**IRON MAIDEN** singer **Bruce Dickinson** played an abbreviated set with his solo band last night (Saturday, September 13) at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after the P.A. (public address) system cut out a couple of times.
During the twelfth song of his set, **"Book Of Thel"**, **Bruce** found himself mid-performance when the entire P.A. system went out: mics, instruments, everything. After turning the stage monitors toward the audience, the P.A. was temporarily restored, with **Dickinson** and his band resumed playing **"Book Of Thel"** and launched into **"Road To Hell"**, only to experience a second P.A. failure. At that point, **Bruce** took the opportunity to perform a cappella versions of **IRON MAIDEN**'s **"Revelations"** and the U.S. national anthem, **"The Star-Spangled Banner"**, which he is also scheduled to sing at Sunday's (September 14) **Pittsburgh Steelers** home opener against the **Seattle Seahawks** at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. Eventually, it was determined that the P.A. was "completely dead", forcing **Dickinson** and his band to end the show early, apparently without playing the last three songs which were on the printed setlist: **"Tears Of The Dragon"**, **"Gods Of War"** and **"The Tower"**.
**Dickinson** first revealed that he would sing the U.S. national anthem at an **NFL** game during a recent interview with soprano **Elizabeth Zharoff**. He said at the time: "I'll let you in to a secret. So, I've got to sing the national anthem in Pittsburgh for the **Pittsburgh Steelers**. They've asked me to do this. I'm going to do it a cappella and stuff, and as long as you start at the right place, you're good to go."
**Dickinson** has a show later in the day on Sunday in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since the **Pittsburgh Steelers** game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, it should allow for plenty of time for **Bruce** to get to the Silver Spring gig.
Joining the **IRON MAIDEN** singer on **"The Mandrake Project Live 2025"** North American tour is once again his 2024 backing band, featuring **Dave Moreno** (drums),**Mistheria** (keyboards) and **Tanya O'Callaghan** (bass),alongside the group's latest additions, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum-credited producer **Philip Näslund** and Swiss session and touring guitarist **Chris Declercq** (who played on **Dickinson**'s **"Rain On The Graves"** single). **Bruce**'s longtime guitarist and collaborator **Roy "Z" Ramirez** is not part of the touring lineup.
**Dickinson** kicked off **"The Mandrake Project Live 2025"** North American tour on August 22 at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California.
**Bruce** is touring in support of his latest solo album, **"The Mandrake Project"**, which arrived on March 1, 2024 via **BMG**.
**Dickinson**'s reworked version of his classic 1994 album **"Balls To Picasso"**, now titled **"More Balls To Picasso"**, arrived on July 25.
**Dickinson** made his recording debut with **IRON MAIDEN** on the **"Number Of The Beast"** album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by **Blaze Bayley**, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band **WOLFSBANE**. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former **MAIDEN** guitarist **Adrian Smith**, **Dickinson** rejoined the band in 1999 along with **Smith**.
