CONCERT PRODUCTIONS

 

One of the Greatest Live Bands of All Time!

Early in their career, the band's concerts were essentially indistinguishable from those of other NWOBHM artists. During performances of Iron Maiden songs, the band invited several people on stage wearing Eddie masks (the band's mascot), accompanied by bright lights and dry ice smoke. When Bruce Dickinson became the band's vocalist, the band performed on a specially constructed, conceptual stage surrounded by ramps of lights and rows of platforms, and the audience was presented with the first glimpse of a several-meter-tall Eddie, who paced the stage. Each subsequent tour brought more visual effects and new incarnations of the band's mascot, which traditionally appeared in two versions: mobile and as a giant mascot emerging from behind the drum kit. Between 1984 and 1988, Iron Maiden's shows were among the most spectacular in the rock world, and the stage and surrounding props grew to monstrous proportions. Fittingly, it was a vast Egyptian temple, with a huge sarcophagus opening inside, an interstellar space base with the mighty Eddie lifting the musicians on his pneumatic head and paws, and finally, a vast, icy scenery imposing in its grandeur. Starting in 1982, the band regularly performed worldwide in huge arenas (often several nights in a row) and stadiums, and headlined major festivals such as the Reading Festival, Rock in Rio, Monsters of Rock, Rock & Pop, and Day on the Green Festival around the world.

 

 

In 1984, they became the first Western act to bring a full stage production to the Eastern Bloc, naturally generating enormous enthusiasm. The band's tours from 1983 to 1987 were the first in the history of stage shows to feature large-scale, figurative, moving, multi-level light ramps, which were also part of the conceptual set design, as well as various inflatable elements supported by hydraulic lifts. Iron Maiden contributed not only to the development of heavy metal stage spectacle (heavy metal theater), but the ideas employed during their legendary tours of the 1980s were successfully developed by artists representing various stylistic genres of popular music. In the late 1980s, the band was repeatedly criticized for megalomania. These criticisms were met with an extremely modest set for the "No Prayer For The Dying 1990/91" tour, which, however, did not neglect to introduce Eddie to fans. The next tour, "Fear of the Dark 1992/93," while retaining elements reminiscent of the previous tour's austere visuals (rows of amplifiers and speakers on stage), once again captivated audiences with its enormous stage, gigantic reproductions of the most famous album covers, massive versions of Eddie, lasers, and massive lighting capable of drawing the power of a medium-sized city. 

 

With Bruce Dickinson leaving the band, the shows with his replacement, Blaze Bayley, were less popular, resulting in a smaller scale of the show. Nevertheless, the musicians attempted to evoke the most famous stage effects of years past. During the "Virtual XI 1998" tour, audiences saw, among other things, a huge, pneumatic Eddie, attempting to encompass the entire stage. Beginning in 1999, Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson returned to the band, and the band returned to major sports arenas and numerous festivals, performing at these venues with greater frequency than before. Over the years, the band has remained faithful to its established, theatrical stage design, counterbalancing the visuals of 120 bright LED heads and a massive, smartphone-like screen (Bruce Dickinson) at the back of the stage, which have come to dominate the aesthetic of 21st-century stage performances. Drummer Nicko McBrain has stated that, despite numerous suggestions from those around them, the band has strived for years to maintain a traditional, theatrical, yet more exclusive, concert experience. The Legacy of the Beast World Tour, spanning 2018–2020, proved to be the most extensive, visually and choreographically refined of the band's career to date. 

 

  

Many of the band's concerts have been commemorated on VHS and DVD at various stages of their career. Films such as Live After Death, which recorded four concerts at the Long Beach Arena for 54,000 people, Behind the Iron Curtain, which documents the enthusiastically received 1984 "Behind the Iron Curtain" tour, Maiden England, which portrays Iron Maiden during the tour promoting the album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son in 1988, or the more modern, six-piece Rock in Rio – a headline performance at a prestigious festival in Brazil in front of over 250,000 spectators – and the documentary film FLIGHT 666, commemorating the group's flight on the "Ed Force One" plane, which took them through all the stops on the first leg of their historic "Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008/09," garnered rave reviews from critics, numerous awards, and distinctions, and enjoyed enduring popularity. Iron Maiden thus significantly contributed to the popularization of the concept of so-called historic tours, which, in their repertoire and visuals, reference specific stages in the careers of individual heavy rock and metal legends. 

 

 

 

