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Rating: Okay, the Heineken Jammin Festival was definitely a great concert, but yesterday, June 20, 2007, I probably attended the best show of my life, seeing legendary acts (at least for me) like Iron Maiden, Motorhead (!!!) and Machine Head all in one day!
The trip to Rome was smooth, my dad is awesome, he takes me everywhere and didn’t lose his patience even once despite the various construction works and traffic jams. Once we reached the capital and parked the car at a relative's house, we arrived near the Stadio Olimpico around 12:40. Of course, they hadn’t opened the gates yet (despite the opening being initially set for 12:00 and then 12:30). I caught up with a group of rocker friends from my area who had arrived in a van, bid farewell to the relatives, and embarked on this wonderful adventure. Okay, I don’t want to bore you with the usual "it was hot," "they made us wait so long," etc., but I have to tell you about the excitement with which the metal crowd from central-southern Italy welcomed their beloved Maiden in Rome, a place they hadn’t played in for quite some time, with various chants like "Mo-To-Rhead-Mo-To-Rhead," but obviously also "Ale Ale Ale Ale Ale Maiden Maiden" or other more characteristic and expressive ones like "Let’s kill Giggi D’Alessio!" Ah, the fun we metalheads have is unparalleled, I assure you.
Getting straight to the concert, the only downside was buying seating tickets, but honestly, staying on the field under the sun all day would have surely been lethal, so settling for seats wasn’t bad, considering the view of the stage was pretty good, and there were video screens at the sides. Let’s talk about the sound? Spectacular, maybe only during Mastodon the sound wasn’t as clear and powerful, but really there was amazing acoustics. Let’s discuss the songs played during intervals and at the beginning of the concert? Well, when we heard "Back In Black" (played twice) and "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC, all hell broke loose, nothing like My Chemical Romance in Venice, and there was plenty of great music: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple, Helloween, essentially rock for rockers!
Around 15:00, if I recall correctly, the Sadist flag was raised (Rating: 7.5), and they had about thirty minutes at their disposal: perfect sounds, even though the drums were slightly highlighted, a very good and solid sound, they played old tracks and many from the latest album, with a special mention especially to the singer, who screamed like Dani Filth the whole time, really excellent to open such a great show, although only with Machine Head would the headbanging truly begin. After Sadist, I had to endure once again the whining of Lauren Harris (Rating: 6-), who this time almost deserved a pass because the sound was better than at HJM, contributing to a better performance, and I think everyone there at least fantasized a bit about Steve’s stunning daughter. Following Harris, I was somewhat disappointed by Mastodon (Rating: 6.5), sure, technically very competent, but they seemed to have established a better connection with the audience at HJM, this time appearing to just go through the motions without much thought, and the vocals were really low, a perhaps identical setlist to HJM even though I didn’t pay much attention to their performance (took the opportunity to take care of physiological needs), but the drummer was astonishing, though overall, I preferred them at Heineken.
Before Machine Head (Rating: 9), we were entertained by a drummer whose identity I honestly don’t know, who, however, did a solo and went crazy on the double bass like a maniac, I even filmed him, very skilled, could be he was the drum technician of the Machine Head drummer, who really rocked so hard yesterday, it was my first time seeing them live and they made a very positive impression on me, being just a notch below the two big acts of the evening. Furthermore, they even altered my opinion of their latest album "The Blackening" (whose cover was dominating the stage), sounding live as tremendously destructive, sinister, utterly thrash metal! The opener "Clenching The Fists of Dissent" (around 10 minutes long) was not at all tedious, but surely the highlight of the concert was "Aesthetics Of Hate" which Rob Flynn dedicated to the great legend "Dimebag" Darrell (R.I.P.), commanding great respect and admiration from all of us for the late Pantera guitarist who passed away in 2004. A concert with two massive balls. But when the Motorhead banner was raised (Rating: 10), we lost it and everyone started frenzied headbanging to their great songs, especially the classics (I take back everything I said about them, they are genuine legends of the old school heavy rock certainly), listening to gems like the classic "Overkill" and "Ace of Spades" practically means having an orgasm, and even the new album tracks were impactful and straightforward, