Bruce Dickinson opened Iron Maiden's performance at Sonisphere by insisting that the world would be "better off" if it were 'ruled by heavy metal bands'.

The group headlined the festival on the Apollo Stage on Sunday.

According to NME, Dickinson told the crowd: "Today is like a special day, a celebration of everyone that likes heavy metal. If we left it up to the media and the BBC no-one would know about this music.

"If heavy metal bands ruled the world we'd be a lot better off. There would be more a lot more drinking and a lot more shagging and nursery rhymes would sound like this."

Iron Maiden's set mainly featured songs from their last three albums Brave New World, Dance Of Death and A Matter Of Life And Death.

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