Font ResizeIron Maiden is partying like it's 1988.
The heavy metal band's cleverly titled Maiden England World Tour isn't really intended to promote Maiden's latest album -- 2010's Grammy-winning "The Final Frontier" -- but rather a video released more than two decades ago. How's that for thinking outside the box?
The current road show is strongly based on the British group's "Maiden England" concert film, which was recorded over two nights in Birmingham, England in late 1988. Back then, the group was supporting its acclaimed seventh album, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son."
On Friday night, the tour came to Shoreline Amphitheatre. That venue is located in Mountain View -- which, apparently, is a bit of information nobody bothered to share with vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
"Shoreline -- where the (expletive) is this place?" he asked early in the set. "Is this San Francisco? Or is this Oakland?"
Not knowing where he was, however, didn't stop Dickinson and crew from rocking the 12,000-strong crowd -- of which seeming 11,997 were wearing Iron Maiden T-shirts.
The band played many songs off the "Maiden England" video -- "including such fan favorites as "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and "The Number of the Beast" -- yet, thankfully, didn't completely limit itself to that material. The group, which sounded strong throughout the night, also threw in a number of tracks not made in "Maiden England."
Here's the set
1. "Moonchild"
2. "Can I Play With Madness"
3. "The Prisoner"
4. "2 Minutes to Midnight"
5. "Afraid to Shoot Strangers"
6. "The Trooper"
7. "The Number of the Beast"
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. "Run to the Hills"
10. "Wasted Years"
11. "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
12. "The Clairvoyant"
13. "Fear of the Dark"
14. "Iron Maiden"
Encore:
15. "Aces High"
16. "The Evil That Men Do"
17. "Running Free"
Follow Jim Harrington at http://twitter.com/jimthecritic, www.facebook.com/jim.bayareanews and http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/category/concerts.
