Iron maiden

As Iron Maiden took their huge Legacy Of The Beast tour to America, we headed to California to find out why events like these mean so much more than just a big rock’n’roll show

Huge.’ ‘Sensational.’ ‘As good a show as you’re gonna get in any genre of music.’ ‘Show of the year.’ All sorts of stuff.”

Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood is reeling off press quotes in response to Hammer asking how the band’s much-hyped Legacy Of The Beast tour is doing in North America. “No one’s used to seeing a show quite like this”, he continues. “People backstage try to get out front to catch a glimpse, just from hearing that it’s pretty spectacular.”

We’re speaking to Rod down a phoneline from Vancouver as the tour enters its final leg, just over a year after Maiden wrapped up the European equivalent. The Legacy Of The Beast concept was designed to put together the biggest show of the band’s career, with more pyro, more stage props, more costume changes (hi, Bruce) and more deep cuts from Maiden’s back catalogue than ever before. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that they’d look to repeat the trick across the pond, but a quick look at the stats shows that this has been far more than a brief bonus round. Thirtyfive shows across 33 different cities, 20 states and five Canadian territories, all in one, big, three-month trek, with rarely more than a day or two off in between. It must be a hell of a slog for a band well into its fourth decade?

“The band are having a great time,” Rod counters cheerily. “It couldn’t be better.”

Not that we’d accuse the music industry veteran of telling fibs, but it only seems fair we go and judge it for ourselves. And so, nine days and 5,000 miles later, Hammer is walking across the concourse that connects the Coliseum BART station to the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, for the Legacy Of The Beast’s latest stop-off. It’s a warm, mid-september evening in the Bay Area, and we’ve already counted about 200 Eddie shirts we’ve never even seen before just from stepping off the train. Because the fact is, while any big rock’n’roll show is going to feel like an exciting occasion on nights like these, there’s just something about Maiden gigs that runs a little deeper.

It’s the special sense that you’re part of the world’s biggest secret club, caught in a moment where you’re all finally given the chance to come together, to let loose with a few thousand likeminded fanatics. In fact, throughout the whole day, you can feel it in the air from central Oakland to San Francisco just across the Bay; from Fisherman’s Wharf to Haight, there are Maiden shirts everywhere, knowing glances and respectful nods exchanged between fans that have made the pilgrimage. Chatting to some of the fans milling around the arena only amps up the sense of occasion.

“This is my first ever Iron Maiden show,” laughs 22-year-old barista Kyle shyly. “I could never make it to their shows before but I saw that this one was supposed to be really crazy, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it!”

“I’ve been waiting all year for this,” beams Jackie, a 38-year-old bank admin and mum of two. “I go to maybe one or two shows a year now, but when Maiden come to town, I’m there. If they weren’t playing Oakland, I’d go to San Francisco, Sacramento, LA. I couldn’t miss them.”

Except, Jackie doesn’t have to go further afield, and in a place as big as North America, that’s why extensive tours like these are such a massive deal to metalheads. It gives them a rare chance to catch one of an increasingly shrinking pot of metal legends without having to travel across the world – or even the country – to do so. And so, for the Bay Area’s local metal lovers, today is the biggest day in their calendar.

“Oakland is a pretty ‘diehard’ city,” says Curtis Howard. As well as being a longtime Maiden fan, he also owns local metal dive bar The Avenue. For him, tonight won’t just be a great chance to catch up with some faces from around the scene, but also see a few more blackclad out-of-towners roll through his establishment for a bevy or six. “We’re very passionate about what we love – and hate – so when a band like Maiden come through, it’s a huge deal. Young metalheads and the old guard can all hang out and throw the horns, because Maiden are one of the bands that connects all of us. It always means a lot to me when they come through here.”

Oakland was, of course, a vital part of the Bay Area scene that helped propel metal into arenas in the 80s and beyond, the likes of Machine Head’s Robb Flynn, Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman and former Exodus frontman Paul Baloff among noted local metal heroes. According to Curtis, that role in metal’s evolution is still very much imprinted in the city’s DNA, and is a big part of why shows like Maiden’s are seen as such a big event

– a chance for everyone to get together and celebrate all things heavy.

“We’re really proud of [the Bay Area’s history],” he beams, “and the scene is still strong in Oakland. It’s always fun to go to a show like this; it’s like a family reunion… a really awesome, really loud

“PEOPLE BACKSTAGE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CATCH A GLIMPSE” ROD SMALLWOOD, IRON MAIDEN MANAGER

family reunion. Oakland metalheads would have to be mortally wounded to miss a Maiden show… even that won’t stop some of them. Every time I’ve gone to see them I’ve left with a big, shiteating grin… and a t-shirt. Hear that, Kardashians? Metal t-shirts come from attending a show, not the fucking mall!”

