Follow this LIVE UPDATE to join in on the all the Iron Maiden fun that’s going on in Spain during the opening shows of the Maiden England Tour 2014. Get the setlist, photos and other useful information from inside the venues in Barcelona and Bilbao, as it happens!

This article will be updated throughout the day in Barcelona, Tuesday May 27 – vorspiel, fans, venue, merchandise, all you need to know, just scroll down. And most importantly – we’ll give you a song-by-song firsthand experience of the show as it unfolds. Get live updates of the setlist changes and other changes that might occur; Eddies, backdrops, hairstyles, and whatnot.

We will also do a live update from the second night of the tour in Bilbao, Thursday May 29. Will any changes be made to the setlist? Song substitution or shuffling of the running order? Has Dave Murray gotten a buzz cut? Scroll down to find out!

HERE’S what we expected from the final Maiden England leg before the tour kicked off! What did we hit, and what did we miss? It follows below…

Iron Maiden are scheduled to hit the stage at 20:30 local time (8:30pm), UTC 18:30 (6:30 pm). Figure out your time zone!

Bookmark this page and hit refresh often! And do take part in the no doubt heated discussion in the comments section at the bottom of the page, where you can have your say about the events!

Let’s rock, here’s the feed:

THURSDAY MAY 29
(All entries in Bilbao local time, which is UTC+2)

10:20 pm – The show is over! Thank you all for following these live feeds from Spain! You can scroll down for the Bilbao set and comments, and further down for the ditto Barcelona. Good night, people!

8:35 pm – Lights out! Intro starts!

“Seven deadly sins…” Here we go:

MOONCHILD
Nostalgia: Seventh Son was the first Maiden record Christer bought, having borrowed Live After Death from a friend. Moonchild negotiated its way out of his grandparents’ antique stereo system, and his world would never be the same.

CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS
Bruce fell flat on his ass when he made his intro jump! And the sound in the arena is beyond terrible…

THE PRISONER
Like so many 80s era classics performed in the reunion era, The Prisoner shows clearly how the more mature and powerful six-piece band can do things that were impossible in the speedy-speedy-speedy 1980s… It has only appeared in three Maiden tours ever: The 1982 Beast On The Road trek, the 1988 Seventh Tour trek, and the current one. (It also appeared on the final four shows of the No Prayer tour in 1991.)

We were in the pit for Barcelona, but have taken a longer view in Bilbao. The atmosphere in the building is awesome, despite the same sound problems that plagued 2013:

2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
The only Maiden tours that didn’t feature this track were the 2003-04 Dance Of Death tour, the 2005 The Early Days tour, the 2010 leg of The Final Frontier, and (ironically) the 1988 Seventh Son tour, which this set is built on, except for a very few shows like Donington.

Bruce says: This is the last tour with this old stuff in focus. But Maiden will be back. “Trust us”, he says!

REVELATIONS
The sound is getting better.

THE TROOPER
And the roof is pretty much blown off the building! The singing along induces tinnitus!

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
This track has only been omitted from one single tour in the band’s history, the 2006 leg for A Matter Of Life And Death. It’s one of the three most played Maiden tracks along with Iron Maiden and Hallowed Be Thy Name.

The sound mix has improved since the start of the gig, but it is still too cold and hard, much like it was for the past couple of years. Many fans miss the warmth of the Doug Hall mixes…

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
And the floor actually shakes and gives! The best number so far tonight! Kicks ass! Phantom made a welcome return to the set when Bruce and Adrian rejoined in 1999. It appeared again on the 2005 The Early Days tour, which was a complete must. It also featured on the 2009 leg of the Somewhere Back In Time world tour, which was logical given its inclusion on Live After Death. But its presence in the Maiden England set is less logical… Thank God it’s a killer!

RUN TO THE HILLS
Best singalong achievement so far! The Bilbao audience is awesome!

WASTED YEARS
Which works.

SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON
The great epic and the band’s awesome performance of it are both let down by a really terrible sound mix… But the audience seems to be having a great time nonetheless, thank goodness.

WRATHCHILD
So, it was not moved to the first half of the set. The only other time this song was performed in the second half was the 2005 The Early Days tour when it followed Revelations and led into Die With Your Boots On.

Does it work? Yes, says Torgrim. Not just well, but brilliantly!

FEAR OF THE DARK
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-ooooh… The only time ever that this song was dropped was the same 2005 tour that saw Wrathchild in the second half of the set. Fear’s absence was a no-brainer since the set consisted only of material from the first four albums. Since then, however, the song has appeared in 1980s sets where it has no business…

IRON MAIDEN
The entire audience is 100% into it 100% of the time. This has been nothing short of an incredible audience performance! And Bruce said earlier that there are 15 000 people in the building.

