{"id":5075,"date":"2025-09-17T10:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/?p=5075"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:50:08","slug":"concert-review-bruce-dickinson-silver-spring-md-14-september-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/archives\/5075","title":{"rendered":"Concert Review: Bruce Dickinson – Silver Spring, MD – 14 September, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

After his landmark solo records of the late 1990s, I haven\u2019t been quite as enamored with Bruce Dickinson\u2019s last two albums. Each had its own highlights, but I\u2019ll always go back to Accident<\/b> and Chemical<\/b> if given a choice.<\/p>\n

Despite my less-enthusiastic take on these efforts, Bruce hasn\u2019t done a US tour since I (saw him in 1998) and going tonight was a bit of a no-brainer. I got to the venue with time to spare, had a beverage and headed in, getting comfortably close, but not as near as I normally would like. The aging crowd didn\u2019t move altogether too much, so where I landed is about where I stayed for the duration. During my half-hour wait, I gazed upon the crowd curiously; spying all the tropes of metal fandom. <\/p>\n

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With the instrumental intro beginning things, he kicked off into Accident Of Birth<\/b>, a spectacular start. There are pockets of unfamiliarity in his catalogue, and though these selections were pretty good, it also meant diminished enthusiasm for sections. It didn\u2019t help that things were generally quite slow. Even Laughing In The Hiding Bush<\/b>, never my favorite, felt weak. <\/p>\n

The air-conditioned venue was actually quite cold, never an issue for me, but Bruce was not fond and he commented on it several times, in addition to a few subdued political jabs. Nothing too forceful, but they garnered a smirk from many. <\/p>\n

Chemical<\/b>, Flash Of The Blade<\/b> and the killer cover of Frankenstein<\/b> were highlights from the middle of the evening. The first sounded beautiful and Bruce\u2019s voice was as strong as ever. The sole Maiden<\/b> cover would\u2019ve been a great surprise had it not been spoiled – but the solo section in the middle was just spectacular as was Frankenstein<\/b>. The band was having fun and I loved every minute of it. <\/p>\n

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Wrapping things up, we got three hits from my favorite two albums and this represented the best part of the evening. All were just awesome even if they were slower and packed less of a punch than most metal shows. Things were clear and all musicians were top notch. <\/p>\n

Following a brief moment backstage, we were treated to the expected Tears Of The Dragon<\/b> complete with an enthusiastic sing-along. I was unfamiliar with the next Balls To Picasso<\/b> song, to my dismay, but this led into the finale. Bruce spoke about recording the next album and thanked the crowd before diving into The Tower<\/b>, one of his best and a suitable closing to a wonderful evening. I zipped out swiftly and Google routed me on what seemed a long, out-of-the-way path home. I woke not feeling terrible the next day, can\u2019t complain about that!!! Setlist and photos\/videos to follow.<\/p>\n

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    \n
  1. Intro: Toltec 7 Arrival\n
  2. Accident Of Birth\n
  3. Abduction\n
  4. Laughing In The Hiding Bush\n
  5. Shadow Of The Gods\n
  6. Chemical Wedding\n
  7. Flash Of The Blade\n
  8. Resurrection Men\n
  9. Rain On The Graves\n
  10. Frankenstein\n
  11. The Alchemist\n
  12. Book Of Thel\n
  13. Road To Hell\n
  14. E: Tears Of The Dragon\n
  15. E: Gods Of War\n
  16. E: The Tower\n<\/ol>\n


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    After his landmark solo records of the late 1990s, I haven\u2019t been quite as enamored with Bruce Dickinson\u2019s last two albums. Each had its own highlights, but I\u2019ll always go back to Accident and Chemical if given a choice. Despite my less-enthusiastic take on these efforts, Bruce hasn\u2019t done a US tour since I (saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,154,13,78,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-worst","category-blog","category-concert-reviews","category-music","category-personal","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5075"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5095,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions\/5095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}