I've seen exactly two concerts with my older brother, both of which were in the last year. Along with my youngest brother, we saw the BEAT Tour last November (who dropped an excellent live album last Friday!), and last night the three us saw Bruce Dickinson together. My youngest brother and I have seen a bunch of shows together, but our tastes never really aligned with our older brother's taste until he started discovering some hard rock/heavy metal that spoke to him in the last few years. We had a great time together at BEAT last fall, so I couldn't really say no when he suggested that we go see the Iron Maiden singer's solo tour.

Sometimes, when you buy a concert ticket months in advance, your excitement for the show builds and builds. Other times, as it creeps closer, it starts to feel more like a looming obligation rather than an exciting event. And, full disclosure, this is how I was feeling about the Bruce Dickinson show as it approached. 

If you're one of the 12 or so people who have been reading this site site consistently, you may have noticed that I haven't written much at all about traditional metal or power metal. Other than my essay on the passing of Ozzy Osbourne, I don't think I've otherwise written about anything from this galaxy of the metal universe. That's because, to put it simply, I'm just not that interested in this style of music. I still love Sabbath and listen to them regularly. But otherwise, I just don't spend a lot of time with bands whose sound has stayed rooted in the 1970s. I saw Iron Maiden once in 2019 and it was a fun show, but I didn't feel compelled to see them again when they returned to town a couple years later. Still, seeing Bruce Dickinson in a club setting versus an area seemed like a rare opportunity, so I figured I should go. 

Before I get to the main set, I wanted to share a few thoughts on the venue and the opener. The Uptown Theater is a relatively new venue, having only opened in the years since Covid. This was my first time at the venue, although I had been there many times in its previous incarnation as a classic movie theater. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s, it used to be one of the few indie movie houses in Minneapolis, and I used to go there to see midnight screenings of weird Italian horror movies, kung fu, and independent movies. I remember seeing The Beyond there at midnight on a Friday and being so taken with the deeply weird movie that I saw it again with a friend on Saturday. And, of course, it was the only place around to see The Blair Witch Project when we were all dying to learn if it was a work of fiction or an actual documentary. I believe we got into the Saturday showing after all the opening day shows completely sold out. The 90s were a different time.

As a music venue, the Uptown Theater has lost a lot of its scruffy charm and old-school and is sleek and polished. The sound was clean, the stage is nice and high, and the main floor isn't so deep that the people in the back are too far away from the action. Overall, pretty solid! Some venues are enough of a turnoff that if I'm on the fence about a show they can tip me into the No category. The Uptown is definitely not one of those. I'll happily return. 

​As for the opener, it was a local band called Entundra. They were competent enough musicians - the drummer and the lead guitarist were especially good - playing music that did absolutely nothing for me. I'll leave it at that. 

After an opener that didn't connect with me and a general ambivalence to the show in general, I'll admit that I was a little worried going into the main set. On the plus side, I'd driven myself to the show so I could always bail early if I wasn't digging it. The lights went out, an intro track played over the PA, and the band took the stage. A minute later, Bruce was onstage. The second he started singing, all my reservations vanished.

TL;DR: Bruce Dickinson was awesome.

For a little more than an hour, Bruce and his band absolutely thundered through a set that included songs from across his solo career, as well as an Iron Maiden cover and "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group. Bruce sounded amazing from start to finish, bouncing around the stage with the energy of someone half his age. Likely because of the acoustics of the Uptown versus the area I'd seen him in before, I thought he sounded much stronger than he did with Iron Maiden in 2019. The stage performance obviously lacked some of the over the top theatrics of an Iron Maiden show, but made up for it with a lot more interaction with the crowd and some fun treats like Bruce playing a theremin - something that certainly wouldn't play in an area setting. 

Bruce's performance was even more impressive considering that he seemed to have a cold - you couldn't hear it in his voice at all, but during some of the instrumental sections he would dart to the back of the stage where a box of Kleenex was clearly visible. Multiple times I saw him blow his nose, wipe his forehead, grab a drink of water, and bounce back to center stage. The man is a Trooper! Ba-dum-dum!

And because this blog is theoretically about metal and fitness, I have to point out that Bruce looked absolutely shredded. I tried multiple times to get a good shot of his arms - the guy has really great definition - but he just bounced around too damn much. We should all be so lucky to have his energy when we're in our late 60s. 

Speaking of energy, the backing band matched Bruce's across the board. The five-piece band was ridiculously tight and all delivered their parts with energy and good-natured goofiness. Like Mares of Thrace earlier in the week, they all genuinely seemed like they were having fun! I have to give a special shout out to drummer Dave Moreno, who delivered an absolutely phenomenal drum solo in the leadup to "Frankenstein." I won't even hold it against him that he formerly played in Puddle of Mudd. According to Wikipedia, he's been playing professionally since he was 15, so it's no surprise that he absolutely crushed. 

As the end of the set drew near, Bruce mentioned that they'd be back in the studio in January to record another solo album for release in 2027, and that they intended to tour for that record. Based on this show, I'd definitely consider catching him on another solo tour. Going into last night, I expected a competent, professional show that didn't really appeal to me personally. Instead, I had an complete blast. As I said to my brother last night during the second song when it was clear that we were seeing an absolutely world-class performer: "He's a legend for a reason."