Torgrim has seen a lot of Maiden shows, but the Bilbao audience tonight might be the loudest and craziest he has ever encountered…

CHURCHILL’S SPEECH
ACES HIGH
Bruce does it again! Great performance! The band in general seems more energetic at these two shows than earlier on the Maiden England tour. But really, the sound engineer should be fired.

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
Lives on and oo-o-o-oooon…

SANCTUARY
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen! Same set, same running order.

Well, here we are. At the end of the History road. At this point, it’s a safe bet that Maiden have done all they ever will do of the 1980s songs in the reunion era. There is no more to come. Except 18 kick-ass shows across Europe, with a regretably poor sound production. Enjoy your show, boys and girls! Celebrate Maiden!

8:30 pm – UFO’s Doctor Doctor is rocking the house, boys and girls. You know what that means, don’t you? The people in the arena sure do, and the place goes bananas!

8:26 pm – Deep Purple’s Highway Star is playing on the PA.

8.25 pm – The merch is the same as in Barcelona.

8:05 pm – The stage is getting ready for Iron Maiden, and Bilbao are ready to rock:

7:55 pm – Anthrax are closing their set with Antisocial. The venue seems to be rigged for an audience capacity of about 3/4, so it seems Maiden have not come close to selling out in Bilbao…

7:50 pm – Seems we were mistaken about the drummer filling in for Benante in Barcelona. Seems it’s actually John Dette! Sorry!

7:40 pm – Anthrax are performing AC/DC’s TNT. Good old Belladonna completely nails the Bon Scott classic, and the energy in the house is great! The audience is definitely older than last show in Barcelona.

7:30 pm – There’s a problem with the network, but Anthrax is now in the middle of their set! They’ve been doing Madhouse, Got The Time and Indians.

7:22 pm – Our reporter has gone silent, so we’re trying to figure out if there’s a problem with the phone reception in the area.

6:10 pm – Family values:

6:00 pm – Heavy metal parking lot:

5:45 pm – We’re at the arena, Bilbao Exhibition Center, and it’s a work of architectural beauty:

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TUESDAY MAY 27 – Showtime!
(All entries in Barcelona local time, which is UTC+2)

10:30 pm – Thank you for following this live feed on Maiden Revelations! We’re saying goodnight now!

10:25 pm – Maiden have left the building, it’s over!

8:40 pm – Same intro as last year!

And then, “Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win” … Hands up who knows what’s coming! Keep refreshing this page to follow the show:

MOONCHILD
Maiden open with the same song for the third year in a row. Probably not too surprising when it’s still the same tour, but many felt that Aces High could make a return to the opening spot. Guitarists stand out: Adrian nails the solo, and Dave has even shorter hair this year.

CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS
It continues like 2013 and 2012.

THE PRISONER
Well, who’s having deja-vu? Bruce seems to be on top form tonight, and the sound on the floor is very good. It’s rocking! The band seems very focused on not making mistakes, but are still in a very good mood. Dave doesn’t just have short hair, he also RULES on the solo. This is a tune many would have guessed that they dropped, but they kept it!

2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
We start feeling like you won’t believe we’re actually there and not simply typing up last year’s set, so just to prove it:

Bruce talks to the audience. Is there something new coming up?

REVELATIONS
Yes, there’s a change! Since Rod said in the tour announcement that only 1 song from the 90s would make the cut (Fear Of The Dark, we all know), many fans have expected this gem to come back yet again, in place of Afraid To Shoot Strangers. It had a return to the set in 2003, then in 2005, and then in 2008. And you know what? Now, in 2014, it sounds intensely good!

THE TROOPER
Enough with the changes! Back to the regular set! Bruce is doing very well tonight, carrying the tracks like he always does, and the band sounds on fire behind him.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
The quest for more than one change in the two years old setlist continues under this picture:

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
What’s the conclusion so far? The band delivers like a beast on stage, but they are utter chickens when it comes to compiling their setlist… As we’ve often argued: Iron Maiden’s 1980s catalog offers so much to choose from!

RUN TO THE HILLS
What else is there to do? And Custer Eddie is still there:

WASTED YEARS
Biggest singalong so far! Best audience response in general, actually.

SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON
Yes, it’s still here! And it sounds incredible! But now we’re about two thirds into the set, and Maiden have only changed ONE song from the 2012 and 2013 sets – Afraid To Shoot Strangers out and Revelations in. This is still a great set, but there’s no doubt that the band are on their way to setting a rather strange personal record.

As for the centerpiece, this might just be the best version of Seventh Son we have ever heard. And last year was really fucking good!

WRATHCHILD
The second change. Out goes The Clairvoyant, in comes this old rascal. It was last performed on the first leg of the Final Frontier tour in 2010. But has Wrathchild ever been performed this late in a set?

FEAR OF THE DARK
Like you didn’t know already.

