Matthew Reine
After booting singer Blaze Bayley in the late 90’s, Iron Maiden were once again at a crossroads in their career. Were they going to recruit another vocalist to sing for them or simply throw in the towel? Instead of going forward, they went backwards…and it was the best decision they could’ve ever made.
In 1999, Bruce Dickinson was invited to rejoin the band. During his time away from Iron Maiden, Dickinson had found some success with his solo career. He released four albums during his hiatus: Balls to Picasso (which produced the minor hit, Tears of a Dragon), Skunkworks, Accident of Birth, and Chemical Wedding. The group’s manager, Ron Smallwood, who recruited Bruce for Maiden back in 1981, arranged for his return and after some initial reluctance from Steve Harris, who didn’t exactly part with Bruce on the best of terms, Dickinson accepted and the band welcomed him back with open arms.
It didn’t stop with Bruce though. To get the authentic feeling of the classic line-up, guitarist Adrian Smith was invited back as well and he graciously obliged. You’d probably figure that Smith’s return would end up with Janick Gers being the odd man out. Not at all. Gers was told he was welcome to remain in the band as their third guitar player. The band’s sound was more enhanced now with three axemen!
The newly reunited Iron Maiden now attempted to get the feel of performing as a unit again that same year by embarking on the Ed Hunter tour to coincide with a greatest hits release and computer video game of the same name. This tour proved the band hadn’t skipped a beat and were still the undisputed kings of heavy metal.
After the string of live shows, the band entered the studio to record their 12th album and the first with Dickinson at the helm in eight years. Brave New World was released in 2000 and was received way better than the albums of the Blaze era.
It peaked at number seven on the U.K. charts and at #39 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200, eventually achieving gold status. This was Maiden’s highest charted album since Fear of the Dark and proved they weren’t dead yet. The record’s first single was the opening track, The Wicker Man, was the first time fans heard Bruce sing an Iron Maiden song in years and it felt right.
His voice was still incredible and complimented the music greatly. The rest of the album is pretty solid too with Blood Brothers, Dream of Mirrors, The Fallen Angel, and Out of the Silent Planet. You can definitely hear the the maturation of the band’s sound with album’s production.
In 2001, the now sextet performed one of their most notable live performances when they performed at the annual Rock in Rio festival in front of over 200,000 people.
Their setlist consisted of stuff from the Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Blayley stints of the band as well as tunes from Brave New World and of course, classic songs from Powerslave, Piece of Mind, and the Number of the Beast. A live recording of this came out in 2002 and is one of my favorite live albums ever.
Dance of Death was released in 2003 and continued the momentum the band had since their recent rejuvenation. The singles, Wildest Dreams and Rainmaker, received some radio play but the album’s signature for me is Paschendale.
Dance of Death was released during my last year of high school so this was around the time I was starting to really get into their music. My friend who I talked about in Vol. 1 saw Maiden that summer with Motorhead and Dio opening and I remember being so jealous since I really liked all three acts. There was also a rumor going around that time that Nicko McBrain was driving alongside Jones Beach on Long Island (where Iron Maiden played on that tour date) drunk and actually hit someone. That story’s yet to be proven.
Before the release of A Matter of Life and Death in 2006, I was contemplating the possibility of attending my first Iron Maiden concert. The dream became a reality on Columbus Day 2006 at the Nassau Coliseum. In an unfavorable decision, the band announced beforehand that they were performing the entire new record in full. This sort of aggravated me as a huge fan of the band’s classic material. It’s not as if the album was bad. Not by any means. I actually think Life and Death is my favorite album since Bruce’s return. Lots of catchy stuff on there in The Pilgrim and These Colours Don’t Run. My favorite though on this is a close one between the opening track, Different World and For The Greater Good of God, both of which are among the better Maiden songs of the past decade.
I was about to be proven wrong as the concert itself was pretty damn good. I was blown away by the band’s energy. Bruce’s conditioning is insane. He was running up and down the huge stage the whole time while belting out high notes. I wound up liking the new album performed entirely a lot more than I thought I would. On a side not, it was pretty humorous watching Bruce grab a fan’s sign from the crowd that said “PLAY CLASSICS” and rip it up right in front of him. They played a few classic songs during the encore such as The Evil That Men Do and Hallowed by Thy Name so that was a nice touch. Still though, I wanted to see a classic Maiden show with primarily only 80’s input at the forefront. I would get that chance two years later.
After a lot of fans were outraged at not hearing a plethora of old material from the last tour, Maiden went ahead and started the Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2008 where they only played 1980’s material. They came to Madison Square Garden in New York City and tickets were purchased by me and a few friends. The show was excellent and I was genuinely shocked to hear songs like Aces High and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner live.
2010 saw the release of their 15th studio record and to date, their last recording. The Final Frontier proved that Maiden were more popular now than ever. For the fourth time in their career, they scored a number one record in the U.K and in several other countries as well such as Australia, Colombia, Greece, and Iceland just to name a few. The album also won them their greatest success in the United States, peaking at number four on the Billboards. This broke new ground for Maiden and was a huge feat on their part. Why was this album so huge? Well other than the metal innovators still killing it in their live concerts, Coming Home and The Man Who Would Be King are excellent tracks.
The band made rock headlines again in 2013 when former drummer, Clive Burr, died. He had previously developed multiple sclerosis. Maiden attempted to ease his medical bills by playing several benefit shows for him over the course of the 2000’s but he sadly passed away due to complications from his condition.
Iron Maiden is still at large today with their classic line-up, constantly touring, and making their fans happy. I’m sure all of us fans will appreciate a new album someday but even if we don’t get it, we have a thirty-plus year legacy and many great records to reflect on. This has been a lot of fun to write, guys, so thanks for reading. Rock on!
Photo credit: www.findermag.com for Iron Maiden band picture.
Credit to timeoutdubai.com for feature image
