Vienna, July 17, 2025
Ernst Happel Stadium
Run For Your Lives Tour
Opening band: Avatar
I arrived at the stadium at almost 19:00. The First thing that got my attention was that there were heavily armed police in the venue, but then I remembered that a while ago, there was some terrorist threat before a Taylor Swift concert in this same venue. The security was robust, even Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden’s singer) mentioned it jokingly in the concert that he almost couldn’t get in.
Now I got to see the opening band… Avatar.
Avatar
Avatar is a Swedish metal band, formed in 2001. The band has released nine studio albums.
Their music sounded super heavy, death metal-like, but with more traditional heavy metal vocals, with some growls at times.
- Johannes Eckerström – vocals
- Jonas Jarlsby – guitars
- Tim Öhrström – guitars
- Henrik Sandelin – bass
- John Alfredsson – drums
The Show
Avatar’s show started at 19.30. There was an intro song, and then the band came on stage. There was a big gift box in the middle, and from there came Johannes, their singer.
Their performance is very entertaining, very theatrical. After the first song ended, the singer fell as if he were dead.
Before the song Smells Like a Freakshow, the singer deeply smells his armpit. I thought it was funny.
They played for around 30 minutes. They were very grateful to the audience, and the singer spoke a lot of German.
… if you’re not familiar with Avatar, here’s a video:
Setlist
1. Dance Devil Dance
2. Let It Burn
3. In the Airwaves
4. Bloody Angel
5. The Dirt I’m Buried In
6. Captain Goat
7. Smells Like a Freakshow
8. Hail the Apocalypse
—
Iron Maiden
SCREAM FOR ME, VIENNA!!!
Iron Maiden is an English heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist and songwriter Steve Harris.
They’re one of the most influential metal bands and my favorite one, since thanks to them, I discovered the world of metal music. I love them because they combine metal music with history-related songs (among other themes) that are being told in a very theatrical way by their singer, Bruce Dickinson.
Their longtime drummer Nicko McBrain retired from touring in December 2024, so this is the first tour with their current drummer, Simon Dawson, who was the drummer of British Lion, Steve Harris’s other band.
The Run for Your Lives World Tour started in May 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.
Band members
- Bruce Dickinson – vocals
- Dave Murray – guitars
- Adrian Smith – guitars
- Janick Gers – guitars
- Steve Harris – bass
- Simon Dawson – drums
The Show
I’ve seen them 9 times in Chile, Madrid was my 10th Iron Maiden show, and Vienna was my 11th. Since Madrid’s show was very similar to this, you can read my review of that day here… https://metalbere.com/iron-maiden-madrid-2025-concert-review/
Iron Maiden’s show started at 21.00, first as usual, UFO’s song: Doctor, Doctor sounded on the speakers, followed by Maiden’s instrumental The Ides of March, while the roadies took away the black fabrics that were above the instruments.
The band came with Murders in the Rue Morgue. After that, they played Wrathchild and Killers (the first song in which Eddie made his appearance). Following Phantom of the Opera and then the praised The Number of the Beast.
It was the turn for The Clairvoyant, Powerslave, and 2 Minutes to Midnight. Afterward, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Run to the Hills, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
In The Trooper, Eddie made his appearance again dressed as an English trooper while Bruce waved his Union Jack flag.
Bruce was in a jail cell while he sang Hallowed Be Thy Name and then in Iron Maiden, Eddie was on the big screen trying to free himself until he did it.
The band left the stage for a couple of minutes and returned to play the encore with Churchill’s Speech that precedes Aces High, to end the show with Fear of the Dark and Wasted Years. As the lights went on, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life sounded on the speakers, as in any Iron Maiden ending, inviting us to leave.
Even though the setlist was the same that I experienced a couple of weeks ago in Madrid, there were some different perspectives that I got. Firstly, now I was in a better seat, so I got to see the band itself and what they were projecting the whole time through the screens: the band, the audience, images related to the songs, and Eddie.
The stadium wasn’t full. It was a cold night, although it was summer, and everyone was sitting where I was, except for a few people. This was my first time seeing Iron Maiden sitting down, but it was nice to enjoy them like that, for a change.
… if you’re not familiar with Iron Maiden, here’s a video:
Setlist
- Doctor Doctor (UFO song)
- The Ides of March
- Murders in the Rue Morgue
- Wrathchild
- Killers
- Phantom of the Opera
- The Number of the Beast
- The Clairvoyant
- Powerslave
- 2 Minutes to Midnight
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- Run to the Hills
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
- The Trooper
- Hallowed Be Thy Name
- Iron Maiden
Encore:
- Churchill’s Speech
- Aces High
- Fear of the Dark
- Wasted Years
- Always Look on the Bright Side of Life