Live Review: Blaze Bayley - Blackpool

Live Gallery: Blaze Bayley – Academy, Manchester

Live Review: Blaze Bayley – Waterloo Bar, Blackpool

11th October 2026
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price

It was only a couple of years ago that I was at this very venue watching the other Other Maiden singer smash out a superb set of his era-classics. Sadly, Paul Di’Anno passed away shortly after, but he left us with a reminder of those glorious early years.

Blaze’s situation was different to Paul’s in that Maiden were the biggest metal band of the Eighties and music had begun to change, first with Grunge and then with the Nu influences coming out of the US. The Nineties were anything but a purple-patch for the legacy bands we all grew up with: Priest had lost Halford to a solo career, Sabbath and Dio had parted company again after Dehumaniser, and even the likes of Metallica were having an identity crisis with the Load / Reload combination.

History hasn’t been particularly kind to the Blaze albums, but I’ve grown fond of The X Factor over the years and, while Virtual XI isn’t a go-to recorded from the back-catalogue for me, but neither is No Prayer for the Dying. I saw Blaze on both of his tours with Iron Maiden and had seen Wolfsbane more times than I’ve had hot dinners back in the day, so it wasn’t as though they’d plucked him from obscurity.

Mr B has been regular visitor to FY4 over the years and to bring this 30 Year Anniversary show to the coast was a real treat. A little like the Heaven &Hell shows between 2007 and 2009, it allowed Blaze to focus on his contribution to the Maiden legacy.

Goes without saying the UFO’s Doctor Doctor is the intro tape, second single from The X Factor, Lord of the Flies’ edgy early section finds Blaze stalking the stage like a character in the Ed Hunter game. If anyone was under the impression that this era of the band was a second thought, just listen to the singalong. Man on the Edge b-side, Justice of the Peace is an unexpected addition, custom-made to suit Blaze’s vocal style, but maybe not fitting into the overall melancholic dark atmosphere of the album.

Judgement of Heaven and Blood on the World’s hands showed mid-nineties Maiden to be mature and serious, Absolva and former Iced Earth bassist, Luke Appleton, replicating Mr Harris’ ominous four-string intro. Look for the Truth takes us into the first of two Blaze-solo era duos, the first being taken from the millennial debut, Silicone Messiah; Born as a Stranger and The Brave took me back more than any of the Maiden material as my mate Paul never seemed to not be listening to this record back then. The remnants of Virtual XI can certainly be heard throughout and, if proof were needed the first 1998 track, Lightning Strikes Twice, which Absolva guitar partners, Chris Appleton and Tom Atkinson manage with aplomb.

My personal favourite tune from nineties Iron Maiden is The X Factor’s opening epic, Sign of the Cross, which gets a mid-set airing. Different from the version Bruce and co played on the Legacy of the Beast shows, missing some of the gothic theatrics, but there’s only so much can be achieved in a small bar verses a mammoth arena. No matter, it’s still an awesome song in and of itself, and always great to hear live.

A second diversion into solo material territory comes from 2016’s Infinite Entanglement, the galloping Calling You Home and A Thousand Years prove Blaze’s post-Maiden quality has remained high across the decades. Virtual XI’s When Two Worlds Collide always felt a bit by the numbers to me, but the following The Clansman is a bone-fide classic, epic in scope and superbly handled by Absolva, calls of ‘Freedom’ filling the Waterloo – from who? Don’t care, we just want freedom… 2am slows things down to with a song that suits Blaze’s lower baritone vocal and concluded the 1995 record on a sombre note.

Virtual XI’s closing moment, Como Estais Amigos still stands as one of Maiden’s best kept secrets in my opinion and is given a warm reception and a tear-eyed appreciation. Best of the Beast’s single, Virus, arrived in 1996 and fit into the band’s then interest in all things digital. The Paul-era is represented with the punky Wrathchild, which is greeted like a long-lost friend. The Falling Down-inspired Man on the Edge, The X Factor’s first single drops and voices are raised for that killer chorus; Chris and Tom appear to be having a whale of a time with those conversing guitar parts and the familiar Maiden gallop rumbles along at full tilt.

Futureal barrels along with the tradition of blasting album openers like Be Quick or Be Dead, Aces High and Tailgunner; bristling before the heavy hitters come along. There’s a break from the Iron Maiden with a combination of Steve Harris’ admitted influences of UFO and Thin Lizzy, as well as a heap of soloing from Absolva themselves.

The much-maligned The Angel and the Gambler closes the set out, leaving one to wonder why all the hate for this one?

Blaze’s Maiden experience was probably never meant to be permanent, with the relationship between the band and Mr Dickinson being too strong to easily break. As evidenced by the appearance at Eddfest in the summer, Blaze is a part of the legacy of the beast and his contribution stands as testimony to that.

And to anyone who is disparaging to that legacy I simply ask: How many Iron Maiden records did you sing on? That works on everyone, except Bruce Dickinson!