On Wednesday night my brother Matt and I managed to catch
Iron Maiden playing at Jiffy Lube Live at Bristow, in northern Virginia. While I’m trying to avoid simply blogging
about literally every concert I see, in this case the topic merits some serious
attention for various issues.
First, thank you Matt for the tickets. These were Pit – up against the railing as
close to the band as possible short of being on stage. We were towards the left, but the various
band members, with the obvious exception of drummer Nicko McBrain, came by our
side of the stage. Nicko did come by to
satisfy a nearby fan’s request for a drumstick – who was a fellow Clutch fan,
in fact with several sticks from JP already.
Opening acts. If there is a temp agency for opening acts,
Raven Age definitely came from it.
Matching outfits, forgettable tuneage, standard issue banter, this is a
band remarkable only for its mediocrity.
For their part, Maiden obviously started out as an opening
act back in the day (the early ‘80s), with the Beast on the Road Tour in 1982
being their first headlining tour, though some legs of that tour were as an
opening act to various other bands such as Rainbow (Ritchie Blackmore’s post-Deep
Purple solo band) and Judas Priest (Screaming for Vengeance). In
1980 we were supposed to see KISS in Paris, France, on their Unmasked
Tour at Hippodrome de Pantin (now the Zenith) on 9/27, but that show was
cancelled, and our friend’s father took us to see “Airplane!” on the Champs
Elysees instead. The opening act on that
tour was Iron Maiden, back when Paul D’ianno was still singing.
Set. Since the Book of Souls tour was back
in 2017, this was the Legacy of the Beast Tour. I posted a link to the setlist for those
inclined to satisfy their curiosity. They’d already done a prior tour in which they
only played songs from the first four albums – and Janick Gers was still
happily twirling away – this time it was the best of the first sixteen albums. Remarkably that included two songs they
recorded with Blaze Bayley on X Factor and Virtual XI (1995 and
1998). We won’t hold our breaths waiting
for Ozzy Osbourne to sing “Heaven & Hell” or “Born Again”. For me the highlight was “Revelations”.
Dickinson cheekily inferred in his stage banter that there
will probably be another new album from the band forthcoming. In the meantime we enjoyed the older
material. “Run to the Hills”? “Hallowed Be Thy Name”? Yep.
“Alexander the Great”? “Rhyme of
the Ancient – MARINER!”? “The Loneliness
of the Long Distance Runner”? Don’t want
to spoil it for you….
Janick Gers. Despite Adrian Smith’s return to the band in
1999 along with Bruce Dickinson, Gers remained with the band, Maiden joining
Lynyrd Skynyrd in having three guitarists (no “Freebird” cover yet forthcoming
– perhaps an all-covers set, preferably including “Cross-Eyed Mary” and
“Rainbow’s Gold”, is in order). I
picture the following scenario playing out.
Rod Smallwood (Iron Maiden manager). “Well, thank you for your service, Janick,
but with Adrian back we won’t be needing you any longer.”
Janick.
“I thought you might say that, [hands Rod an envelope of compromising
information] so you might want to look at these. The Daily Mail and the FBI might have some
interest in what’s here….”
Rod (clearly surprised and embarrassed but
quickly regaining composure). “We’re
glad you’re continuing with us, Janick….”
Nonetheless he romps around the stage with energy and
enthusiasm, whether it’s a late model song he helped write or an earlier song
he had nothing to do with. In fact, all
the band members seem to share his agility and enthusiasm. Adrian Smith does the best at hiding his own
– affecting coolness instead.
Actually, this band has been around since the late ‘70s,
with Bruce Dickinson singing the majority of this time (1982-1993 and 2000 to
the present). That’s over 40 years. The band has never broken up during all this
time. Here I am, leaning against the barrier
to stay up and generally preferring to sit for most concerts these days, and here
the band members – except for Nicko – are romping around for the duration of
the set, just under two hours. A look at
the tour itinerary on the back of the t-shirt shows the tour is just over two
months, generally with a day off between different cities. It covers the East Coast of the US, Chicago
and some mid-west shows, and the West Coast with L.A. and Oakland. This doesn’t include dates overseas: Europe, Asia, South America – Brazil are HUGE
Iron Maiden fans – and maybe even Antarctica if Bruce can land Ed Force One
there.
Ed Force One. In addition to fencing (fighting with swords,
not selling stolen merchandise), singer Bruce Dickinson also qualifies as a commercial
airline pilot, competent to fly jumbo jets.
So the band acquired (leased, purchased, stole, I have no clue) a 747
for their exclusive use, which they call “Ed Force One”, and which Bruce flies
himself (let’s see Paul or Blaze do that).
This lets them fly to places like India, Brazil, and Westeros, and other
places they might not otherwise tour.
Mick & Keith have their own mobile studio? How cute.
