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Iron Maiden Setlist
Ghost Setlist
Tour Dates
6/19 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy
6/21 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center 6/23 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center 6/24 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center 6/27 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater 6/28 - Scottsdale, AZ - Talking Stick Resort 7/1 - San Bernardino, CA - Glen Helen Amph 7/3 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena 7/5 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena 7/7 - West Valley City, UT - USANA Amph 7/9 - Lincoln, NE - Pinnacle Bank Arena 7/11 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center 7/12 - Maryland Heights, MO - Hollywood Casino 7/15 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage 7/16 - Ville De Quebec, QC - Centre Videotron 7/19 - Mansfield, MA - Xfinity Center 7/21 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center 7/22 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center Read More
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Legendary British metal band Iron Maiden just played a sold-out Xcel Energy Center show last Friday, June 16th.... their first Minnesota show in 17 years! The anticipation was strong, as the massive crowd loudly ascended to the stadium in St Paul. You’ve never seen anything quite like it, they were all dressed in old Iron Maiden T-shirts, all in black. This was a dedicated crowd.
Swedish metal band Ghost started the event with a generous 47-min set. Ghost was formerly known as Ghost B.C. in the United States, because of legal reasons, but eventually got the legal right to use the name Ghost. Like Daft Punk and early Slipknot, early in their career, the band members in Ghost were unknown. After a lawsuit filed by four former members, the true identity of “Papa Emeritus III” is Tobias Forge. Forge’s band consists of Fire (lead guitar), Water (bassist), Wind (keyboardist), Earth (drummer), and Ether (rhythm guitar).
It’s all part of the show, Forge in a Satanic version of a Roman Catholic Priest clothing, his “Ghouls” wearing metal Devil masks. If you look past the gimmicky costumes and just listen to their music, they actually sounded very, very good. It’s not just heavy metal, you can hear other influences in their sound... and it’s a bit unfair to dismiss them based on the outfits they wear. In fact, if you take a look at the band’s latest EP Popestar, the band covered Echo & the Bunnymen’s ‘Nocturnal Me’ (alternative rock), Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘I Believe’ (electronic DJs), Eurythmics’ ‘Missionary Man’ (synth) and Imperiet’s ‘Bible’ (rock)... all very diverse genres.
Their set ended with a “really heavy, heavy metal song”, as described by Forge, called ‘Mummy Dust’, followed by a “slow one” called ‘Monstrance Clock’.
After setting up the stage, Iron Maiden (bassist Steve Harris, guitarist Dave Murray, guitarist Adrian Smith, singer Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarist Janick Gers) took the stage to 14,000 fans screamed and stomped loudly at their idols on stage.
Singer Bruce Dickinson had to addressed the crowd, “You know, the media still wondered how Iron Maiden can still sell out arenas... I’ll give you a reason, 14,000 reasons!” as he pointed to the audience. He went on to talk about the younger fans born after 1982, “Your mother was probably getting it on to this next song.” With that said, the band launched into their big hit song ‘Children of the Damned’.
The theme of this “The Book of Souls Tour” was inspired by Maya culture, as seen by a war painted Eddie and the Mayan temple stage design. Of course, being an arena tour, there were occasional fireballs... whenever they went off, it was very impressive.
The setlist was also The Book of Souls-heavy, but, by now, the fans have all had a chance to listen to the new record, so they were familiar with the songs. That is because the 16th Iron Maiden studio album was released in 2015, as a double album, the band’s longest record to date, but there was no tour promotion for it. Instead, the band had to postponed their tour until vocalist Dickinson could recover from a cancerous tumor that year.
It was well worth the wait, as Dickinson was in tip-top form, running, jumping, dancing, and singing at the top of his lungs. He’s still got a great voice, even at some of the high notes. For the first few songs, Dickinson seemed overdressed (in a sweat jacket cover) for all the energy he was exerting, but you quickly realize that it was to cover for a British uniform costume he was wearing underneath.
Sometime we got bass solo from the great Steve Harris or a long guitar intro by Dave Murray, it was deliberate to give time for Dickinson to change costumes. It was almost theatrical, the planning it went to put together this show. For those who never saw Iron Maiden before, they can attest that this was one of the most memorable shows they’ve ever attended.
Iron Maiden’s The Book of Souls is out now.
NOTE: With these big stadium shows we’ve opted out of photo passes due to the venue’s heavy camera restrictions.
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Ghost
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It’s all part of the show, Forge in a Satanic version of a Roman Catholic Priest clothing, his “Ghouls” wearing metal Devil masks. If you look past the gimmicky costumes and just listen to their music, they actually sounded very, very good. It’s not just heavy metal, you can hear other influences in their sound... and it’s a bit unfair to dismiss them based on the outfits they wear. In fact, if you take a look at the band’s latest EP Popestar, the band covered Echo & the Bunnymen’s ‘Nocturnal Me’ (alternative rock), Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘I Believe’ (electronic DJs), Eurythmics’ ‘Missionary Man’ (synth) and Imperiet’s ‘Bible’ (rock)... all very diverse genres.
Their set ended with a “really heavy, heavy metal song”, as described by Forge, called ‘Mummy Dust’, followed by a “slow one” called ‘Monstrance Clock’.
After setting up the stage, Iron Maiden (bassist Steve Harris, guitarist Dave Murray, guitarist Adrian Smith, singer Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarist Janick Gers) took the stage to 14,000 fans screamed and stomped loudly at their idols on stage.
Singer Bruce Dickinson had to addressed the crowd, “You know, the media still wondered how Iron Maiden can still sell out arenas... I’ll give you a reason, 14,000 reasons!” as he pointed to the audience. He went on to talk about the younger fans born after 1982, “Your mother was probably getting it on to this next song.” With that said, the band launched into their big hit song ‘Children of the Damned’.
The theme of this “The Book of Souls Tour” was inspired by Maya culture, as seen by a war painted Eddie and the Mayan temple stage design. Of course, being an arena tour, there were occasional fireballs... whenever they went off, it was very impressive.
The setlist was also The Book of Souls-heavy, but, by now, the fans have all had a chance to listen to the new record, so they were familiar with the songs. That is because the 16th Iron Maiden studio album was released in 2015, as a double album, the band’s longest record to date, but there was no tour promotion for it. Instead, the band had to postponed their tour until vocalist Dickinson could recover from a cancerous tumor that year.
It was well worth the wait, as Dickinson was in tip-top form, running, jumping, dancing, and singing at the top of his lungs. He’s still got a great voice, even at some of the high notes. For the first few songs, Dickinson seemed overdressed (in a sweat jacket cover) for all the energy he was exerting, but you quickly realize that it was to cover for a British uniform costume he was wearing underneath.
Sometime we got bass solo from the great Steve Harris or a long guitar intro by Dave Murray, it was deliberate to give time for Dickinson to change costumes. It was almost theatrical, the planning it went to put together this show. For those who never saw Iron Maiden before, they can attest that this was one of the most memorable shows they’ve ever attended.
Iron Maiden’s The Book of Souls is out now.
NOTE: With these big stadium shows we’ve opted out of photo passes due to the venue’s heavy camera restrictions.
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Iron Maiden at Xcel Energy Center, St Paul (16 June 2017) |
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