Bruce Dickinson
February 22, 2022
The Majestic Theatre
Dallas, TX
Review by Michelle Johnson
Photos by Anthony 'PapaBear' Colao
Metal Comedy Makes A Stop At The Majestic Theatre
Lead singer/songwriter of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, spent an evening with Dallas Texas fans at the beautiful Majestic Theatre. His spoken word performance as he described as "Metal Comedy" was a trip back in time and an inside look of who is Bruce Dickinson.
In an intimate setting, he took us through the young years struggling with authority as a drummer before he joined Iron Maiden as their second lead singer. He candidly shared personal strides such as surviving cancer and becoming a pilot which led to flying Ed Force One, Iron Maiden's private plane, all over the world.
Born in 1958, in the a small town of Workshop England, a place that most have not heard of. He was recognized as energetic lad, in today's society would be considered ADHD. He was unmediated but back then the kids were just let loose to play and run off the energy. At an early age, his parents introduced Bruce to the piano and recruited a vocal instructor.
After giving it a go, the teacher gave up on Bruce and officially noted him as a non-singer. Drums became his instrument of choice where he worked the energy and angst of his youth. He recognized the rhythm therapy and stated “drums are Tourette’s for the soul”.
As a college student, Bruce Dickinson had the opportunity to take advantage of a slush fund offered by his school. Being a huge Deep Purple fan he wanted to bring the band to London’s Queen Mary University where Bruce eventually received a doctrine in music in 1979.
At the time, Deep Purple was doing things that no rock band had done before. Vocalist Ian Gillian was breaking the sound barrier with his vocal styling's creating worldwide attention. Bruce took the money from the college fund and actually promoted and paid for a performance from Deep Purple at the Queen Mary University.
The show being part comedy, part spoken words filled of personal opinions, thoughts, and humorous stories had a full attention of the audience and kept everyone laughing. He ended with a song by Dio that he belted in a cappella. Bruce then took a final bow and jetted off to the next city of his American Spoken Tour.
Big Thanks to Todd Nakamine for all his help getting the JAM Magazine staff setup to review this show. It was truly a night to remember!
