Iron Maiden Shake TD Garden With a 135-Minute Boston Triumph, Deep Cuts From Nine Studio Albums and Bruce Dickinson’s Still Razor-Sharp Scream

BOSTON, MA — Iron Maiden brought a packed TD Garden to its feet Wednesday night with a 135-minute performance that leaned hard into the band’s early catalog and proved the metal veterans are still playing with purpose, speed and theatrical force.

Billed as the Run For Your Lives World Tour, the show marked the band’s 60th stop overall and its third U.S. date on the trek. Bruce Dickinson framed the night as “Boston therapy night,” and the crowd responded like a fan base ready for a full-scale celebration of half a century of heavy metal history.

A set built around Iron Maiden’s first nine studio albums

Rather than concentrate on newer material, Iron Maiden focused this tour set on the band’s first nine studio albums. That choice gave the night a more old-school shape, with the group moving through songs that helped define its reputation as one of the pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

The opener, “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” set the tone with a rush of momentum, followed by “Wrathchild” and “Phantom of the Opera.” The approach gave longtime listeners exactly the sort of deep-cut and anthem balance they came for, while also showing how tightly the band can still execute a show this long without losing intensity.

Bruce Dickinson still lands the high notes at 68

Dickinson, 68, remains one of the most reliable voices in rock, and Wednesday’s performance made clear why fans still treat him like a force of nature. His scream on “The Number of the Beast” cut through the room with startling sharpness, and he kept an aggressive edge throughout the set.

The singer also played to the crowd with a mix of humor and attitude, especially when Boston fans booed a reference to New Jersey. He brushed it off, then welcomed everyone in the room as Maiden fans, turning a brief bit of tension into another reason the audience stayed locked in with him.

Steve Harris and the guitar core keep the machine moving

Founder and bassist Steve Harris, 70, drove the night with the same galloping style that has long anchored the band’s sound. He powered through classics including “Powerslave,” “Run to the Hills” and “The Trooper,” giving the songs the same muscular pulse that made them staples in the first place.

Adrian Smith and Dave Murray handled the other end of the chemistry, blending melody and speed on songs such as “Aces High” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.” The pair also helped bring back “Infinite Dreams,” which had not been played live in more than 30 years, adding one of the night’s biggest treats for devoted fans.

Janick Gers, Simon Dawson and the theatrical stagecraft raise the stakes

Third guitarist Janick Gers brought nonstop motion to the performance, darting and spinning across the stage while adding rhythm parts and key lead bursts. On “Fear of the Dark,” his energy helped push the song into a bigger, more communal moment.

Touring drummer Simon Dawson handled the back end in place of recently retired Nicko McBrain and kept the set crisp. The show’s production matched the band’s pace, with backdrops and staging that shifted from London streets to a padded cell, a cemetery and the pyramids of Egypt.

Megadeth’s fast opening set set the tone for the night

Megadeth opened with a 45-minute set that hit hard from the start, even arriving 30 minutes early and catching some fans off guard. Dave Mustaine led the charge on “Tipping Point” and “Hangar 18,” keeping the pacing tight and aggressive from the first notes.

The opening set also featured “Sweating Bullets,” “Trust,” “Symphony of Destruction” and “Peace Sells,” with bassist James LoMenzo, drummer Dirk Verbeuren and guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari rounding out a lineup that sounded fully locked in. Mäntysaari, in particular, held his own on “Tornado of Souls” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.”

A veteran band still built for arenas and loyalty

The night’s scale matched the size of Iron Maiden’s legacy. The band’s digital trip aboard the doomed ship in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” became one of the most elaborate moments of the show, and Dickinson added to the drama with costume changes, a British flag wave during “The Trooper” and the familiar presence of Eddie.

For all the pyrotechnics, masks and massive visuals, the lasting impression was simple: Iron Maiden still sounds urgent. Fifty years into its career, the band remains capable of filling a major arena and treating the audience like a congregation that knows every word, every cue and every heavy-metal turn in the road.

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