It’s shaping up to be a big year for Iron Maiden. Should things start getting back to normal, metal’s most celebrated band will finally be heading back on the road for their third (and final?) leg of the huge Legacy Of The Beast tour that’s already taken them around the globe twice. But, having been given an unexpected year off and, with it, more time to plot their next moves, we reckon there might be far more up Eddie’s sleeve than we yet know about. With that in mind, here’s what we’d like to see…
A new album
September will mark six years since the last Maiden full-length, 2015’s The Book Of Souls. With fans salivating for a new record, frontman Bruce Dickinson confirmed late last year that he and bassist Steve Harris had been working on… something.
“We’re doing bits of writing,” he teased in a video update in September. “I’m talking to Steve. We’ve been working together a little bit in the studio. On what, I can’t tell you, ’cause they’d have to kill me.”
We can’t say for certain that we’ll get album #17 in 2021, and the Legacy… tour getting pushed back a year has presumably impacted any plans for new music, but we’re still keeping our fingers crossed for something brand new from camp Maiden before the year is out.
A new Eddie
Of course, a new Iron Maiden album would mean a whole new Maiden era, which most importantly of all means… a new Eddie! The Book Of Souls era produced arguably the most beloved Eddie of the modern era, packing with him a stage set so imposing it drew comparisons to Maiden’s celebrated Powerslave years. The bar is set high, but which form will a new Eddie take? Roman Eddie? Superhero Eddie? Ninja Eddie? Postman Eddie? Anything is possible. Er, except maybe that last one.
More Legacy Of The Beast
Alright, this isn’t so much a hope as a (pandemic-allowing-oh-god-please-let-this-thing-be-over-soon) guarantee, as we already know that Maiden will take their epic Legacy Of The Beast tour back across Europe for 18 dates this summer. It’s set to be the biggest heavy metal tour of the year, and given that they have taken it on the road twice already, we already know that we’ll be seeing classic songs from right across Maiden’s back catalogue get an airing, not to mention the biggest show they’ve ever put together. Although there’s one thing missing…
A UK show
When the Legacy… tour got rescheduled, all the festival spots on the run were pulled – including their headline set at Download Festival. This means that, as it stands, Maiden won’t be hitting the UK this year. No doubt there are complications that haven’t made it possible to organise so far, but if we all ask nicely, maybe we’ll get to see Eddie on a UK stage in 2021? If not, we’ll just have to wait our turn (begrudgingly).
New books
We had Bruce’s autobiography at the end of 2017 and Adrian Smith’s metal/fishing mash-up book last year. We’d love to see more Maiden books hit the shops in the coming months. It’s not like the remaining members wouldn’t have a lot of stories to tell, right? Steve, we’re looking at you…
A new Trooper Beer
We were drinking Maiden’s Day Of The Dead Trooper beer like it was a COVID vaccine last year, so if the band or the fine people at Robinsons Brewery happen to be reading, we are very much down for a new brew being put out there. Just saying.
New Legacy Of The Beast levels
We’re still playing the shit out of Maiden’s successful Legacy Of The Beast mobile game, and there are still tons of untapped potential levels and characters to pull from Maiden lore to keep it going. Bring it on.
New Pop! Vinyls
We’ve had 40 years of Iron Maiden and only four Pop! Vinyls. How is this fair? We want Mummy Eddie! Cyborg Eddie! Reaper Eddie! Postman Eddie! No, wait…
New Bruce shows
When Bruce released his aforementioned book, What Does This Button Do?, it was accompanied by some richly entertaining spoken-word shows. Given the amount of extracurricular activity that gets covered in the book (and, maybe more pertinently, all the stuff that probably doesn’t get covered), we reckon Bruce would have plenty of ammunition to get back out on the road and shoot the shit again.
A proper Killers celebration
The band celebrated 40 years of Iron Maiden last year, and in 2021 it’s Killers’ turn to turn the big 4-0. While Maiden’s debut would build the platform that would change metal forever, it was Killers that propelled them into being the single most exciting and innovative band in heavy music at the time. Here’s hoping we get something extra-special to celebrate a true milestone for one of metal’s greatest albums.
