Opening for Iron Maiden has long been one of the toughest gigs in heavy metal but every now and then, a support act turns the tables and makes the headliners sweat. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, two of the band’s pillars, frontman Bruce Dickinson and bassist and founder Steve Harris, looked back on the opening bands that gave them the hardest time, and their answers spanned two very different eras of the group’s history.
Speaking about the toughest band Iron Maiden ever had to follow, Dickinson didn’t hesitate, pointing to a young and hungry Guns N’ Roses during the band’s 1988 American tour. At the time, the Los Angeles outfit was riding the explosive momentum of their 1987 debut, Appetite For Destruction, while Maiden were leaning into the more elaborate sound of that year’s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.
“Back in the day, the toughest support act we ever had was Guns N’ Roses in America [in 1988],” Dickinson said. “They’d just released their first album [1987’s Appetite For Destruction] and were reaching this huge wave of popularity. They were full of angst and venom, where Maiden were a bit proggy – it was around Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.”
The contrast couldn’t have been sharper. While Maiden were the established metal institution, Guns N’ Roses were the raw, dangerous newcomers and Appetite For Destruction would go on to top the U.S. Billboard 200 and become one of the best-selling albums in history, certified 18-times Platinum in the United States as of this writing.
Faced with the same question, Harris reached further back, naming Southern rock veterans Blackfoot, who supported Maiden in 1982 around the release of the band’s breakthrough third album, The Number Of The Beast. For the bassist, Blackfoot set a standard that has stuck with him.
“They’re still one of the best bands that ever supported us,” Harris told. “I always say that it’s the support band’s job to go out and try to take the audience. They’ve got to go out, give it large, and make the main band work hard.”
Harris also offered a candid look at why opening for Iron Maiden is such a daunting task, pointing to the fierce loyalty of the band’s fanbase. He admitted it can be “sometimes hard” for support acts to win over such a “partisan” crowd, and that he has occasionally felt for the bands thrown into the deep end.
“I’ve seen it a couple of times where I’ve felt sorry for the support band. They can’t bottle it. The audience can smell fear,” he added.
The reflections come during a landmark stretch for the band. Iron Maiden are deep into their 50th-anniversary “Run For Your Lives” world tour, a massive trek that has them booked for dozens of shows across 2026, with a setlist drawn entirely from their first nine studio albums.
Later this year, the heavy metal legends will bring the monumental tour across the Atlantic. As announced last October, the North American run will hit stadiums and major amphitheaters throughout the United States and Canada. The trek will also feature a headlining performance at the Louder Than Life festival in Kentucky on September 17, 2026.