And as for which songs he’s looking forward to most tonight?

“It’s a badass setlist, so it’s hard to say. It’s always rad when they do Fear Of The Dark because of the crowd interaction, and I love The Trooper – Bruce really gets that flag waving. Come on, don’t make me choose!” He makes to run off into the growing merch queue before adding a full-throated: “MAIDEN RULES!”

It’s not just local fans that are excited about the tour’s arrival, either. Maiden bringing their biggest show yet into the Bay Area has attracted a significant amount of press from the region. Jim Harrington, senior reporter at the East Bay Times, thinks that metal shows of this size and stature bring a different buzz to the area compared to just about anything else in the music scene.

“I love all genres, but there’s nothing like being amongst 15,000-plus metalheads who are singing and raging along to a real metal anthem,” he grins. Echoing Curtis’s thoughts, he continues: “Heavy bands definitely still have their audience in the Bay Area. Good crowds turn out for all kinds of rock shows, whether they’re at the club level or at big amphitheaters. But tonight, I want to hear all the big fan favourites and scream along with Run To The Hills!”

As we head into the arena, we catch The Raven Age warming up the crowd, their muscular, modern metal going down solidly with an audience who are often a little guilty of giving support bands the cold shoulder. We bump into frontman Matt James as he comes offstage, and he positively gushes about getting to witness the Legacy tour take over the US first-hand.

“Maiden are an entity unto themselves,” he laughs. “The special thing about this tour is that there’s a buzz where people know that they’re potentially not going to see this kind of greatest hits tour again. People just wanna absorb every second of it. And Maiden certainly appreciate it, which is why they’ve put on this unbelievable spectacle. They want to do these songs justice. It’s a real labour of love.”

It’s a sentiment raucously amplified by Maiden once they take to the stage around half an hour later. From the blistering opening moments of Aces High (yes, plane and all) to the searing drama of The Sign Of The Cross, to the dazzling, fire-fuelled spectacle of Flight Of Icarus and majestic daftness of Run To The Hills, the band genuinely seem to be having an absolute blast.

Bruce in particular is on rare form. Aside from the schoolboy-like glee he’s harnessing from all the props and costumes (our favourite is still Fear Of The Dark’s Spooky Victorian Lad), he’s having a right old laugh, bantering his way through the songs and dropping more jokes than a Dave Chappelle Netflix special. Particular topics of interest seem to be geography (“What do we call you? Oakland? Bay Area?

“THIS TOUR IS A LABOUR OF LOVE” MATT JAMES, THE RAVEN AGE

Kind-of-san Francisco?!”), weed (“You have been smoking too much of that bullshit!”) and, erm, ageing gracefully (“You know you’re getting fucking old when Rolling Stone give you a good review”). It’s infectiously fun and lends credence to Rod’s insistence that Maiden really are having the time of their lives.

The show, too, still looks as incendiary as it did on the European run. The three different stage set-ups are stunning and help pace the mood of the show nicely, while pretty much every song has something unique going on onstage to look at. Giant statues, flamethrowers, a fire-shooting Union Jack, an Eddie or two, that bloody plane… it’s a labour of love, all right: a show designed in a way that means the more you know about Maiden’s history, the more you’ll adore it. And 20,000 beaming faces come the end of Run To The Hills would suggest that this was very much adored indeed.

“Iron Maiden will return,” grins Bruce as the band leave the stage, adding teasingly: “and there might be new songs sooner than you think.”

So… what next? By the time you’ll be reading this, the North American run will have wrapped up, with the Legacy era coming to a close with a spate of South American shows covering Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Beyond that? Well, as we went to print it was announced that Maiden will headline Download 2020, and the smart money says that won’t be the only big thing they do next year. After all, 2020 marks five years since The Book Of Souls, and Maiden have never gone longer than five years without releasing a new album. Bruce’s comments have us thinking we might get new music sooner rather than later. Plus, next year also marks 40 years since their debut album landed and changed the face of heavy metal forever. Safe to assume the next chapter of Iron Maiden isn’t going to be a quiet one, then?

“There’s plans for the next two or three years, don’t you worry,” laughs Rod. “I’m not gonna tell you what they are, though! But there’s no intention of letting up. It’s just too fulfilling, too much fun. It’s like a sportsman – you are gonna play as long as you can. You aren’t gonna give up something that you love that much. The band are having a great time, we’re playing to fantastic audiences, reactions are 10 out of 10. If you don’t enjoy that, then you might as well give up… and we sure as hell aren’t giving up yet.” Thank Satan for that.

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