Iron Maiden
Live At Donington

THE REVIEW

1992: year of grace for the Iron Maiden.

The album 'Fear Of The Dark' has just been released, much better than the previous 'No Prayer...', and the Irons have been invited to participate in the Monsters Of Rock Festival held at Donington. And they certainly do it justice!!!

The live show starts with power and speed, with a legendary trio: "Be Quick Or Be Dead", "The Number of the Beast" and "Wrathchild". The three performances are magnificent, flawless (the only flaw: "Be Quick..." is initially slower than the studio version, but it doesn't matter). Then they continue with the more or less new repertoire, the wild "From Here To Eternity" which is played excellently and "Can I Play with Madness". Then it's the turn of "Wasting Love", a ballad much loved by the Irons and often performed during that tour, with some flaws in the solo, which is even more beautiful, though. After the unnecessary "Tailgunner", comes "The Evil That Men Do", at the end of which there's a long speech by Bruce introducing "Afraid to Shoot Strangers", beautifully sung by Bruce.

And here comes the new masterpiece: "Fear Of The Dark", very fast, which excites the audience. In this song especially, you can hear the main flaw of the record: the bass volume, which is too high. Nonetheless, it remains a perfect performance that precedes "Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter" in a dazzling version, wild, with Bruce's singing accompanied by the audience turning into a beastly roar. Following are "Clairvoyant", which adds nothing, and "Heaven Can Wait", which Donington sings all together. The parade of classics begins: "Run to the Hills", "2 Minutes To Midnight", "Iron Maiden", "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (beautiful in this version), "The Trooper" (the bass is now very loud), "Sanctuary" and "Running Free". What can be said of these last 7 tracks? That the Irons entertain the audience and have fun, that Donington thanks them and responds to Bruce's screams "Scream for me Donington..... !!!!".

So, we can only regret (those who weren't there, like me) not having attended one of the most exciting shows by the greatest metal band of all time, and those who were there should consider themselves extremely lucky!

PS: This is my first review, I wrote it concisely for those who already know the Maiden but not this album and to convince them of the merit of this live performance, which, unjustly, at the time of its release, was labeled as a semi-bootleg, but turned out to be much better than the contemporary "A Real Live/Dead One". UP THE IRONS!