West Ham. It’s no secret that bassist Steve Harris is
a major fan of English Premier League soccer team West Ham FC, “The Hammers”,
from southeast London. The story is he
wanted to play for them but for whatever reason could not. The irony is that Harris is far better known
with Iron Maiden than he would ever have been with West Ham, which never matched
London rivals Chelsea or Arsenal – or Liverpool or Manchester United – for
success in the Premier League. Outside its
home territory I dare say 99% of West Ham’s fans are actually Iron Maiden
fans. At the last show I was up close
wearing a West Ham jersey and got Harris’ thumbs up of approval. This time around I was wearing a Clutch
shirt, but noticed no less than 3 three fans wearing West Ham jerseys. For their part, Maiden have been selling
their own jerseys, and I’ve seen that some appear to be Maiden versions of
existing designs (AC Milan and German national team). Anyhow, Harris has various West Ham items on
his person – decal on his bass, seal on his tank top – and the team’s crossed
hammers crest featured in the stained glass backdrop for “Revelations”.
“Don’t Be That Guy”. In the movie “PCU”, Jeremy Piven’s character
Droz tells Jon Favreau’s character Gutter not to be “that guy” who wears the
t-shirt of the band he’s actually going to see, at their show. I found that advice idiotic. Droz, you’re more important than
Parliament-Funkadelic? You’re cooler
than George Clinton? I don’t think so.
A Maiden show is
unique in this regard. It seems at any
other show, 50% of the audience is wearing the band’s t-shirt, the other 50%
taking Droz’ advice and wearing other band’s t-shirts, or even sports jerseys
or whatever. At a Maiden show it looks
like 80% of the audience told Droz to get lost.
I don’t think there’s another rock band as diligent at producing its own
shirts as Maiden is. For any given tour
you can expect 4-6 different designs, including many designs exclusive to the
venue itself. If you’re going to collect
things, Iron Maiden concert t-shirts is a good idea, especially as this can
include the afore-mentioned soccer jersey variants which are now getting more
numerous by the year. And at non-Maiden
concerts you can usually count on seeing at least one person wearing a Maiden
shirt – maybe as a matter of principle or expressly assigned for that purpose. So this time around, despite not sharing
Droz’ attitude, I wore a Clutch shirt figuring that the MD band was in more
need of exposure at an Iron Maiden concert than concert t-shirt kings Maiden
themselves. The oldest shirt I saw was a
World Piece Tour (1983) item, worn by a guy who looked old enough to have seen
that show as a teenager.
Women and Children First. Metal
concerts are notorious for this business where the lines for the restroom are
heavily switched on the M side. Maiden,
the second half of the name notwithstanding, are no different. However, the women I saw at this show
appeared eager and sincere in their appreciation and frequently sang the lyrics
along with me reliably, accurately and above all enthusiastically. They were not reluctant concert companions.
Fortunately most of the children I see also seem to be
thrilled to be there. Last year I saw
one boy who was definitely not sharing his parents’ enthusiasm; kid, you’re
cooler than Maiden, so you can act bored?
I don’t think so. This year the
kids were with the program. If there’s
one problem is that they are usually much shorter than the adults, so the
parents really have to work around that.
The security won’t let the kids up on the parent’s shoulders. Front row of the seats might be the best for
kids who aren’t adult height.
A Few Props. All too often you hear about how great a
band is live. Why? Why is Iron Maiden that great live?
A. Energy. I’d heard the first album through Powerslave
but didn’t feel compelled to see them in concert. Then I heard Live After Death,
recorded on the World Slavery Tour (1984-85) for the Powerslave album. WHOA.
The live versions were faster, more intense, far more interesting than
the studio versions. For the next album,
Somewhere in Time, I made it a point to see them live. They came to Paris when I was in Maryland,
they came to Maryland when I was in Paris, then they finally came back to
Maryland again and I was able to see them (4/7/87 as noted below).
B. Props. The
stage show is fantastic. This time
around we got an inflatable Spitfire for “Aces High” (which they play in
Germany, by the way), Eddie lurching around for “The Trooper”, an inflatable
Icarus for “Flight of Icarus” (make sure you get the inflatables right, Derek)
and a big inflatable Eddie skull for the encore. Few bands can top the stage presence Maiden
have. One thing you don’t get is simply
the band members coming out on stage playing their instruments looking bored. And this is in addition to their own excitement
and enthusiasm, not instead of it, so the band complement their props and
background, rather than relying upon it.
Total package.
C. Bruce. I didn’t see the band with Paul or Blaze, so
I can’t compare them. But Bruce
Dickinson consistently brings the goods.
Excellent voice, great presence, a good selection of different outfits
and costumes to suit the various songs, and above all the clever wit and
dialogue he gives us,: e.g. playing in Virginia, a song called “The Clansman” –
which any idiot knows is about Scots/Picts – he gives us the useful reminder
that the song’s title is spelled with a C and not a K. That’s in addition to his fencing and pilot
skills, from this, the band’s implausibly overqualified vocalist. Rest assured, you will be entertained.
