EDMONTON - Imagine: A middle-aged man sits in front of 14,000 devoted heavy metal fans, talks about Samuel Taylor Coleridge and is hailed as the greatest hero the world has ever known.

There are two explanations for this bizarre incident. One: Heavy metal is smarter than people give it credit for. Or two: Classical literature ROCKS!

Of course there is the third explanation: Iron Maiden is the greatest British metal band of all time precisely because they use the great dramas of history to capture the imagination of the masses. And they do it without doubt, without fear, with a shred of self-parody. They played as if they were the greatest last night at a sold-out Rexall Place, where 14,000 of the most devoted heavy metal fans I've ever seen treated them as if they were the greatest - Samuel Taylor Coleridge and all.

It all works out.

The middle-aged man in question is of course singer Bruce Dickinson, who talked about large birds and dead poets to introduce The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - inspired by the Coleridge poem of the same name - a grand, complicated, pyrotechnical rock opera that stretched out for at least 10 minutes as the frontman cavorted about in a tattered cloak against the backdrop of a derelict ship, expressing the torment of the poor, doomed archer who foolishly shot the albatross. And the curse goes on and on at sea!

This was one of many highlights last night. Other themes included the apocalypse, genocide, war, doom, gloom and Satan - all thrown into a theatrical, Wagnerian celebration of all the joyous excess that rock 'n' roll can offer. We drifted into Spinal Tap territory more than once last night - from the gruesome Egyptian tomb backdrop, to the 'beast' that accompanied Number of the Beast, to the giant mummy that burst from the back of the stage. Eddie has a new look.

Some of this stuff would be completely silly if it weren't delivered with such passion, power and a completely straight face. This band has stuck to its guns - or swords and spears and chain mail, anyway - for more than 30 years. They never had a No. 1 hit on the radio yet they fill arenas wherever they go. There is no band like Iron Maiden. It's hard to hear how modern attempts at heavy metal - 'thrash' metal, 'black' metal, pick your prefix - are an improvement over the old ways. I'll take Dickinson's operatic scream over the Cookie Monster death metal vocals any day.

My colleague Fish Griwkowsky suggested that true metalheads are just "geeks gone tough," which Iron Maiden is the perfect band to demonstrate. Driven by a triple guitar assault and thundering rhythm section that defines the genre of 'heavy metal,' the band's songs are filled with material that wouldn't be out of place in a good game of Dungeons and Dragons.

The original role-playing game that has been ruined by computers was the ultimate mind game. Imagination is the key to playing D&D, as it is to appreciating the unique music of Iron Maiden.

Coincidence?

Dickinson was offered what appeared to be a joint at one point in the show.

He passed on a toke, adding, "The gift of imagination - it comes without drugs."