By Ryan Arbuckle

The Headliner for Saturday nights Bluesfest is considered one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history: Iron Maiden.

The band has reportedly sold over 85 million records worldwide since they formed in London in 1975. The band has previously gone through 17 band member and currently has 6.

Right from the opening bars of the show’s first song, “Moonchild”, Steve Harris’ rapid fire bass was relentless, pounding into submission. The triple axe threat guitar trio, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and newcomer Janick Gers, intertwined and weaved through the endless time progressions, laying down maps of emotions, leaving listeners in awe.

The lead singer “Bruce Dickinson”, 53, athletic skills are outstanding! He leaps and jumps over stage monitors. He runs around the props on stage like a demon unleashed, jacked up on adrenaline like a Red Bull drink junkie. I seriously don’t know where he gets his energy from, but it’s unbelievable!

It was unreal to see everyone in the crowd, young and old, rocking the devil horns with their hands high in the air. If you looked hard enough you could even see the odd “shocker”.

Bruce Dickinson complained that the stage was too small, and there were two special effects that they couldn’t complete. In my opinion the special effects that they did have we’re spectacular. Especially the pyrotechnics, you could feel the heat off of the flames as they exploded on stage.

After all these years and all the shows Maiden has put on around the globe, Bruce can still hit these amazing power notes and it’s unbelievable that he can still do that.

The setlist:

Moonchild
Can I Play With Madness?
The Prisoner
2 Minutes to Midnight
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
The Trooper
The Number of the Beast
Phantom of the Opera
Run to the Hills
Wasted Years
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The Clairvoyant
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Aces High
Evil That Men Do
Running Free

Iron Maiden performs at the RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest at Lebreton Flats, Ottawa, ON, CAN. July 7th, 2012