There are minor road bumps as is sometimes the case early on in these kinds of tours, Maiden taking on such a beast of a setlist means there are one or two brief unintended widdly detours and a couple of slight miscues. Oh, and Bruce whacks out a firework-shooting machine gun at one point. Even Eddie can't resist getting in on the action ASAP, popping out in his Stranger guise early on before later appearing in cyborg form, then samurai form (both big and small). Somewhere In Time tracks are elevated by beautiful, Blade Runner-esque neon sci fi motifs, Dickinson embracing the theme from the off by emerging in a trenchcoat and shades combo that makes him look like something straight out of a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Hell On Earth, meanwhile, boasts what must amount to 90% of this show's pyro budget, not to mention an absolute humdinger of a climax with its emotionally heavy 'Love in anger, life in danger' refrain. It all sounds and looks vast, epic and classically Maiden. The airing of ten-minute-plus epics Death Of The Celts and Hell On Earth is a bold swing, but both pay off - the former finding Dickinson, in fine voice throughout tonight, in his element as he bobs and weaves around rolling bursts of fog. The Writing On The Wall's propulsive, mid-paced stomp sounds absolutely colossal, its earworm of a chorus bearing all the makings of a future live staple. It's all lapped up by a Prague crowd clearly happy to bathe in some nostalgia, but the most invigorating part of tonight is just how immense the British icons' latest material sounds, bolstered by a band that sound taut and as fired-up as ever. Maiden's latest setlist leans into the Somewhere In Time era in some style, kicking off with a dizzying double-header of Caught Somewhere In Time and Stranger In A Strange Land and later dropping fan favourites Wasted Years and Heaven Can Wait, not to mention only the second ever playthrough of Alexander The Great.
Thankfully, the Czech Republic's capital city duly obliges this time.
"SCREAM FOR ME, PRAGUE!" he demands once more.
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