IRON MAIDEN // 28/06/25 //LONDON STADIUM

In my little infinity gauntlet of live bands I've waited to see for what feels like forever, there are very few that are left to see. I've seen Slipknot, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, all bands that I grew up with, loved endlessly, and finally been able to see live and revel in their genius. One band however, who's music has been a very vital part of my life, have always seemingly alluded me - until now. I had the absolute honour of seeing Iron Maiden at the London Stadium. From collecting their records in a tiny second hand shop with my Dad to physically seeing them on the year of their 50th anniversary - it was a dream come true - and I'm going to tell you all about it.

Venue

I have only been to the London Stadium once before - to see the Hella Mega Tour back in 2022, so was excited to get back to the home of the hammers. I did however forget the sheer size and scale of this stadium, it really is awe inspiring. A crowd of around 75,000 descended on the venue, and it still held up very well. There were awesome little pop ups all around the stadium selling trooper beer, merchandise and food, and the atmosphere was electric. From every side, someone was blasting Maiden in anticipation of the giants taking to the stage in a few hours.

Entering the stadium was easy, the security polite and thorough, and all in all a bit of a breeze. As we got in, the gates opened, and we went and found our seats - after the bar of course. A pint will cost you about £9, which all things considering is pretty normal for the centre of London, and the beer was cold and pretty decent, so I can't by any means complain. There was also a decent selection of food options around, all priced decently, and all pretty good - we ended up hitting up a couple of the stalls, and the food we had was great.

Facilities were good, clean and easy to find, and overall the stadium itself was in great knick, with lots of spots to stand and put your drink down and have a chat, which was a nice little touch. It also never felt too congested, so you could move about pretty freely without getting crushed. Our seats were just plain plastic folding ones in the back of the stadium, but they were by no means super uncomfortable - I found myself sat quite happily all night in them.

Merchandise

What I really like about Iron Maiden merch is that there's always something for everyone, and I really felt that when I saw all the merchandise they had on offer. There were so many designs I found it hard to pick what I wanted to grab, but everything was really cool, really well printed and very high quality. Tour shirts clocked in at about £45/50 with hoodies and other big ticket items at £75+, so pretty standard, but you were definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck - I was also lucky enough to get one of the limited edition matchday programmes, which had the concert specific art on the front. I ended up getting the retro tour tee - the one on the far right of the picture - and love it. It's made so well, with an awesome quality print on the front and back, and has survived a lot of wear and washes thus far. There was also a great range of accessories there too, from patches to pins and bottle openers, so everyone could get any piece of memorabilia they fancied picking up.

Support Acts

The first support act was The Raven Age - a metal band from London. I'll be very honest, I was stood inside the stadium drinking and chatting with my Dad, so I heard very little of them. However, from what I could hear, they were pretty good - even when they were echoey and drowned out by people and the general hustle and bustle.

The second support came from Halestorm. I have known about these guys for a very long time, I mean how couldn't I? Halestorm is an iconic band, and one of the few rock and metal projects with a female vocalist (that I'm currently aware of!) These guys were awesome, playing with sheer precision and energy. They bought a lot to their very short set, and played some great classic tracks, as well as some brand new ones:

1. Fallen Star

2. I Miss the Misery

3. Love Bites (So Do I)

4. WATCH OUT!

5. Darkness Always Wins

6. Familiar Taste of Poison

7. Rain Your Blood on Me

   (Drum Solo)

8. Freak Like Me

9. I Get Off

10. Everest

Obviously, their big hits like I Get Off and I Miss the Misery were best received - but overall they were a really solid opener that got me in the perfect mood for the main event.

Iron Maiden

Britain's biggest metal band returned home for their 50th anniversary tour - and I was there. As soon as The Ides of March began to play, I knew I was in for something special. The screen showed an awesome 3D animated sequence of the pubs and venues Maiden began their career in, twisting down cinematically dark alleys to reach a wall painted with Killers Eddie. The band took to the stage, all grinning and waving, and they launched into their set. From the moment the first note was played, I realised I was in for something truly special, truly affirming and seriously spectacular. They opened with Murders in the Rue Morgue and Wrathchild before launching into the titular track Killers. Even though these tracks weren't originally sung by Bruce Dickinson he truly made them all his own, and his voice sounded truly breath taking. This also felt like a really lovely tribute to the late great Paul DiAnno who is responsible for much of Maiden's early legacy.

