Tony Moore has a long history with Iron Maiden, the polymathic musician being the first and only full-time official keyboard player for the Heavy Metal giants. With his multimedia show and long-standing friendship with Steve Harris, Tony Moore was the perfect and off-kilter choice as opener for this latest British Lion tour and provided something utterly different to the flavour of the night.
Tony Moore
Cart & Horses – 4 January 2024
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Steve Ritchie
Armed with a projector screen showing films that illustrated the images conjured by his words, a variety of guitars and some outfits with enough glitter and bling to make King Charles feel underdressed at the Coronation, Moore certainly entertained in his own unique style.
Being a one-man band, there was a lot of hard work here, the visuals grabbed the attention from the off. But thankfully, this wasn’t all Moore had in his armoury, with both his guitar playing and songwriting as dazzling as his outfits. 
Leaning heavily into the prog rock style that was a double-edged sword in the nascent Maiden, each number was a multi-faceted trip with some very interesting storytelling, accented by his fretwork and warm vocals.
Each song was a stop on the journey suitably bookended by the tracks Awake and Asleep, the pleasing symmetry and warmth an all-enveloping thing.
Somehow, this different approach to that of the headliners really worked, and with the Harris-encouraged Crazy In The Shed cementing the lineage and vibrant friendship of the two men, Moore charmed and won over what could have been a partisan audience through charm and a savvy pen. 
A precursor to a full UK tour of his own in the Spring, this jaunt opening for British Lion should see a fulsome number of supporters added to his ranks of admirers, all happy to take this path less travelled time and again. Eloquent and irresistible.
The Awake Tour
“I’ve done Awake pretty much solidly in London for over two years now,” Tony Moore told MetalTalk Editor Steve Ritchie in an earlier MTTV interview. “That was partly just being practical., and partly about just building the awareness of what I’m doing. To do that, I’ve played it every single month.
“That’s allowed me to fine-tune things and to introduce new people to it. So, I’ve got thousands of people now who have seen the show over the years. I’ve done a few sporadic gigs outside of London, but not as a tour. So it just seems to me that, as I’m gonna be doing this amazing tour with British Lion, there are a lot of people that are going to see what I do.
“It seems sensible to try and put together a tour around the UK, so people who saw what I did and liked it could see the whole show.”
It is sure to be an interesting year for Tony Moore. The plan is to release the Awake album, which, if it is on vinyl, would be a triple disc release. “I’ve been getting a lot of really lovely feedback through social media,” Tony says. “There’s been quite a few who’ve known about me, but many have discovered me because they’ve seen the announcements from British Lion camp and investigated a bit more about Tony Moore.
“But I just like to say I am blessed that people like and enjoy what I’m doing. Come and support it and become a part of it. I’m an independent artist doing this all on my own.”
Prior to the British Lions shows, Tony was excited about the creative possibilities opening up for 2024. “Thanks to everyone,” he smiles. “Come and see the show. It’s it’s a thing, right? It’s not just a gig. It’s a journey.”
