Power Trip 2023: Iron Maiden kicks off the festival with its signature theatrics

As Iron Maiden kicked off the first set of Power Trip performing "Caught Somewhere In Time," frontman Bruce Dickinson appeared as if he stepped into the present day from a futuristic apocalyptic sci-fi film set dressed in a tattered gray overcoat, visor sunglasses, a black tank top, acid-wash pants and black combat boots.

The British metal icons started 20 minutes late and didn't appear on stage until after UFO's "Doctor, Doctor" and the Vangelis-composed theme for the 1982 sci-fi post-apocalyptic film "Blade Runner" played as intros.

Dickinson apologized for the tardiness before performing "The Writing On The Wall" and said it was partially due to being "hard to get in" to the site. But he also mentioned the post-apocalypse theme the band was presenting and mentioned the "weird, strange dystopian future" of the modern day. The crowd then had two options — "get f---ed up and do nothing, or get up off your butt, do something about it and try to change what's going down in the world."

"Oh, life is here for your personal pleasure," Dickinson said.

As the stage visuals showed the flux capacitor from the 1985 time travel comedy film "Back to the Future," Dickinson asked how many fans were "time traveling" and if anyone owned a Delorean, a reference to the car used in the film. A man in the crowd yelled that he owned five. Dickinson responded in disbelief but then said the band was going to take fans on a journey through time with "The Time Machine."

The performance suddenly picked up and became louder when Dickinson lost the jacket and came out in a vest to match the acid-wash pants. Maiden kicked things into overdrive during "The Prisoner" and the fan favorite "Can I Play With Madness."

One highlight was the song "Death of the Celts," a more gloomy historical reference song about the Celts defense and stand against the Roman Empire. "You can kill people as much as you want and for as long as you like, but you can never wipe out a culture, language, family or tradition," Dickinson said.

Power Trip 2023: Iron Maiden setlist

The set was similar to recent shows on the band's 2023 tour and also featured songs such as "Alexander the Great," "Fear of the Dark" and "Iron Maiden." For the encore, Maiden finished strong with "Hell on Earth," "The Trooper" and "Wasted Years."

Dickinson closed out the set by saying "we'll see you all again — I promise," hinting at a potential return to the Power Trip stage with another band.

Iron Maiden didn't disappoint and delivered a hard-hitting performance to open the festival on a high note, pleasing the metal gods.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Power Trip 2023: Iron Maiden kicks off festival with theatrics