The legendary Iron Maiden returned to Worcester on The Future Past tour. This tour sees the band performing a fairly niche setlist, but that’s something that Iron Maiden fans have come to expect from them.
In the 20 years or so since frontman Bruce Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden, the band has been known to alternate the material they focus on for each tour. They will do a tour where they play greatest hits, or they focus on something specific from the older days of their catalog. Then the next time the band comes around, they will focus on newer material - whether it’s specifically a new album or just a heavier focus on the reunion-era albums. This tour is a little bit different, in that it focuses specifically on something old
and something new. With a fifteen song setlist, they’re playing five songs off their latest album, Senjutsu from 2021, as well as five songs off 1986’s Caught Somewhere in Time. The remaining five songs were scattered from the rest of their material of the 1980’s.
After their traditional intro of UFO’s “Doctor, Doctor,” the lights went out, and the theme to Blade Runner came on. Then, over a tape, the intro to the title track of Caught Somewhere in Time begins to play.
Drummer Nicko McBrain appeared behind his drum kit and hyped the audience up. With a well-timed burst of pyrotechnics, the shroud covering the band’s backdrop falls, and the rest of Iron Maiden emerges on stage. The 1986 classic is quickly followed up by “Strangers in a Strange Land,” which had last been played in Worcester in March of 1987! The song featured a brief appearance from Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie, in his cyborg form - wearing the appropriate trenchcoat and hat, of course.
After those two classic songs, we then got three off of Senjutsu - “The Writing on the Wall,” “Days of Future Past,” and “The Time Machine.” With a catalog that spans over 40 years, it’s impressive how well their newer material stands next to the class material during their performance. Some of the other assorted tracks we got throughout the night were “The Prisoner,” off of The Number of the Beast, and one of my personal favorites, “Can I Play with Madness,” off of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - a song I’d not heard them play in a decade. Staples like “Fear of the Dark” as well as the song “Iron Maiden” were well received. The band sounded phenomenal, with their unique triple lead guitar combo of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers dazzling the crowd, and bassist Steve Harris’ iconic gallop thundering throughout the night.
One of the real highlights of the show, something that many people were hoping to hear when the format of this tour was announced, was the performance of “Alexander the Great.” Iron Maiden had never performed this song live before this tour began, so it was a real treat. Iron Maiden has a very unique relationship with their fans in that they can play a setlist like this, which maybe doesn’t appease the casual fan. I know there were a few of them in attendance who were unaware that they were not going to hear the greatest hits tonight – this may be the first time I’ve seen the band that they did not perform “The Number of the Beast,” for example. The majority of the sold-out crowd at the DCU center, however, absolutely loved the show. Iron Maiden has managed to put on an arena show that feels like the peak 1980s, and I mean that positively. The theatrics are something that is very uniquely Iron Maiden.
If the focus of material on this tour is not for you, fear not, because the band has already announced that their 2025/2026 tour will focus only on material from 1992’s Fear of the Dark and earlier. So far only European dates for next summer have been announced, but I won’t be surprised if we find them back stateside in the summer of 2026. Up the irons!
Check out more PHOTOS from the show
