“There was a real sense of excitement. We had a point to prove: this is the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world." How Iron Maiden went from East End outcasts to the world's most loved heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Press 2025.

On June 9, 1976, Iron Maiden played the Cart And Horses pub in Stratford, East London. They’d formed 10 months earlier, in August 1975, though bassist Steve Harris hadn’t come up with the band name they’d adopt until Christmas Day that year. Since then, they’d rehearsed, rehearsed and rehearsed some more.

The Cart And Horses gig wasn’t actually their debut show. That had taken place on May 1 in St Nicholas’ Church in nearby Poplar on May 1, 1976. But the Cart And Horses was what Maiden’s bassist, founder and commander-in-chief calls their first “proper” gig.