Check out his .
