Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson honored the United States on the 24th anniversary of September 11 by performing the national anthem during his solo show at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts.
The tribute took place just days before Dickinson’s scheduled performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, September 14, at Acrisure Stadium.
Before starting the anthem, Dickinson addressed the audience with his trademark humor.
”So I’m gonna let you in to a dirty little secret that is gonna happen on Sunday. I’ve been asked to sing the American national anthem at a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Now, I’ve never done this before in my f**king life, and I’m trying to avoid the embarrassment of reading the f**king words off the back of my hand. Look, no writing on the back of my hand, or failure to read the auto cue because, f**k me, there is no auto cue, all right?! So because today is the kind of — it can’t have escaped your attention that today is 9/11, right? And on this day, on that day, I was in New York City and I witnessed all the s**t that happened.
“So normally I do a little bit of like an a cappella — that’s just me singing on my own — a bit of ‘Revelations’,” he continued. “But I thought, with your kind permission, I would have a go at the American national anthem, because it’s the only f**king time I’m gonna practice it.
“We were down in Brazil [a few days ago for a festival appearance] and I was talking to the punk band, mates of mine, Bad Religion,” Dickinson added. “And the guy went, ‘Oh, you’re gonna sing the anthem?’ He said, ‘F**king make sure you start low.’”
He went on to sing several lines of the anthem, with fans in the crowd occasionally joining along.
