Tick … Tock … The lights dim and a ticking clock echoes through Glasgow’s Hydro. It heralds the arrival of Iron Maiden, theatrical stalwarts of British metal, and their new show themed on the passing of time. Pairing their 1986 classic Somewhere in Time with 2021’s critically praised Senjutsu, The Future Past tour unearths under-sung treasures from Maiden’s deep discography to give them their moment in the dry ice. With a jump-scare bang, Bruce Dickinson is suddenly centre stage, clad in a steampunk trench and shades, brandishing his mic stand in Matrix-style slow motion.
“Time is on my side!” he roars, as guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers ramp up the tension on atmospheric opener Caught Somewhere in Time. The song hasn’t been played since the late-80s and it feels thrillingly, cinematically grand. Clearly the band agree. Bassist and founding member Steve Harris stalks the back of the stage with a satisfied smirk, egging on drummer Nicko McBrain’s relentless kick drum.
A reverent crowd is strapped in for the ride, bouncing at the slightest beckon of Dickinson’s finger. Their loyalty is rewarded by rarely played deep cuts: at the earliest whisper of epic Alexander the Great, phones are held aloft and set to record. The nine-minute historical saga is a showstopper: Smith’s solo has a bluesy touch, grounding the theatrics with a little bit of grit; Harris’s thunderous bassline is punishing. Surely this is Alexander’s ceremonial welcome to Maiden’s stash of setlist staples. But the gambit doesn’t always pay off – Senjutsu’s own epic Hell on Earth is far less riveting, particularly in contrast to Maiden’s battle-worn classics.
Fear of the Dark, however, is a different beast. Boiling with genuine threat, it stands in deliciously bitter contrast to the band’s trademark tomfoolery: just 10 minutes prior, skeletal bogeyman Eddie arrived on stilts to fight Dickinson in a pyrotechnic shootout. But when encore Wasted Years gallops into view and the band teeters dangerously at the stage’s edge, Iron Maiden’s high-wire act between British panto and extravagant metal feels full-hearted and generous, even after all this time.
• The Future Past tour 2023 continues at First Direct Arena, Leeds, 28 June, then AO Arena, Manchester, 30 June.
