Iron Maiden/Megadeth/Anthrax @ Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison, NJ 9/6/26
Bill: Iron Maiden/Megadeth/Anthrax
Venue: Sports Illustrated Stadium, 600 Cape May St., Harrison, NJ
Date: Sunday 9/6/26
Ticket: $137 (Pit with 2 $25 off Live Nation Coupons on Ticketmaster)
8:50pm Iron Maiden
Active: 1975 (London, UK)
Latest Release: Senjutsu (Parlophone/BMG, 2021)
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7:05 Megadeth
Active: 1983 (Los Angeles, CA)
Latest Release: Megadeth (BLKIIBLK, 2026)
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6:10pm Anthrax
Active: 1981 (Queens, NY)
Latest Release: Cursum Perficio (Nuclear Blast/Megaforce, out 9/18/26), XL (MCMLXXXI-MMXXI) (Not on Label, 2022)
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I have to say this Iron Maiden experience was different than the Iron Maiden experience I had at Barclays Center a couple years ago. First off, this was a greatest hits tour with a near perfect main setlist with a "pop" encore that was conceptual, since it was the 40th anniversary of Somewhere In Time, an album that I ignored completely after hearing "Wasted Years." However, in the context of this show it sounded great and made sense.
1986 was not the year for Maiden or Priest as they were both experimenting with lighter sounds at a time when I was seeking music that was more raw and heavy. The openers Megadeth & Anthrax both come from the thrash generation and it's aesthetic after NWOBHM and both evolved into more commercial entities that still release new music. I hadn't checked in on either for a while. I first saw Anthrax in 1987 in Springfield, MA on a concrete exhibition hall floor next to the Civic Center with Exodus & Celtic Frost opening. I last saw them in the John Bush era at a surprise local club gig at CBGB's. They did something similar a couple nights ago at the new location St. Vitus club that was sold out, but knowing I was going to see them tonight was enough of a catch up. They were on at 6:10pm so they had only 8 songs to squeeze out all the hits and a new one from from the forthcoming Cursum Perficio called "For The Kids." Ehhhh. The kids got their moshing jones out but more about that later. Still the songs that I liked then: "Caught In A Mosh," "Indians," "Got The Time" covering Joe Jackson and the Trust cover nicking Skrewdriver "Anti Social" all sounded great in the compressed clock. It made me feel bad I missed the St. Vitus show, so that says something.
Megadeth are a little different. I first heard them on the Bullets compilation Combat put out and they still play that song "Peace Sells..But Whose Buying?" It remains their best and Dave Mustane's favorite. Megadeth's new one went to #1 on Billboard when it came out last January. I was listening to it this morning and it was alot of grumpy grousing. I liked it. One friend of mine told me to enjoy the beer break between Antrax and Iron Maiden, but I didn't realize Mustane has flipped politically. Wasn't he youth spokesman of the DNC? I'm guilty for not having kept up. Well whatever, I don't care, I liked what I heard this morning of the grumpy old man nihilist record and the show had their hits "Holy Wars," "Hanger 18," "Symphony of Destruction" and opened with the new album opener "Tipping Point." I bet he doesn't retire after all, he should play until he can't or dies as should everyone who ever played, good or bad.
I tried to stick to the "Respect The Band Keep Your Cell Phone In Your Pocket" bulletins on the screen and held firm during my favorite part of the show despite cell phones everywhere and a Mosh pit (!) opening up directly behind me as my favorite songs from my favorite Maiden album Killers were unleashed "Murders In The Rue Morgue" into "Wrathchild" into "Killers" into "Phantom Of The Opera" but I gave up as I was I was behind a phalanx of phones when "The Number Of The Beast" came on and letting girls escape to go in front of me, getting me closer to the stupid millennial circle pit. My friend escaped to the side, but I was like fuck it I'm getting photo and clips after all, although not the drunken high quality ones I got in Brooklyn on the other side of the stage a couple years ago, but a little bit of sober slop. Still, I kept it to the minimum and got some things I liked. At this point Iron Maiden should do Yondr bags where everybody is banned phone usage like their old openers Ghost do. Self policing doesn't work and neither does gestapo enforcement liked they did at Forest Hills for Paul Simon & Bob Dylan or in Jersey 10 years ago for the Misfits. Just make everyone put their shit in a locked bag and that's it. 25,000 will just have to suck it up.
The first tour I ever saw Maiden on was Powerslave in Worcester, 1985 with Twisted Sister opening. Tonight we got a healthy dose of that album "2 Minutes To Midnight" into the title track into "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The pit had slowed down by this point and descended into the annoying sit on the floor "Row!" trend that I first saw from above at King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard from above a couple years ago. They were annoyingly yelling in unison louder than the quiet solo portion of the song. They suck. Anyway, it was cool to hear "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" then the tied for best song of the Dickinson years "Run To The Hills." When Bruce Dickinson returned to the band, the NYC Hammerstein Ballroom show had that song as an encore aborted because someone threw a beer and fried out the board. There would be no frying this song out at the end tonight. It was amusing watching this song's chorus being pantomimed by young girls in the front shown on the big screen making a "hills" motion with their arm as the lyrical violence unfolds.
Iron Maiden has long been an International with a capital I band with heavy South American appeal on top of their UK/Europe and of course established American dominance. However, it seems they have a new and even bigger audience now that packs out 2 stadium nights outside NYC in a Soccer Stadium that rarely has concerts and seats 25,000. They don't mind so much that after "Aces High," the encore has "Fear Of The Dark" (advertised on the marquee as the bookend to the "Iron Maiden" theme song that closed out the main set as always) and "Wasted Years" replacing "Running Free" and "Sanctuary" on a best of show. Given the Somewhere In Time anniversary and what was delivered throughout the evening, plus having seen the last tour which could be viewed as a complimentary setlist for the still latest Senjutsu album five years out, it made sense.
FOR FURTHER REVIEW:
Iron Maiden @ Barclays Center, Brookyn, NY 11/2/24
Various Artists-Nativity In Black: A Tribute To Black Sabbath (1994)
Megadeth-Cryptic Writings (1997)
Joe Jackson-Look Sharp! (1979)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard @ Forest Hills Stadium, Queens, NY 8/16/24
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