“Fuck off, that’s pathetic.” Bruce Dickinson is taking no prisoners tonight. Iron Maiden’s gloriously unpredictable singer is halfway through his customary, double-barrelled ‘SCREAM FOR ME!’s during a riotous run through The Prisoner, about a third of the way through the metal legends’ set at Prague’s O2 Arena. Tonight marks only the second stop of Maiden’s Future Past tour, and there’s a whiff of mischief and mayhem in the air.
Bashing together cuts from the band’s most recent album, 2021’s critically acclaimed Senjutsu, and 1986’s futuristic classic Somewhere In Time (plus a sprinkling of bonus bangers), this is certainly one of the more unique Maiden sets you’re likely to see, but it doesn’t make it any less enthralling. Right now, though, none of that matters: Bruce has asked Prague to scream for him, and they're not holding up their end of the bargain.
"SCREAM FOR ME, PRAGUE!" he demands once more. Thankfully, the Czech Republic's capital city duly obliges this time. 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. 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.
