Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
May 9 June 2024
To find the last time Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson embarked on a solo tour, we have to go back to 2002, when he performed only six concerts at selected summer festivals that year. To pinpoint the last time he performed solo in Norway, we need to rewind to October 26, 1998, when he and Adrian Smith played one of my all-time favourite concerts at the smaller venue John Dee. Not that Rockefeller is very large, but it does accommodate one thousand more attendees than John Dee. Bruce Dickinson’s solo absence from the stage since 2002 also means he did not perform concerts in support of his previous solo album, “Tyranny of Souls” from 2005. With his current promotion of “The Mandrake Project,” this tour marks the debut live performances of both albums.
It’s a quiet Sunday evening in Oslo. The weather is a bit gray after a month of excessively warm May weather in Norway. When you enter Rockefeller, it feels like a Sunday and definitely not a day for a heavy party. Some try to start a sing-along as it approaches 9:00 PM, when Bruce Dickinson and his band are announced to go on, but the attempt is half-hearted. However, right at 9:00, an intro starts. The intro is from the TV series “The Invaders” from 1967, where aliens come to Earth and infiltrate humanity to take over the planet. The atmosphere is set!
As soon as the intro is over, the heavy riff of “Accident of Birth” is heard, and out storms the ever-young Bruce Dickinson while Rockefeller explodes with energy in sync with Dickinson’s enthusiastic entrance. It’s now forgotten that this is actually a dreary Sunday. Dickinson ensures that as he sets the venue on fire. Amid the audience’s cheers, Dickinson’s charismatic smile also emerges, and you feel the goosebumps creeping up your arms. The concert is already fantastic, and it’s only been half a minute.
On stage, Bruce Dickinson is joined by a hired band, consisting of so-called “hired guns,” who were named “The House Band from Hell” when they performed a relatively secret concert at Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. I am initially sceptical of “hired guns” as it can feel impersonal. But this group quickly won me over. Not because they play the songs flawlessly, but because they exude joy throughout their performance, as if each band member is a devoted fan of Dickinson and feels honoured to play alongside this legend. I ended up beside Swedish-born Philip Naslund, who plays every note with respect for the original material. On the opposite side of the stage is someone who commands attention: bassist Tanya O’Callaghan. Her stage presence is captivating, and her smile charms most of the audience that evening. It’s especially during the middle part of “Resurrection Men” that she owns the stage. In that part, the bass stops while the others continue playing before she comes in with the five-stringer and plays the heaviest part of the concert. The wow factor is high. It was certainly disappointing when guitarist, producer, and songwriter Roy Z cancelled the tour, as you want to have those you know from before on stage, but here I am one hundred percent convinced that Dickinson chose the right people for the job.
The setlist is varied but with a predominance of songs from “The Chemical Wedding.” Four songs are taken from the mentioned album, while there are three songs from “The Mandrake Project.” There are two songs each from “Accident of Birth,” “Balls to Picasso,” and “Tyranny of Souls.” Surprisingly, Dickinson also includes a song from the grunge-inspired album “Skunkworks,” introducing “Faith” as a George Michael song. The album was criticized at the time, and Bruce Dickinson tells a story about how he almost received death threats for releasing that album. He is all the more pleased with the audience’s response, who sing along. Unfortunately, there are no songs from the debut album “Tattooed Millionaire.” A song like “Born in ’58” would have been nice. It’s true that it’s a quiet song. But other quiet songs that are played, such as “Jerusalem,” “Tears of the Dragon,” and not least one of his most beautiful songs, “Navigate the Seas of the Sun,” work like a charm.
The strangest part of the concert is the instrumental cover song “Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group. After a small drum solo, the band starts with this tune, and one by one, they get to do their solos. Not least, Dickinson himself gets to play with percussion, and finally, he reveals a theremin that he enjoys playing. I believe the keyword for choosing this cover song is fun. I think Dickinson just wants to have fun with this, and he seems very enthusiastic about playing with a theremin. Some have speculated that he includes an instrumental cover song to rest his voice, but that falls flat when he plays longer sets with Iron Maiden – with more demanding songs – without breaks. But considering that Bruce Dickinson has released seven studio albums and hasn’t played in twenty-two years, I would have preferred “Frankenstein” to be replaced with one of his own songs. Not playing Iron Maiden songs is obvious for the same reason.
But in the end, we are gathered to hear Bruce Dickinson sing. Not many can compare to Bruce Dickinson when it comes to vocal prowess. To put it bluntly, only Rob Halford and Pavarotti come close. Yes, many will disagree with me, so take it with a grain of salt. But Bruce Dickinson has the advantage that he can run around the stage while singing, and in that way, whip up the audience at all times. Not that the audience needs to be whipped up, but his energy is contagious. There’s no doubt about that. Despite having metal prosthetics in both hips, with the last operation as recent as the beginning of this year. Not only that, but he also caught the flu before this concert. He had to cancel the concert in Bucharest just six days before tonight’s concert. The fact is, it doesn’t sound like the man is diminished, and his voice is superb. The only thing that reveals he has the flu is that he goes to the side of the stage to blow his nose during every solo and other parts where he has the opportunity. This is eagerly documented by his son, Griffin Dickinson, who is the concert’s photographer. In fact, we are lucky to get one of his famous air-raid-siren screams during “Rain on the Graves” after the evil devil laugh is done. Another goosebump moment is when the man, towards the end of the concert, makes sure to give us a couple of “Scream for me, Norway!” More classic, it does not get.
Bruce Dickinson ended the concert with the classic “The Tower,” and the smiles of everyone on stage, while “Fanlight Fanny” by George Formby plays in the background, reveal that the band is more than satisfied with the evening. So is the audience in the hall, and several people I talk to afterward proclaim that the year’s best concert has already been performed. Norwegian Iron Maiden fans have been fondly recalling Bruce Dickinson’s 1998 John Dee concert for 26 years. We will be doing the same with the Rockefeller concert in 2024.
Hell on Earth Metal Zine 