IRON MAIDEN
Breaking news: Adrian is playing an Ibanez Destroyer, which we don’t think we’ve seen him play since 1982-83!

Any and all Eddies have been kept, there was no Somewhere In Time Eddie in bandages or any other visual changes to the show. This one obviously capped the show:

And that concludes the main set, ladies and gentlemen. The band put in two songs that hadn’t been played for the past two years, and those were probably along the lines that most realistic fans would guess at. We’ll just have to see if there’s another change or two made when the band get to the encores.

It’s a little strange to think that Maiden’s celebrations of their glorious 1980s era are finally coming to an end this summer…

CHURCHILL’S SPEECH
ACES HIGH
They keep this old Powerslave favorite too. And Bruce does a good job of that insane chorus!

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
Same procedure, and then…

SANCTUARY
Third and final change: Running Free is given a much needed rest. Sanctuary has not been performed since the 2009 leg of the Somewhere Back In Time tour.

In truth, the changes that were done made the set even more similar to the 2008 Somewhere Back In Time set, which is what many fans guessed would happen. So now it’s over, you’re probably either furious that it was just about the same set for the third year in a row, or you’re thinking “well, I didn’t expect anything else.” Which one is it?

Our conclusion: An incredible performance, but very dull from an artistic point of view, coming closer to cabaret than we like. The three changes worked very well though, the flow and pace of the set was very good indeed!

8:37 pm – Doctor Doctor! The crowd explodes already!

8:32 pm – Can’t wait! Yu, on the left, owns the No Prayer Eddie:

8:27 pm – Adrian’s guitar is being tested.

8:20 pm – The countdown has begun:

8:10 pm – Stage is cleared for Maiden. Twenty minutes to go! The stage set looks exactly like last year, and the year before, but the air is thick with excitement. They’re almost here! Again!

8:00 pm – The crew has started rigging for Iron Maiden!

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TUESDAY MAY 27 – Before the show
(All entries in Barcelona local time, which is UTC+2)

7:57 pm – Anthrax leaves the stage. You know what that means, boys and girls!

7:10 pm – Anthrax is on and opens with Caught In A Mosh! And here’s something, Charlie Benante is not on the drums. The great Joey Tempesta is filling in. The band head to 1990 for Got The Time, and the crowd gets into it! Indians brings on the first singalong of the evening.

They do TNT by AC/DC, and Joey Belladonna is delivering a powerhouse vocal performance while the rest of the band seems a little uninterested. Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t is the first new song, and Anthrax seems to be getting through this fairly well.

Joey thanks Maiden and starts I Am The Law.

Anthrax go into Antisocial, and Adrian Smith watches from the side of the stage!

7:05 pm – The arena is getting crowded, and Anthrax are due on stage in just a few minutes.

7:00 pm – The merch stand! There is no event shirt for the Spain gigs, surely a disappointment to many. Also, no tour book or posters. Here’s what you can spend your money to get:

6:00 pm – Doors are open at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, and these fans are getting ready for a night to remember:

5:15 pm – En Vivo! is playing on the big screens at Hell Awaits. People are getting anxious for the gig now, and we’ll soon be on our way to the Palau Sant Jordi!

4:30 pm – They serve Trooper at Hell Awaits. Of course.

4:15 pm – The meet-up at Hell Awaits is in full swing. Eddie has also arrived in Barcelona, chained up and pissed off:

4:00 pm – There’s a lot of talk and rumors about the setlist in Barcelona today. Maiden Revelations try to stay clear of it, sustaining whatever surprises might be in store for tonight.

1:30 pm – Getting the tickets and checking out the venue, Palau Sant Jordi. The Catalonia weather is celebrating the start of the tour:

1:00 pm – The eagle has landed! Maiden Revelations is ready for action in Barcelona, and here’s proof:

11:30 am – Here’s a pic of the Maiden stage, set up at the Palau Sant Jordi, from the venue’s official Facebook page. Thanks to IMOC member Mirko_Metal_88 for pointing it out! As you can see, the basic set-up is identical with last year:

8:30 am – Maiden Revelations’ flight is soon heading out of Oslo. Stay tuned for updates as the opening day of the tour gets underway…

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MONDAY MAY 26

Tuesday is a big day for all Iron Maiden maniacs out there. The Maiden England World Tour will resume for a final leg across Europe. We know it’s the last ever tour based on the 1980s. AND, we know Maiden will play a revamped set, not the same as in 2012-13. Naturally the excitement level is tremendous (we’re shaking with adrenalin!), and needless to say – Maiden Revelations will be present at both Spanish shows to give our readers a full report.

Torgrim will be in the venue and Christer will edit and publish all the info here as we go.

While we’re waiting for Tuesday, here is an article we wrote a while back on what we think we can expect from the 2014 edition of the Maiden England World Tour. Enjoy and speak soon!