Gig review: Iron Maiden

CLASSIC British heavy metallers Iron Maiden are locked somewhere between kitsch throwback and furiously reinventive going concern. This show, their first mainland UK date in support of the 15th studio album The Final Frontier, was characterised by hair-tossing, fretboards-in-the-air guitar parts and other similarly Quo-like affectations, but the no-expense-spared stage set and the fact the all-standing SECC was surely as full as it's ever been all pointed to a legacy more in line with a Brit Metallica.

Amid a post-apocalyptic wasteland of grey silos and scrap metal, the band's five musicians (including bassist Steve Harris, the group's founder, and long-standing guitarist Dave Murray) played a set which was heavy on new material, showcasing a more textured and expansive sound than the gauche rockers of their 1980s heyday. Topped off by the positively prog When the Wild Wind Blows, these tracks inspired respect for the boldness of their reinvention rather than wild adoration.

Then the Maiden's long-standing mascot Eddie the Head made a ferociously well received appearance during the guiltily pleasing The Evil That Men Do, and normal service was restored. Chased around the stage by this suit of red-eyed green flesh, combat trouser-wearing singer Bruce Dickinson was a suitably theatrical panto villain himself, with a stage presence fixed roughly between those of Meatloaf and the Phantom of the Opera. Yet Eddie, as ever, grabbed all the attention, returning as a massive animatronic head during Iron Maiden and finally a pair of enormous evil eyes on the rear screen throughout the standout The Number of the Beast.