It took only 37 years for Iron Maiden to fulfill a timeless wish of their fans everywhere and play, for the first time ever, live on stage, their legendary track “Alexander the Great”.
This was their big surprise for the launch of their new ‘Future Past Tour’, which took place on Sunday night with a big concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The metal anthem, which is a tribute to the Greek King, was released in 1986, on the album “Somewhere in Time” and its original duration was 8:35 minutes. Its verses recount the conquests of Alexander the Great, his victory over the Persians, the founding of Alexandria and his death while highlighting his courage, bravery and ambition that led him to create a historical legacy that remains alive today .
The reason why the band had never played this particular piece live remained, for decades, a great mystery. In fact, when they were asked publicly, various excuses were made, such as “that it’s too complicated”, or the one lead singer Bruce Dickinson had said some years ago, that…Adrian Smith doesn’t remember the guitar solo!
In any case the time has come and “Alexander the Great” was finally heard live by the legendary heavy metal band, causing huge excitement to those who were there and enjoyed it.
It’s still not known if Iron Maiden will play the song in all their scheduled concerts. The only thing that is certain is that, unfortunately (and ironically…) we will not hear it in Greece as our country is not included in their tour.
It should be noted that since they revisit the “Somewhere in Time” album, the artwork of which (by the great Derek Riggs) is futuristic and was inspired by the movie “Blade Runner”, the band opens this tour’s live performances with the main theme of the film by our own Vangelis Papathanasiou, who sadly passed away last year.
So, apparently, there is too much Greece in this Maiden tour…
