The Raven Age have a 10-year anniversary coming up, but it still feels like they’re a new band. What that really means, though, is that they’re experienced enough now to belong on these big stages.
Given 50 minutes here, they’re able to play what amounts to almost a headline set, meaning songs like “Forgive and Forget” have a class and quality that many others wouldn’t manage.
Matt James, as frontman, holds it all together, while “Guillotine” is a mixture of heavy and tuneful. George Harris and Tommy Gentry (founder member and ex-Gun and everyone else, respectively) make a fine guitar duo.
“The Day the World Stood Still” changes the pace and sees James grab an acoustic, but “Grave of the Fireflies” and the one that always ends their sets, “Fleur de Lis,” are both excellent tracks.
Opening for Iron Maiden isn’t easy for anyone. And for obvious reasons it might be slightly easier for The Raven Age — but you’ve still got to deliver. And believe me, they do.
Just as they finish, Bruce Dickinson says something that seems to sum up not just this show, but these 50 years.
“Birmingham,” he yells, as “Wasted Years” reaches its crescendo, “we play each show like it’s the best night of our lives, alright?”
And honestly, of all the things you might love about Iron Maiden — and each of the 15,800 people who’ve sold this place out might have their own reasons — there’s surely one thing we can all agree on: each and every time you see them, you are swept along by their incredible, and perhaps unique, energy.
At 8:55pm, the strains of “Doctor Doctor” begin. Let’s not kid ourselves — it goes down better over Maiden’s PA than it ever did at a UFO show. It leads into “The Ides of March” as the 3D screen takes a trip through the backstreets of East London.
It settles on The Cart and Horses, the widely accepted birthplace of the band, and the six men who make them up, some half a century on, appear for the first night of the UK leg of the Run for Your Lives tour.
It’s already been through parts of Europe, so we know it celebrates the early “classic” era of the group. All their albums — with the exception of one — are represented up to 1992, so there’s plenty here that hasn’t been played in years.
They start with one: “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” If “Wrathchild” has been more frequent, then “Killers” returning is more than welcome.
And never mind the quality of the songs for a moment — although they are the world’s best heavy metal band — Iron Maiden are a sensational live band. Their stage set is genuinely stunning, the visuals probably the best ever seen here, and their playing is at the absolute peak of their powers.
That includes Simon Dawson, the new drummer, who has clearly settled in and anchors “Phantom of the Opera” superbly.
This era of the band had the mega-hits, and they’re all here. “Number of the Beast” still sounds fresh, and “The Clairvoyant” — a top ten botherer in its own right — soars.
They keep coming too: “Powerslave” shines, “2 Minutes to Midnight” is a huge singalong, and if “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” serves as a kind of centrepiece, its conclusion also signals the race for home.
The final five songs are arena rock personified. “Run to the Hills,” a quite brilliant “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and “The Trooper” would be encores anywhere else — but not here.
Instead, Maiden race through “Hallowed Be Thy Name” — complete with a plot Alice Cooper would happily steal — and their eponymous anthem, alongside a 3D Eddie who terrifies as he surveys his chaos.
They’ve got all of us by then, and while Eddie and the boys may have said goodnight, no one’s going anywhere until we’ve had “Aces High,” the theatrics of “Fear of the Dark,” and, of course, “Wasted Years.”
And that’s an odd one — because if I’m honest, I can’t remember the last time I listened to it. But when the chorus hits, fists are up, and we are still living in the golden years.
Look, 2025 might see the world on a precipice and staring into the abyss, but on the other side of it, Iron Maiden still exist. Dave Murray still sings his solos, Adrian Smith still looks like a rock star, and Steve Harris — the man behind it all — still runs at you with fire in his eyes. So there’s still hope.
Every other metal band: run for your lives. The kings are still here. And as one of their songs says — they will return.
