The King of Clubs, located on Columbus’ northern side, has quickly made a name for itself for all of the right reasons. Time and again, seemingly week after week they are announcing new concerts for their venue that are meeting a need in the city. The Al Rosa Villa is gone and The Newport and Kemba Live venues have largely ignored metal and hard rock acts for the past several years. The King of Clubs has risen to the challenge and filled that void for the most loyal fans in music.

The Iron Maidens, the world famous “only female tribute to Iron Maiden”, returned to the club for their third visit in as many years on Saturday night. While it may have felt like deja vu for most of the band, one member was making her debut for the Columbus venue. Shani Kimelman is currently filling in as one of the guitarists while Courtney Cox is doing the same for the Swiss metal band Burning Witches. Having only been on the road with the Maidens for a week or so, Kimelman handled her duties wonderfully and traded off some of heavy metal’s most famous guitar solos with long time lead guitarist Nikki Stringfield. As always, bassist Wanda Ortiz had the tall task of handling Steve Harris’ iconic bass lines. Lead vocalist Kirsten Rosenberg brought the “Air Raid Siren” screams to new highs and on some of the most challenging songs, I thought that she was at her best. This quite possibly may have been her best performance of the five times that I’ve caught this band.

I must say, though, as my wife has started to dabble in the world of drums herself; I have started to have an even greater appreciation for the work that goes on at the back of the stage. Drummers tend to get forgotten or taken for granted, but percussionist Linda McDonald really does hold it all together. With the famous riffs, one of the world’s greatest vocalists, and heavy metal’s greatest bass player; it’s easy to kind of forget about the drumming in the Iron Maiden catalog. I spent some time watching and listening to McDonald’s drum work in particular and she flat out kicked ass up there. While she might not be front and center of the stage, her role and performance cannot be minimized.

As usual, the ladies played a nice mix that represented a large portion of the Maiden catalog. Typically, they do play at least one of their more modern tracks (post-1995), this time they did not. This year’s visit was all about the classics and they pulled it off flawlessly. Highlights included the first of the Iron Maiden “epics”, “The Phantom of the Opera” from their 1980 debut album; as well as “Deja Vu” (a criminally underrated track) and of course the greatest metal song of all time; “Hallowed Be Thy Name“.

The Iron Maidens Set List 7/8/2023 Columbus, Ohio

• 1. Aces High (1984)
• 2. Die With Your Boots On (1983)
• 3. Flight of Icarus (1983)
• 4. Wasted Years (1986)
• 5. The Trooper (1983)
• 6. The Prisoner (1982)
• 7. Phantom Of The Opera (1980)
• 8. The Clairvoyant (1988)
• 9. Another Life (1981)
• 10. Fear Of The Dark (1992)
• 11. The Number Of The Beast (1982)
• 12. Deja Vu (1986)
• *Encore*
• 13. Hallowed Be Thy Name (1982)
• 14. Run To The Hills (1982)