Iron Maiden Rocks Baltimore: A Night of Nostalgia and Power
It was 1975. Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of England. Rubik’s cubes were unleashed on the world and the holidays brought us Pet Rocks. Betamax and VHS battled and began the battle for home video supremacy, which VHS won, eventually losing to the next wave of tech. The song of the year was “Love Will Keep Us Together” by the Captain and Tennille, and #2 was “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell. And somewhere in East London during a tumultuous year, Iron Maiden formed to change the face of music.
On Tuesday, November 12th, 2024 Iron Maiden brought those decades of change to a virtually sold-out Baltimore, MD’s CFG Bank Arena, where I saw just a few upper corner seats available at showtime. The GA floor was a mass of humanity, with front-row barricade folks having staked their claim in line as early as 7:00 a.m. to get that treasured rail location. There is an expansive, colourful and changing video background setup that I found to be a useful companion to the musical aspect of the program – not too much, not too little, just right.
As the strains of the walk-on song “Doctor Doctor” hit the sound system an instantaneous chemical reaction jolted the crowd into action. Shortly thereafter the crowd reacted as band members strolled on stage, joined by dynamic lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
The first two songs are a blur of action, including a visit from a weapon-toting futuristic dude I took to be mascot Eddie. After changing perspectives from the photo pit to my seat in the bowl of the venue I had a better opportunity to take in the whole community. This crowd had fans from back in the ’70s/’80s, as well as their children and maybe a few with three generations. This tour leaned heavily on albums “Somewhere in Time” and “Senjutsu,” featuring tracks that had something to do with time. And speaking of “time” it was fans from the old days and newer, younger fans who packed house in Baltimore this evening.
With “Death of the Celts” Dickinson used the familiar “and now for something completely different” Monty Python allusion to get any sitters up off their seats. Moving down through the setlist, we had a few audience singalongs, Bruce having a laser/fireworks shootout with a robot whilst wearing a truly bespoke trench coat. Then a mood changes with a sombre kick into “Heaven Can Wait,” and I watch as hundreds of heads down on the GA floor bob in unison. Fans had a moment during “Alexander the Great” when they were jumping in unison without prompting from the band and I had to chuckle to myself, as there’s a Frank Turner song where fans always jump BUT he often yells a prompt.
There were a few more songs to finish the night, including a true encore beginning with the lengthy ballad “Hell on Earth”! From what I saw, the full house in Baltimore got the show they’d been waiting for. The only question is when will Iron Maiden be back?
Photo’s (c) David Fang
