The historic Power Trip festival kicked off on Friday night (October 6th) in Indio, California. The three-day event features six of the biggest hard rock and heavy metal acts in the world, with two bands performing each night.
Tens of thousands of fans descended upon the Empire Polo Club, the same site where Coachella is held every year. They were greeted by a giant devil-horn-shaped cactus, letting them know that they were in for a weekend of legendary rock music.
Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden had the honor of playing the first night, with Maiden taking the stage first at 6:55 p.m., about 10 minutes later than the advertised 6:45 set time.
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Instead of playing a “greatest hits” set, as could have been expected at an event such as Power Trip, Maiden stuck with their current “Future Past World Tour” setlist, which features the band playing songs predominantly from their latest album, 2021’s Senjutsu, and their 1986 LP Somewhere in Time.
At one point, singer Bruce Dickinson told the crowd about Senjutsu, “If you haven’t heard it, tough shit.” While that may not gone over well with some fans, the frontman did get a rousing response when he yelled, “Scream for me, Indio,” during “The Prisoner.”
Both “Senjutsu Eddie” and “Somwhere in Time Eddie” made appearances during the set. Outside the two aforementioned albums, Maiden played such classics as “Iron Maiden, “Fear of the Dark,” and “The Trooper.”
Guns N’ Roses were slated to go on at 9:25 p.m., but instead took the stage at 10 p.m. That didn’t stop Axl Rose and company from tearing through a 29-song set that ended at roughly 1 a.m. The band kicked things off with “It’s So Easy,” one of eight songs they played from Appetite for Destruction, including “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and the set-closing “Paradise City.”
Rose dedicated the band’s cover of “Live and Let Die” to Sir Paul McCartney, who released the song 50 years ago with Wings. And GN’R’s performance of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” meant that the band played songs by two acts who were part of the classic-rock-themed Desert Trip festival seven years ago at the same location.
Fireworks went off during Guns N’ Roses’ final bow, but Power Trip is far from over. On Saturday night, AC/DC (playing their first show in seven years) and Judas Priest (filling in for the originally scheduled Ozzy Osbourne) will take the stage, followed on Sunday by Metallica and Tool.
See photos of Iron Maiden below by Consequence photographer Alex Kluft. As of this time, no pictures of Guns N’ Roses have been made available by the festival. Fan-filmed video footage of both bands can also be seen below, as can each of their setlists.
Photo Gallery – Iron Maiden and festival scene at Power Trip (click to expand and scroll through):
Guns N’ Roses’ Setlist:
It’s So Easy
Bad Obsession
Chinese Democracy
Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
Pretty Tied Up
Mr. Brownstone
Welcome to the Jungle (Link Wray’s “Rumble” intro)
Hard Skool
Absurd
Double Talkin’ Jive
Reckless Life
You Could Be Mine
Estranged
Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
Down on the Farm (UK Subs cover)
Rocket Queen
T.V. Eye (The Stooges cover)
Better
Anything Goes
Civil War (With Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child outro)
Slash Guitar Solo
Sweet Child o’ Mine
November Rain
Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
Patience
Coma
Nightrain
Paradise City
Iron Maiden Setlist:
Caught Somewhere in Time
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Writing on the Wall
Days of Future Past
The Time Machine
The Prisoner
Death of the Celts
Can I Play With Madness
Heaven Can Wait
Alexander the Great
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Encore:
Hell on Earth
The Trooper
Wasted Years