April 8th

  

On April 8th, 2016 I saw Iron Maiden play Rexall Place in Edmonton with opening act The Raven Age.

March 18th

  March 18th, 2022 saw me at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton seeing the lead singer Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden doing a spoken word performance.

March 8th

  My concert memory from March 8th, 1991. I saw Iron Maiden with opening act Anthrax play Northlands Agricom in Edmonton. Having row 2 for this show was super cool, and by being that close I caught a guitar pick from Scott "Not" Ian of Anthrax.

December 6th

 

 On December 6th, 1984 I saw Iron Maiden on their World Slavery Tour play Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. Opening the show was Twisted Sister, this made for one hell of a double bill.

 An article that was in the magazine Alberta Report a week after the show.

May 25th

  

 On May 25th, 1988 I saw Iron Maiden on their Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour play Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. Opening the show was Guns N' Roses, who had yet to hit it big. A great double bill to a very small audience.

April 22nd

  

 Hard to believe it was thirty-seven years ago already, It was April 22nd, 1987 that I saw Iron Maiden with opening act Waysted play Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton on their Somewhere In Time Tour. Having front row seats for this show was awesome too.

Bruce Dickinson Spoken Word Tour in Edmonton March 18th 2022

In March of this year things finally started to open up. And the year got started with the Bruce Dickinson Spoken Word Tour (Bruce Dickinson of course being the front man of Iron Maiden) at the Winspear Centre. When this was first announced I thought it would be interestig to see. Having seen Iron Maiden live more then a few times I figured this would be pretty cool to see. Then I saw how much tickets were, and it was way out of my price range for a show like this. But, as luck would have it, I won a pair of tickets to the show from the local radio station The Bear. So that was a huge savings, and I was going. Who better to go to this show with then my buddy Nazz, whom is a huge Iron Maiden fan. I wasn't too sure what to expect having only been to one other spoken word performance and that was Henry Rollins a few times. And those shows were amazing, and with this being Bruce's first spoken word tour, I wasn't expecting too much. And I was right, the show wasn't all that entertaining to me. It was an hour and a half of Bruce telling stories with pictures flashing on a screen behind him to an audience of about 500-600 people. Of those 500-600 in attendance, i think my buddy and I were the only ones not sporting an Iron Maiden t-shirt. Maiden fans are diehard that's for sure. It was cool to hear a couple of stories about his days in the band Samson prior to joining Iron Maiden. After his spoken word, he did a Q&A with the audience, but by that time, my buddy and I had seen and heard enough and bailed. Glad I got to see the show but some happy that the tickets were free. Nonetheless it sure was good to get out after four months of no shows at all. Bruce Dickinson at the Winspear Centre.

Iron Maiden Beer

A week ago while at the beer store I came across this Iron Maiden beer brewed by Robinson's Brewery in Stockport, England. This is the second edition of beer to sport the Iron Maiden name on it. This edition of the Trooper beer is a stronger beer with a 6.6% alcohol content. I myself wasn't all that impressed with the taste of the beer, but had to at least try it. I'm just not the biggest fan of the English ale, I always find it has a dusty taste to it. It sure does have a damn cool label though, and the best bottle cap ever.

Iron Maiden Live in EDmonton April 8th 2016

Friday night I went to the Iron Maiden concert here in Edmonton at Rexall Place with my buddy RCD. This was my fifth time seeing Maiden in concert and first time in 25 years. My very first concert I ever saw at the Coliseum, which used to be Northlands Coliseum was Iron Maiden back in 1984. This fall there will be a new Coliseum opening here (Rogers Place) so this may very well be the last show I see at the old barn. So I had to go to this show. I grew up as a teen a big fan of Iron Maiden. I'm not the fan of the band as I once was as I haven't bought an album of theirs since 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. So I'm not all that familiar with there newer stuff. This time around the band are on a world tour in support of there latest album The Book Of Souls. I have listened to it, and have to say, it really does nothing for me. But Iron Maiden always but on a big show and is always a spectacle so I bit the bullet and bought a ticket for the show.

Opening the show on this evening was the band The Raven Age which is led by George Harris the son of bassist Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. I was interested in seeing what they were all about having never heard of them before. All I can say about them is they were nothing special to me. How I miss the days of when Maiden brought great opening bands with them on tour. Some of the bands I have seen open for Maiden back in the day were Twisted Sister in 1984, Waysted in 1987, Guns N' Roses in 1988 and Anthrax in 1991. Really wish there had been a better band opening this time. But nope!!! I only watched about 15 minutes of there set and bailed for a drink and smoke.

The Raven Age at Rexall Place.

By the time Iron Madien came on stage the place had filled up with about 14,000 heavy metal fans. The band came out in a blaze of glory, with all the members closing in on the age of 60, they certainly haven't lost any energy. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson still masters the big stage running and jumping all around the place with is voice still very well intact, bass player Steve Harris hasn't aged one bit, he still looks the same as he always has, 63 year old Nicko McBrain on drums sounded great as did Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers. The band opened with "If Eternity Should Fail" the first song from their new album The Book Of Souls. There almost two hour set didn't have as much old material as I was hoping, they did six new songs which did nothing for me, and only one from Powerslave, an album I really like, doing the title track from said album. Only three songs from Number Of The Beast, one from Piece Of Mind and one from their debut album. And that song was "Iron Maiden" a song that Bruce Dickinson wasn't even part of back then. I loved the old stuff but there just wasn't enough of it for me. Though hearing "Children Of The Damned" was very cool. Highlight for me was hearing "The Trooper" and "Powerslave" back to back, that caught my attention but then it was back to a song I'm not that big of fan of.

For the encore they played "Number Of The Beast" which was really good, with a blow up devil making an appearance, and of course Eddie the mascot made his appearance a few times in the course of the night. After Number it was another song "Blood Brothers" that I'm not familiar with and felt like it went on to long. They closed out the show with "Wasted Years" from their 1986 album Somewhere In Time. Bruce also mentioned during the show that this was Iron Maidens 100th Canadian date they have done in the history of Maiden. I'm glad I went to the show but would I rush out to see them again, probably not, but if you are a die hard Maiden fan, and there were lots at the show, I am sure you loved it. Good times!!!

Earlier in the day my buddy Q was at the Edmonton International Airport and snapped these pictures for me of the Ed Force One which is the Boeing 747 that Iron Maiden travel in, which is piloted by the lead singer of Maiden Bruce Dickinson. Thanks for the pictures Q.

Ed Force One at the EIA.

Iron Maiden setlist for Edmonton.

Edit this setlist | More Iron Maiden setlists

Iron Maiden at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.