As part of their Run For Your Lives World Tour, Iron Maiden played the London Stadium on 28 June 2025. It was something of a homecoming, with Maiden's roots firmly planted in this part of East London, where they started playing pubs and clubs around 50 years earlier.
So my wife Debs and I joined around 75,000 other fans for what turned out to be an absolutely amazing gig.
I've been a massive Iron Maiden fan since 1980. Debs kinda liked them, but the chance to see Maiden live, for the 4th time for me, was something we really didn't want to miss.
We turned it into a whole weekend, staying at the ibis in Canning Town. In a slightly bizarre change of musical direction, we then went to see ABBA Voyage the following day. Iron Maiden one night, ABBA the next. That's quite a weekend.
Before the gig I wanted to visit the Maiden pub that had been set up for the occasion, serving, amongst other things, a range of Iron Maiden beers. Unfortunately, it was absolutely rammed and we couldn't get anywhere near the bar.
We also wanted some merch, which turned into an expedition of its own. We queued for well over an hour to buy a couple of hoodies and ended up missing most of Halestorm's set, which I was gutted about.
Thankfully, once Maiden came on, any frustration disappeared pretty quickly.
They were absolutely on top form.
The band had their usual brilliant rapport with the crowd, with Bruce Dickinson regularly pausing between songs to whip 75,000 people into an even bigger frenzy.
One of the big changes on this tour was the stage production. Bands doing stadium shows like this have traditionally relied on enormous painted or printed backdrops, and Maiden themselves have used some fantastic ones over the years. This time they had a huge digital screen instead.
I'd read beforehand that some Maiden purists weren't keen on the idea.
As a fan, I bloody loved it.
It gave them the opportunity to make the backdrop part of the show rather than simply scenery. Right at the beginning, while The Ides of March played, we were taken on an animated journey through East London and some of the places associated with Maiden's early years.
We travelled virtually through streets, roads and alleyways, passing locations including the Ruskin Arms and The Cart & Horses, where Maiden played during those early days. Every recognisable location seemed to get another huge roar from the crowd before the journey eventually brought us face-to-face with Eddie.
For a band already famous for turning its concerts into theatrical productions, the technology suited them perfectly.
During Hallowed Be Thy Name, a digital version of Bruce was chased along a path by a ghoulish apparition. During Powerslave, the visuals seemed to take you right inside Eddie's Egyptian temple. Maiden's traditional giant Eddie also entered the digital age, with a huge 3D version dominating the screen.
It looked stunning.
There had also been a significant change within the band. Bruce Dickinson was, of course, on vocals, Steve Harris on bass, and we still had the three mighty galloping guitars of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers.
Nicko McBrain had previously announced that he would no longer be touring with Maiden, so behind the drums was Simon Dawson, who also plays alongside Steve Harris in British Lion.
Dawson was brilliant. His relatively stripped-back drum kit somehow seemed perfectly suited to a set drawing so heavily from Maiden's earlier material.
And what a setlist it was.
To the delight of us old-school fans, although there were plenty of much younger Maiden fans around us too, the opening section leaned heavily into the Paul Di'Anno era. After The Ides of March intro came Murders in the Rue Morgue, followed by Wrathchild, Killers and Phantom of the Opera.
Hearing some of those songs live again was something special.
From there we headed into classic Maiden territory with The Number of the Beast, The Clairvoyant, Powerslave and 2 Minutes to Midnight.
One of the biggest treats of the night was the return of the epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. At nearly 14 minutes long, it's one of those songs that shows exactly what Iron Maiden can do when they're given the freedom to go completely over the top. It hadn't been played live since 2009, so hearing it again was a real moment.
Then came Run to the Hills, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The Trooper, Hallowed Be Thy Name and Iron Maiden.
Not a bad run of songs!
The encore began, unusually, with Aces High before probably Maiden's ultimate live anthem, Fear of the Dark.
There's something quite spectacular about tens of thousands of people singing the melody to Fear of the Dark together in a stadium. It doesn't matter how many times you've heard the song, being there in the middle of that crowd is completely different.
And then they finished with Wasted Years.
I'm a huge fan of the song anyway, so having that close the biggest Maiden show I'd ever been to was just about perfect.
I've seen Iron Maiden four times now and been a fan since 1980, but this one felt different. Maybe it was the location, the 50th anniversary celebrations, the early material or simply seeing 75,000 people of all ages sharing the same experience.
The new digital production worked brilliantly for me, the band sounded fantastic, and the mix of rarities and enormous Maiden classics made the whole thing feel like a celebration of where they'd come from.
For the casual fans there were songs like Run to the Hills, The Number of the Beast and Fear of the Dark. For those of us who've followed them for decades, we got Killers, Murders in the Rue Morgue and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Everybody won.
Iron Maiden absolutely smashed it out of the park.
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