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Rating: "DeBaser, Reviews on Iron Maiden written by whoever wants" (DaveJohnGilmour)
"I can't stand that Screaming Dwarf Bruce Dickinson" (Blackdog)
"Better a hundred comments with a hundred 1s or five with five 5s?" (cptgaio)
So, in order, I saw Maiden live in '88 in Modena, in '90 in Treviso, in '92 in Milan, in '95 in Pordenone, in '96 in Montichiari (Bs), in '98 and '99 again in Milan, and in 2000 in Monza, then again in Milan in 2003, in 2005 in Zurich, in 2006 for the umpteenth time in Milan and then in London the same year and last summer in Mestre (Ve)...
In 19 years, I've gone from about twenty thousand in Modena (I weighed 60 kilos and didn't participate in moshing due to shyness) through about 500 in Montichiari (I weighed around eighty kilos, and God, if I participated in moshing...) to thirty thousand in Mestre (about 95 kilos, and I didn't participate in moshing because I retired from the competitive activity in '99 to get back to being able to see concerts...), I don't know why this introduction... maybe just to point out that perhaps a mainstream band doesn't need to go back at some point in their career to play in Clubs (in the States) or in Gyms... or do they?
Well, I throw the stone and hide the hand as usual...
But maybe I'm getting it all wrong and not considering that all this happened in the '90s and might not hold up, anyway, I declare these axioms:
"I am not a Metalhead." (CaptainHowdy)
"In the '90s, the Maiden did very little that was salvageable." (emofiliaco)
"Since '99, Maiden no longer make Metal but simple Rock and therefore I like them." (e.m.v.)
"The last high-level Metal album in History is "Countdown to Extinction" by Megadeth from '92." (Mo.)
One last thing, before starting to warm you up a bit more, I'm from '74 (a great year, that of "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk if I'm not mistaken...).
London, 22 December 2006. A True Story.
Outside there's crazy humidity, it's not very cold, but for some reason the bones are soaked, we arrived at Earls Court a bit early to take the customary photos, the billboards announce Sold Out for both dates that Harris and company will play here, almost at home, but we have our tickets bought nine months before, unfortunately, they're for the numbered seats and not for the Floor, but it's okay, it's the twelfth time I've seen them, enjoying them seated will be a different experience anyway, also I know what kind of Show they will do because I already saw them in Assago 15 days earlier.
There's already a lot of people waiting to get in, but you know, an English person alone makes an orderly line of one, so the wait is short, at each "crossroad" there's a steward indicating the way, from the entrance to our seats... we sit, above us there's a group of kids, below a fortysomething with his ten-year-old son, even further down some thirtysomethings in sweaters, a sign of a heterogeneous audience, a positive thing or a sign of decline?
We'll never know, anyway, since we have some time, we go to see some Merchandising, there would be a beautiful sweatshirt with a Christmas Eddie and the big lettering on the back that says "I Spent Christmas with Eddie at Earl Courts!", I'd be tempted but it costs 60 pounds and I'm poor...
Anyway, finally the concerts start, Lauren Harris is cute as a girl (and a sign that opportunists don't exist only in Italy..) but she goes by without saying much, Trivium instead say too much, grotesque in their hardness, they play for 40 minutes, 5 would have been enough...
Then finally from the speakers the call song starts, which Maiden have chosen in recent years to announce the ten minutes, that " Doctor, Doctor", which I now know by heart and even like...
The Show begins with the notes of "Different World", the opening of the latest "A Matter of Life and Death", they must be very proud of this last work because in this Tour they are presenting it from start to finish, leaving very little space for Classics at the end of the concert, anyway they appear in shape right away and I immediately sense that it will be their technically best concert I've seen so far, but there's something off...
Well, we may be at their home, but the audience, guys... not cold, huh... but compared to us Italians or the 'Krauts' from Zurich the summer before... (I know Zurich is in Switzerland and not in Germany... but I feel like generalizing... okay?) It's really too subdued...
Anyway, everything seemed to go smoothly when after "The Longest Day" Bruce announces that a cable caught fire backstage, so they have to turn off the sound system until they put out the small fire...
Do you think the Maiden during the half-hour break stayed in the dressing room?... naaaaaaaa
The best half hour of their career... Bruce with a megaphone making the audience sing Christmas carols, Janick, Dave, and Steve pulling out a ball and starting to juggle with the people in the pit, Adrian improvising juggling acts with three oranges, only Nicko a bit in the shadows... maybe pissed because the others are stealing his role as the Fool of the Group (and I say it with all the possible affection...)
Anyway (unfortunately) at a certain point everything is fixed and Bruce immediately announces that the Show will be performed in full and that is according to this setlist:
Different World
These colors don’t run
Brighter than a thousand suns
The pilgrim
The longest day
Out of the shadows
The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
For the greater good of God
Lord Of Light
The legacy
Fear of the Dark
Iron maiden
Two Minutes to Midnight
The Evil that Men Do
Hallowed be thy Name
The whole for about 100 minutes of Concert performed professionally but with an eye (actually two..) on the interaction with the audience (Janick Gers above all...), a display of energy that for a band of almost fifty-year-olds is always commendable and always spiced up with their Cardiomegalia (in the sense that they have a big, big Heart...), the only thing off-key was the stage, less pyrotechnic than usual and even the giant Eddie (this time on a tank) not so effective, better definitely the walking one... in camouflage...
Anyway, a great great concert and a great party (among other things, they made me happy because they played "my" "The Evil That Men Do"!) and in the end after the usual wristband and drumstick throw the icing on the cake of a newly radiant Nicko wishing us "A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, God Bless You All!" and sending us all home (us to the hotel...)...
...happy.
Mo.
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