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Guns N’ Roses were the toughest support act that Iron Maiden ever had to follow, according to frontman Bruce Dickinson.
The singer makes the revelation in a new interview with Metal Hammer, saying that the Los Angeles rockers brought “angst and venom”, whereas the British metal band were in their “proggy” era, touring to promote 1988’s maximalist Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.
“Back in the day, the toughest support act we ever had was Guns N’ Roses in America [in 1988],” Dickinson tells writer Dave Everley. “They’d just released their first album [1987’s Appetite For Destruction] and were reaching this huge wave of popularity. They were full of angst and venom, where Maiden were a bit proggy – it was around Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.”
Faced with the same question, bassist/founder Steve Harris picks veteran Southern rockers Blackfoot, whom they performed with in 1982, around the release of Maiden’s breakthrough third album, The Number Of The Beast.
“They’re still one of the best bands that ever supported us,” the bassist continues. “I always say that it’s the support band’s job to go out and try to take the audience. They’ve got to go out, give it large, and make the main band work hard.”
He adds that it’s “sometimes hard” for bands to open for Maiden due to how “partisan” the six-piece’s fans are: “I’ve seen it a couple of times where I’ve felt sorry for the support band. They can’t bottle it. The audience can smell fear.”
When they opened for Maiden, Guns N’ Roses were en route to becoming one of the biggest bands in rock’n’roll, Appetite… having topped the US Billboard 200 chart the week it came out before being certified Platinum in the country in April 1988. At time of publication, it is now certified 18-times Platinum in the US and has gone down as one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Although GN’R were a fierce live band in the 80s, their performances have since seemingly declined. Their headline set at Download festival in Donington last weekend received a middling two-and-a-half-star review from Classic Rock.
“Those that are still here are happy to go mad for the likes of Mr Brownstone, Live And Let Die and Sweet Child O’ Mine, but many either drift away or stand looking disinterested during a dragging middle of the set,” wrote journalist Stephen Hill.
“Occasional highs such as a cover of Velvet Revolver’s Slither or the irresistible Rocket Queen stand out, but soon it all starts to feel like a slog when Guns are ruining Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, sounding like a pub band covering Sex Pistols' Black Leather or letting Slash solo for what feels like forever.”
Maiden are also currently touring (albeit to a much warmer reception from the press), as their 50th-anniversary Run For Your Lives trek continues into its second year. Theongoing European leg will end with a performance at the band’s own festival, Eddfest, at Knebworth House in Stevenage, UK on July 11. The Hu, The Darkness, Airbourne, The Almighty, the solo band of ex-Maiden singer Blaze Bayley and more will also populate the bill of the two-day event.
From August to November, Maiden will continue their tour across the Americas and in Asia and Australia. Their final shows of 2026 will be at the K-Arena in Yokohama, Japan on November 24 and 25, after which the band will not return to the stage until 2028 at the earliest.
Read the full interview with Dickinson and Harris in the new Hammer, which hits shelves on Thursday, June 25.
