IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson sang the U.S. national anthem earlier today (Sunday, September 14) prior to Pittsburgh Steelers‘ home opener against the Seattle Seahawks at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Video of his appearance can be seen below.
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 performed Saturday night (September 13) in the Pittsburgh area and then has a show later in the day on Sunday in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since the Pittsburgh Steelers game was scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, Bruce will have plenty of time to get to the Silver Spring gig.
Bruce first sang the U.S. national anthem during his September 11 solo concert at the House Of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to launching into the U.S. national anthem, Dickinson told the audience at the House Of Blues: ”So I’m gonna let you in to a dirty little secret that is gonna happen on Sunday. I’ve been asked to sing the American national anthem at a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Now, I’ve never done this before in my fucking life, and I’m trying to avoid the embarrassment of reading the fucking words off the back of my hand. Look, no writing on the back of my hand, or failure to read the auto cue because, fuck me, there is no auto cue, all right?! So because today is the kind of — it can’t have escaped your attention that today is 9/11, right? And on this day, on that day, I was in New York City and I witnessed all the shit that happened.
“So normally I do a little bit of like an a cappella — that’s just me singing on my own — a bit of [the IRON MAIDEN song] ‘Revelations’,” he continued. “But I thought, with your kind permission, I would have a go at the American national anthem, because it’s the only fucking time I’m gonna practice it.
“We were down in Brazil [a few days ago for a festival appearance] and I was talking to the punk band, mates of mine, BAD RELIGION,” Dickinson added. “And the guy went, ‘Oh, you’re gonna sing the anthem?’ He said, ‘Fucking make sure you start low.'”
Bruce then sang a few lines of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, occasionally accompanied by fans in the crowd.
Dickinson told Travel Trade Gazette back in 2012 about his experience on September 11, 2001: “I’d just completed my line training and was all signed off to fly, and was in New York with the band. It was a really sunny day, and I was sitting on the roof of the hotel by the pool. I had a Boeing 757 manual on my lap, reading up, when a little old lady walked up to the pool attendant and asked if it was true that a plane had flown into the twin towers. I thought it must have been a small private plane, and went back to my reading. Then more people arrived, and someone said it was some sort of airliner, and I thought, ‘Oh boy…'”
In 2015, the singer described to “Nights With Alice Cooper” the scene he witnessed shortly after the World Trade Center towers came down. He said: “It was strange, because there was no panic of anybody. Everybody was just… There was just an air of ‘unreality.’ There was no traffic. It was a lovely day — a beautiful day — and I was just walking around and looking at people. People were drinking at bars, having a beer. And it got to the evening, and it was obviously pretty somber. Nobody was cracking any jokes; there were no funnies about this one. And to this day, I can’t think of any.”
He continued: “I wandered around the next day and I thought, ‘I don’t know what to do now. I’ll go and give some blood.’ So I had a wander around and found some way to go and give blood. And it was queuing around the block. And all they were doing was the guy was coming around saying, ‘Okay, here you go. Come back tomorrow. We don’t need any blood. There are no survivors.’ So I went and wrote a piece of paper saying, ‘If we need your blood, we’ll give you a call.'”
Dickinson went on to say: “Then the wind changed. And this, kind of, pall of gray shit started slowly advancing up towards Midtown. And up ’till then, upper Manhattan up by Central Park, you couldn’t smell it. And I was out taking a walk, just walking around, because there was nothing else to do. And I could smell this acrid smell and I thought, “I’m not sure whether or not being in an air-conditioned building is better for you or it makes no difference whatsoever, but you know what? I’m gonna go sit in my room, ’cause this has got bad shit in it, this stuff.’ And, of course, they’re now discovering exactly how much awful stuff was in it. I mean, I just got a quick sniff of it.”
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.