Iron Maiden performs during Aftershock Festival at Discovery Park in Sacramento, Calif. on Oct. 12, 2024. Photos courtesy Aftershock Festival. AFTERSHOCK 2024: • Slayer reunites for explosive Thursday headlining set • Slipknot rocks like its 1999 on fest’s second day SACRAMENTO — Saturday night’s Aftershock headliners were proof that…

Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy performs live at The Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in 1978. Photo by Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images. Nov. 5 is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction day. So it’s time to remember once again that the Rock and Roll Hall…

Iron Maiden performs at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, Calif. on Sept. 27, 2022. Nate McKinley/STAFF. CONCORD, Calif. — Forty years ago this month, a relatively young Iron Maiden came through the Bay Area for its second go-round on The Number of the Beast tour. The band wasn’t even headlining yet,…

Insert Foot vs. Iron Maiden lovers. I’m getting a lot of feedback (death threats) on my semi-negative review of the new Iron Maiden record, Senjutsu, which I’m not reading because I’m a coward. But I suspect I know what they’re saying, and it’s probably not pleasant. My fragile ego…

Iron Maiden and I are very dear, old friends. I loved Killers so much 40 years ago (or at least the cover) that 13-year-old me took the bus to another town to buy the T-shirt. They had nothing in my size, so I bought the small one into which…

Insert Foot vs. Iron Maiden haters. If you didn’t notice, it’s time to get hysterical again over Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selections. I don’t get a say in the critic’s vote, which I accepted a long time ago. One doesn’t give Metallica’s St. Anger a positive review…

White Zombie, ‘Make Them Die Slowly.’ So first off, has anyone told you to vote yet? Yes? That’s literally all you’ve heard for over a month? Good. Well, do that, if only so turnout is so high we don’t have to deal with the nagging again in a couple…

Insert Foot vs. boyfriends and National Daughters Day. Social media told me Saturday was National Daughters Day, which I didn’t know existed. My first thought was to wonder if Iron Maiden celebrates “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter” day. My second thought was to think my first thought was…

Smoke on the water. The western span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge photographed on Sept. 9, 2020. Jane Hu/STAFF. There’s a lot going on in the world that could inspire a column, even if I already wrote one of them in advance. But, like most of the rest…

Iron Maiden performs at Oakland Arena on Sept. 10, 2019. Photo courtesy: John McMurtrie/Iron Maiden. OAKLAND – Heavy metal fans were out in full force on Tuesday at Oakland Arena. Denim was on display, vests were vintage and patches ranged from Sodom to Hirax and all shades of thrash…