IRON MAIDEN – Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City

“The world needs Iron Maiden,” words spoken to Bruce Dickinson by his solo band when discussing the prospect of rejoining the iconic band he helped achieve international superstardom. That’s some selfless Jedi wisdom there; the world most certainly does need Iron Maiden, perhaps now more than ever.

But does the world need another live Iron Maiden album?

Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City is the thirteenth such official document, recorded in late 2019 before Covid truncated their tour. Following 2017’s Book Of Souls: Live Chapter, Legacy reaches back into Maiden’s rich history with a setlist both familiar and surprising, mixing in a few fan-service gems alongside mainstays like “The Trooper” and “Run To The Hills”. Bruce tackles a few Bayley era tunes, “The Clansman” and “Sign Of The Cross”; “For The Greater Good Of God” from A Matter Of Life And Death makes a welcome first appearance on a full-length Maiden CD. Steve Harris allowed “Flight Of Icarus”, a tune he apparently reviles, into the show for the first time in over thirty years, and Bruce makes good use of the opportunity.

These relative obscurities make the Legacy package more attractive, certainly. Maiden’s stature and reputation as one of the premier live acts not only of Metal but music in general means they cannot help but be measured continually against the very legacy they have created and seek to document with Nights Of The Dead. They aren’t a jam band; they are masters of precision and consistency rather than improvisation. Nicko might be throwing in a few different patterns and fills here and there, and the three amigos of the electric guitar may change up the solos slightly (although within the same time structure), but essentially the songs do not change significantly from show to show or even tour to tour. What changes is the level of energy the band brings and the crowd reflects back, and the overall quality of Bruce’s voice.

The energy on Legacy is palpable and electric. Maiden sounds like a band who are having fun playing together and enjoying the crowd, who showers them with roaring love and affection at every opportunity. Bruce has a rocky start; he sounds out of breath and straining on opener “Aces High”, but he settles in and by the time we get to “The Clansman” he’s in full Dickinsonian form once again. Not quite the Air Raid Siren of old but still a top-shelf live performer. The Blaze material suits his current vocal range, ironically, and peppering the middle portion of the concert with songs with long instrumental passages to give him a chance to rest his vocal cords was a prudent move. The crowd–as always–hangs upon his every word. One wants to join in when Bruce exhorts the faithful to “scream for me!”,  even when listening through headphones.

Not their best live document (Live After Death) and not their worst (A Real Live One), Legacy exists somewhere between “must have” and “welcome addition”; a solid tour souvenir for the fans.