Over the decades, the group's performances have significantly contributed to the consolidation and development of the theatrical and visual aspects of heavy metal stage spectacle, inspiring countless performers representing various genres of rock music. Among the artists who, at various stages of their careers, admitted to being fascinated by the image and concert dimension of the British band’s activity were members of such groups as: Metallica, Muse, Megadeth, Slayer, Guns ’N Roses, Disturbed, Pantera, Henry Rollins, Jane’s Addiction, The 69 Eyes, RATM, HIM, The Almighty, Amorphis, Ayreon, Marillion, Dream Theater, Trivium, Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dokken, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Bloodbath, Stuck Mojo, Alice In Chains, Demons & Wizards, Voivod, Rob Zombie, Nirvana, SOAD, Airbourne, Baron Rojo, Machine Head, Rammstein, Arch Enemy, Carcass, Six Feet Under, Sabaton, QOTSA, ZWAN, P.O.D, Blaze, Tank, Crowbar, Agent Steel, Exciter, Earthshaker, Devin Townsend, Pain of Salvation, Europe, Symphony Ungol, Artillery, Tierra Santa, S.O.D, Kreator, Destruction, Quiet Riot, Sodom, Rage, Purgatory, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Darkthrone, Borknagar, Enslaved, Emperor, Enthroned, Necrophobic, Lord Belial, Dark Funeral, Tribulation, Unleashed, Morbid Angel, Pink Cream 69, Angra, Symfonia, Iron Savior, Riot City, Enforcer, Morgana Lefay, Judas Priest, Skid Row, Anthrax, Exodus, Armored Saint, Forbidden, Wolfsbane, Avenged Sevenfold, FFDP, Marilyn Manson, Helloween, Hammerfall, Sonata Arctica, Sentenced, Abigail, Tribe of Gypsies, Gogmagog, Killers, Therion, Kamelot, Sinergy, Doro, Dark Tranquility, Black Tide, Coheed And Canbria, Devildriver, Benediction, Sign, Dimmu Borgir, Bal-Sagoth, Mayhem, Old Man's Child, At the Gages, Soilwork, Mastodon, Gojira, Thunder, Sinner, Primal Fear, Warlock, Skullfist, Candlemass, The Kovenant, DragonForce, Steel Prophet, Sacred Steel, The Iron Maidens, Thomas Zwijsen, Fastway, Steeler, Kruiz, August, Epidemic, Salamander, Elegy, Ostrogoth, Pokolgep, Stack, Crank, Undish, Sirrah, Damnation, Moonlight, Aion, Sacriversum, Artrosis, Archeon, Made of Hate, Gutter Sirens, Raven, Viking Sword, Totem, Citron, Thermit, Destroyers, Wolf Spider, Non Iron, Open Fire, Voo Doo, Fatum, Frontside, Clairvoyant, Corruption, Dżem, Crystal Viper, Esquarial, CETI, Vader, Hunter, Monstrum, Scream Maker, Night Mistress, Acid Drinkers, Planet Hell, Fisz Emade, Truchło Strzygi, Hektor, 666 XHE, Mama, KAT, No-Mads, Nocny Kochanek, Turbo, Virgin Snatch, Chainsaw, Pathfinder, Sweet Noise, Holy Death, Black Altar, Behemoth, Krzysztof Zalewski, Zacier, Pretty Maids, Valdemahr, Manowar, Rhapsody, Krokus, Masterplan, Trust, Riot, Battle Beast, Children of Bodom, Edguy, Holy Moses, Stryper, Opeth, Absu, Cannibal Corpse, Angelcorpse, Dissection, Watain, Nile, Cradle of Filth, Helstar, Sepultura, Death, Spiritual Beggars, Threshold, Gamma Ray, Killer, Gotthard, Labyrinth, Cyhra, FOZZY, Running Wild, Pegazus, Dream Evil, Avantasia, Sirenia, After Forever, Nevermore, Unisonic, Freedom Call, Seven Witches, Lacuna Coil, Iced Earth, Metal Church, Sanctuary, Annihilator, Jag Panzer, Waysted, Bad News, Spinal Tap, Testament, Amon Amarth, W.A.S.P, Virgin Steele, Blind Guardian, Within Temptation, Majesty, Manilla Road, Epica, Brainstorm, Shaman, Viper, Vendetta, Stratovarius, Avatar, Angra, Kipielov, ARIJA, Nightwish, Accept, Haunt, Sum 41, Funeral For A Friend, Nocturnal Rites, Jorn, Bullet For My Valentine, The Darkness, The Raven Age, Wrathchild, Lordi, Incubus, Papa Roach, Korn, Stone Sour, Murderdolls, Slipknot, King Diamond, Liege Lord, Ram, Dio, Lost Horizon, Winger, Flotsam And Jetsam, Angel Dust, Stormwitch, Grave Digger, Lizzy Borden, GWAR, Alter Bridge, Halestorm, Korpiklaani, Samael, Evergrey, Varathron, Nightfall, Finntroll, Turisas, Heaven's Gate, Tyr, Nylon Maiden, Death Angel, Dark Angel, Kingdom Come, Heavenly, Baby Metal, The Gathering, Sinister, Napalm Death, Carcass, God Dethroned, The Crown, Lamb of God, Primordial, Control Denied, Dew-Scented, As I Lay Dying, Nervosa, Omen, Battle Cry, Ministry, Skyclad, Trollfest, Bring Me The Horizon, The Mission, Tremonti, Orphaned Land, Steve’n’Seagulls, Mago de Oz, and many others.

 

 

It is estimated that from May 1976 to the end of 2022, the band performed 2,640 concerts, with a total audience of over 50 million people. Throughout their career, the British band has played numerous stadium and open-air concerts in 60 countries around the world. German impresario Ossy Hoppe, head of Wizard Promotions, stated that Iron Maiden is, in fact, one of the few rock bands in the world that can fill stadiums on a global scale. Hoppe admitted that Iron Maiden regularly manages to play five to seven shows in German stadiums per tour. There are plenty of bands that are great in one country, or maybe two or three, but there aren't many bands like Iron Maiden, capable of filling stadiums twice or three times the size of the world. In Germany, they are some of the biggest: the Stones, Metallica... and then, well, you have to think about it, right?