The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was defined as a movement by Sounds editor Alan Lewis 45 years ago. Iron Maiden — there from the beginning — exudes an ageless defiance as they continue to dominate that genre.
The band is touring behind their best album in decades, 2021’s Senjutsu, their 17th album and second double LP. The tour stops in the New York metro area on November 2 at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, and November 9 at the Prudential Center, in Newark. Largely written by bassist Steve Harris, the record delves into the band’s deepest prog-rock proclivities with such lengthy numbers as “Lost in a Lost World,” “Death of the Celts,” and “Hell On Earth,” all of which are part of the current setlist.
Named after one of Senjutsu’s strongest tracks, the “Future Past” tour also pays homage to one of Maiden’s best Thatcher-era works in 1986’s “Somewhere in Time,” a record that marked the group’s first use of guitar synthesizers in their sound. In addition to incorporating such fan faves as “Wasted Years” and “Stranger in a Strange Land” into the set, the band also breaks out the sixth album’s epic closing number, “Alexander the Great,” making its long-awaited live debut on this tour.
Even as they wind down this lengthy, globe-hopping trek, Maiden is already plotting another full-fledged world tour for their upcoming 50th anniversary, in 2025.
The East London metal greats have also been playing “Iron Maiden,” from their eponymous 1980 debut (though the band first got together in 1975). In light of the sad passing of original vocalist Paul Di’Anno, on October 21 (he left the band in 1981), any hark back to those first two albums — which also includes 1981’s Killers — will no doubt take on a new emotional heft moving forward. “Paul was instrumental in the first two albums, groundbreaking with Killers and the first album,” proclaimed frontman Bruce Dickinson at a concert in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the day after Di’Anno’s passing. “An amazing voice, devoted to rock ’n’ roll right up till the last minute of his life.”
The present lineup — Harris, Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, and Janick Gers — are all pensioners, the youngest (Dickinson) being 66 and the oldest (Nicko) keeping time at 72. Yet Maiden refuses to let the aches and pains of early old age stop their relentless touring activity.
Even as they wind down this lengthy, globe-hopping trek, which ends in São Paulo on December 7, Maiden is already plotting another full-fledged world tour for their upcoming 50th anniversary, in 2025 — they formed in 1975 and played gigs and woodshedded for five years before scoring an album deal with EMI, in 1979. Next year’s extravaganza will kick off in Budapest on May 27.
The 1970s New Wave of British Heavy Metal was just as important to the development of modern music as punk rock, but that is a much longer article for another time. Suffice it to say, when Maiden comes back to this area in a couple of weeks, they will prove why they still have legions of fans running to the hills to see them in action. Or at least, to arenas in Brooklyn and Jersey. ❖
Iron Maiden’s 2024 world tour will be coming to the NYC metro area in early November.
Ron Hart is the editor-in-chief of Rock and Roll Globe. As a freelancer, he has contributed to numerous publications, including Billboard, Spin, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vice, and Relix, among others. Find him on X at @mistertribune.