Bruce Dickinson doesn’t remember much about one of the more unlikely rock crossovers of the summer — and he’s the first to admit it.
The Iron Maiden singer has been reflecting on his surprise cameo with The Coverups, the covers band led by Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong, and in a new interview with “On The Red Carpet” he painted the whole thing as a bleary, jet-lagged blur.
Speaking about the July 23 appearance in San Diego, where he stepped up to sing the Mott The Hoople staple “All The Young Dudes,” Dickinson was refreshingly candid about his state of mind.
He recalled (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “I’d done the song before. I actually… I did the song as … It was a single off my very first solo album. It was 6:00 o’clock in the morning for me [after landing in San Diego from Europe]… 6:00 o’clock in the morning and I’d not been to bed all night because I was obviously jet-lagged and all the rest of it. But Billie Joe had asked if I could get up and do ‘All The Young Dudes‘. And I was, like, ‘Yeah, I could probably do that.’ So hopefully I did. Not too sure I remember much about it, really, but it’s all preserved on YouTube in all its awful, awful splendor.”
The song choice was a natural one. “All The Young Dudes” was written by David Bowie, who handed it to Mott The Hoople in 1972 when the band was on the verge of splitting; their Bowie-produced recording became the hit that saved them. Dickinson has his own claim on it too, having cut the song for his 1990 solo debut Tattooed Millionaire.
The performance came during The Coverups‘ headlining slot at Fandom and Z2’s annual party, the unofficial launch of San Diego Comic-Con weekend. Held at FLOAT inside the Hard Rock Hotel and presented by Xbox‘s “Halo: Campaign Evolved,” the night ran through a lengthy 26-song set, with Dickinson‘s unannounced arrival landing a few songs in and instantly becoming one of the weekend’s talking points. Backing him were Armstrong on guitar plus a crew of Green Day insiders — guitarist Jason White, bassist Bill Schneider and drummer Chris Dugan.
The Coverups have built their reputation on exactly this kind of night. Rather than dust off Green Day material, the band digs into a handpicked mix of punk, power pop, new wave and classic rock favorites, aiming for the loose, high-energy feel of a sweaty club show stacked with deep cuts and singalongs.
Dickinson‘s presence in San Diego was not a coincidence. Alongside his music, he is a serious comics enthusiast, and he was at Comic-Con to present the Eisner Awards and to appear at a signing booth for Z2 Comics — the publisher that co-hosted the Fandom party.
He and Z2 have worked together before. The company published his science-fantasy graphic novel series The Mandrake Project, the companion piece to his 2024 solo album of the same name — his first solo record in nearly two decades.