I was also treated to my first ever stage Eddie - the brand new Run for Your Lives Tour Eddie, who looks a lot like Killers Eddie and Somewhere in Time Eddie. The mullet was also sick, and as he stumbled onstage welding the iconic hatchet and swinging around at the band, flipping off the crowd and being a general menace, I truly understood the spectacle of an Iron Maiden show - and realised there was a lot more in store for us later down the line. They powered on with more early tunes like Phantom of the Opera and then bought the house down with the iconic Number of the Beast. In terms of tracks that have a special place in my heart, this one ranks pretty high up - and chanting along to that chorus and hearing an almost 80,000 strong audience shot along too was nothing short of a religious experience. Yes - I do see the irony in that statement.

Up next in the setlist was The Clairvoyant - a track from my favourite Iron Maiden record of all time Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. It was insanely special to hear the track bought to life with all the same energy and theatricality that made me fall in love with it in the first place - and as we listened, my Dad and I couldn't help put keep saying to each other 'how do they still sound this fucking good?!' They then launched into a section celebrating Powerslave with the title track, 2 Minutes to Midnight and the epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. How they can still manage to pull off an almost 15 minute track now I have no idea, but it was just as epic, had the same dizzying tempo changes and chugged along comfortably for it's entire runtime.

Run to the Hills was next on the behemoth of a setlist - which I listened to eagerly in line for the toilets (oops) before they then played Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The title track from my favourite album, played live, with a sold out audience singing along. I know I keep saying that the magnitude of it all blew me away, and that the experience was ethereal, but this was it. I was caught in the history of the moment, all the things that bought me to this point, seeing one of my favourite bands play one of my favourite songs, and getting to experience it with my Dad - it was almost too much emotion for me to bear. Through misty eyes I sung along, clinging on to that high for as long as I could. It's become a core memory for me in the rearview of this concert - and I imagine I'll go back to it for a long time to come.

Then it was time for The Trooper - one of Iron Maiden's most iconic tracks to date, the song that has secured their legacy as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Bruce Dickinson charged onstage, waving the union jack above his head, dressed head to toe in the uniform of the Light Brigade - the red jacket glowing in the half darkness. And who came on to meet him? Trooper Eddie. Talk about an iconic track, now it was time to get personal with the iconography. Similarly tall, similarly brooding, Eddie shuffled onstage, dressed too in the red jacket and wielding his sword at the band. He slashed his way through the performance, flipping off the crowd and miming the air guitar as the band played out of their skin, the harmonised guitar licks hitting in perfect time, the bass weaving in between. On every song they had played like a well oiled machine, and on their most iconic of tracks they played even better than that.

They finished with Iron Maiden - the song that started it all on their first ever record, and then they took their bows, and left the stage. However, we all knew there was going to be an encore. The crowd began to cheer, to chant, to eek the performance on for just a little longer. Bruce Dickinson appeared once again, flight helmet and goggles on, and they launched into Aces High. What a track, and somehow they had reinvigorated themselves for another go. They had all the energy they did at the start of the performance, and absolutely smashed it out of the park. The last song we heard was the iconic Fear of the Dark, and as Brucey stood sillhouetted against the full moon in the screen, I had a thought - my Dad had seen Iron Maiden during the Fear of the Dark Tour in 1992/3, it had been over 30 years since he had seen this song performed. I shared the moment with him, listening to the crowd sing the guitar riff together, and seeing the band once again nail the intricate track.

Although there was still one last song, Wasted Years, we decided to leave early and beat the wave of fans getting to the underground. It was a busy journey back, but the whole way home I was full of satisfaction - I had just seen Iron Maiden perform their biggest UK headline show, seen my first on stage Eddies and also enjoyed some of my favourite songs ever - and I got to do it all with my Dad too. Here's the full setlist below:

1. Murders in the Rue Morgue

2. Wrathchild

3. Killer

4. Phantom of the Opera

5. The Number of the Beast

6. The Clairvoyant

7. Powerslave

8. 2 Minutes to Midnight

9. Rime of the Ancient Mariner

10. Run to the Hills

11. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

12. The Trooper

13. Hallowed Be Thy Name

14. Iron Maiden

    Encore:

15. Aces High

16. Fear of the Dark

17. Wasted Years

What a setlist...what a night.

Overall

I gave myself a while before I wrote all this down, just to separate myself from any potential recency bias when it came to this performance. I have a lot of emotional ties to Iron Maiden - and I wanted to be as objective as I could when I came to this review, and looking at it in hindsight, I realised this was one of the best concerts I have ever seen in my life. It was visually stunning, the music was superbly played, and overall the experience was as close to perfection as it could have really got. It's been a long 50 years for this band, between loosing members, gaining more, playing in pubs and now sold out stadiums all over the world, you can't help but realise they've been warning us all of this since the very beginning. 'Iron Maiden's gonna get you - no matter how far!'

Rating: 10/10