Iron Maiden Thrashes Symbolic Friday the 13th Show in Melbourne
Iron Maiden played AAMI Park in Melbourne on Friday, November 13, on the Run For Your Lives Tour, with Megadeth in support. Bruce Dickinson, 68, led a show of flamethrowers, a towering Eddie and a near-15-minute Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Iron Maiden played AAMI Park in Melbourne on Friday, November 13, 2026, on the Run For Your Lives Tour, and the British metal band thrashes symbolic Friday the 13th into a five-star night, according to a review of the show.
The date suited a band whose look is built on demonic imagery. Clouds gathered over the stadium as a dedicated crowd arrived in flannel shirts and denim vests covered in band badges.
A crowd across generations
The audience was mixed: Gen Xers with their children, young women, teenage boys and ageing metalheads.
Iron Maiden have played with various line-ups for 50 years and have recorded 17 studio albums. They are frequent visitors to Australia and last played Melbourne two years ago. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson, a qualified pilot, flew the band to Australia himself on some earlier tours.
Megadeth set the pace
Support act Megadeth are thrash metal veterans. Singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine played with Metallica before he was fired in 1983, reportedly for substance abuse.
Mustaine then formed Megadeth. On Friday the band played Symphony of Destruction and Peace Sells… but Who's Buying? with what the review called all the punch and precision of their records.
Eddie, flames and a 15-minute poem
Iron Maiden walked on as dusk and rain closed in. Guitars pointed skyward and solos arched back from the first song.
Three guitarists shared the stage, not counting bassist Steve Harris. The band draws on history and classic literature, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a metal retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, ran almost 15 minutes.
Dickinson is 68 but kept the vocal range and stamina of a man half his age. He had the crowd belting out the chorus and shaking fists during Run to the Hills. The Number of the Beast drew a chanting singalong.
The production added flamethrowers and a towering skeleton mascot called Eddie, who appeared at key moments. Dickinson changed costume several times. During Hallowed Be Thy Name he sang from a cage raised above the stage.
The night ended with an encore featuring Fear of the Dark. The reviewer saw no reason Iron Maiden could not return in two years to conquer Melbourne again, adding: "If we're lucky."
