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British metal icons Iron Maiden landed Ed Force One at Pearson Airport this weekend as The Book of Souls World Tour 2016 invaded the Air Canada Centre last night (April 3rd) amidst record snowfall in Toronto! The sold out crowd were awestruck by the band's new stage show introduced by Ed Force One in a classic cartoon as Eddie's hand reaches from the depths of hell to propel the plane to the 35 countries the tour is visiting! Yes, another long-haul Iron Maiden adventure piloted by singer Bruce Dickinson, who held the 14,000-plus crowd in the palm of his able-bodied hands all night.

With UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” as the band’s intro song, they kicked into “Eternity Should Fail” and “Speed Of Light” both from the The Book Of Souls, which is a gold seller (40,000 units) in Canada and “this close” to platinum status (80,000 units).

The obligatory roll-call of Maiden staples we’re peppered throughout the set which included “The Trooper”, “Powerslave”, Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Fear Of The Dark, “Iron Maiden” and the highlight and rarely performed “Children Of The Damned”. With Steve Harris leading the bass charge, Nicko McBrain hidden by his massive drum kit and the three amigos guitarists - Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and the prancing Janice Gers - doing string battle, Dickinson said it was "an amazing fucking night!"

Yes indeed sir it was, with the crowd frothing (Trooper beer reference!) with the encore “The Number Of The Beast”, the glorious “Blood Brothers” and touching finale “Wasted Years”.