At Moody Center September 13th

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All Photos By Thomas Coffman/Coffman Rockshots

Show #3 in 30 days was a road trip. IRON MAIDEN started their "Legacy Of The Beast" tour back in 2019 in celebration of their mobile game of the same name, with a setlist of songs that were featured in the game. The tour was to continue into 2020 but we all know by now what happened and that all touring activities ceased for the better part of a year and a half. The band did not sit on their hands waiting for things to open back up, on the contrary, they proceeded to finish up and release a new album, Senjutsu in late 2021. Now, as most touring activities have resumed, IRON MAIDEN is back out on the road to resume the 'Legacy' tour but now have the new album to promote as well and that meant some changes to the setlist. And on the North American leg of the tour the band tried to schedule shows in secondary cities that might not get hit every time the band goes out on the road, places like Austin, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma to name a few. Hence the road trip that was needed.

Taking off work a half day from my regular job, my buddy and I, photographer Thomas Coffman, headed off to the capital city. This was Thomas' first time getting to photograph the mighty MAIDEN and to say he was stoked was a complete understatement. Along the 2 1/2 hour trip I discovered that former KNAC.COM DJ Ray Baum, AKA RJ Stone, was going to be at the show as well and having not yet ever met any of the DJs in person during my time as a contributor and now as the Managing Editor for the site, we networked a bit and managed to meet up once we got to Austin and a place called Scholz Bier Garten just a few blocks from the venue Moody Center.

The venue itself is brand new, having opened up officially in April of this year and holds approximately 15,000. It's situated within the campus of the University of Texas so we knew that parking would probably be a challenge. Parking in the garage immediately alongside the venue was running $50 a pop, while another garage a few blocks away was $30 and yet another a few more blocks away was $20. I decided to split the difference and prepay for the $30 one and good thing because when we got to that garage the sign out front said $40. After obtaining our tickets from will-call, I headed into the venue and Thomas went to meet others the media entrance. And although it wasn't at first, we would find out later that the show did indeed sell out, a testament to how much MAIDEN was missed in Texas.

Support for this part of the tour was Florida rockers TRIVIUM who have been around nearly 25 years and recently released an album of their own, In The Court Of The Dragon, around the same time that last year that MAIDEN released theirs. A now bald frontman Matt Heafy took the stage and the band got things primed up with the intro "Snofall" and then "Silence In The Snow", the title track to the album of the same name from 2015. The band made the most of their 7 song set with the new album being represented by "The Phalanx" and "The Shadow Of The Abattoir" and also the title track to 2017's The Sin And The Sentence. The band presented a spirited set and did manage to get a small mosh pit or two going but let's face it, nearly any band that opens for MAIDEN is going to be greeted with mostly indifference.

Setlist:

• "Snofall" (taped)
• "Silence In The Snow"
• "Into The Mouth Of Hell We March"
• "The Sin And The Sentence"
• "The Phalanx"
• "The Heart From Your Hate"
• "Strife"
• ""The Shadow Of The Abattoir"

8:45 rolled around and the stage now resembled a Japanese landscape as UFO's "Doctor Doctor" played over the house PA. Anyone who has ever attended an IRON MAIDEN show knows full well that this means the band's presence is imminent. MAIDEN then took the stage and launched into the first of 3 songs from the new album back-to-back-to-back, beginning with the title track "Senjutsu". I found it a bit odd that the band would open with a track that wasn't really up-tempo but they made it work as the song featured the first of 2 appearances by the band's mascot Eddie, this one dressed as a samurai. The set continued with the next two songs from the new album in "Stratego" and "The Writing On The Wall", something I felt was equally as odd. Never before have I ever witnessed MAIDEN or any other band for that matter open a concert with 3 songs in a row from a new album. But again, I get it and they made it work, got the new songs out of the way and proceeded to continue the set with racks featured in the Legacy Of The Beast mobile game. "Revelations" and "Blood Brothers" followed, then a wardrobe change by frontman Bruce Dickinson for "The Sign Of The Cross". An inflatable Icarus, one of several inflatables featured throughout the show, rose from behind the stage as the band launched into "Flight Of Icarus" with Dickinson now sporting flamethrower attachments on each of his arms. Flames shot out of the top of the lighting rigs at the end of the song as Icarus' wings crumbled and he collapsed to the ground.

Another wardrobe change for "Fear Of The Dark", followed by crowd favorite "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and another inflatable of the Beast Eddie for "Number Of The Beast" before finishing the pre-encore portion of the show with their namesake, "Iron Maiden". The band retreated from the stage briefly as they readied two sets of encores. The first consisted of 3 songs starting with "The Trooper" which saw Trooper Eddie making his way onto the stage and into a sword fight with Dickinson, followed by "The Clansman" and "Run To The Hills". The band retreated once again as the inflatable Spitfire airplane began to rise and we all knew what that meant: "Aces High". With this finale the band completed their figurative demolition of the Moody Center and sent the spent crowd home happy as the Monty Python outro of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" played.

The nearly two hour show was incredible as always although I did notice on a couple of occasions the band and Bruce being out of sync and in the beginning of "Run To The Hills" Bruce seemed to be winded as he only sang a few words from the first line or two of lyrics. Yeah I know this might be a little nitpicky but when you've seen MAIDEN as many times as I have, the band being out of sync is an absolute anomaly and it certainly stood out like a sore thumb to these ears. And though Bruce did sound winded he quickly regained himself and I noticed no further signs of it for the rest of the show. All of this just goes to show that this band isn't getting any younger and who knows how much longer we will get to enjoy these Metal Legends live in concert. Enjoy it while you can Pure Rockers and get out there and catch a show!

Setlist:

• "Senjutsu"
• "Stratego"
• "The Writing On The Wall"
• "Revelations"
• "Blood Brothers"
• "Sign Of The Cross"
• "Flight Of Icarus"
• "Fear Of The Dark"
• "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
• "The Number Of The Beast"
• "Iron Maiden"

Encore #1:

• "The Trooper"
• "The Clansman"
• "Run To The Hills"

Encore #2:

• Churchill’s Speech
• "Aces High"

Check out some more photos from the show! All Photos By Thomas Coffman/Coffman Rockshots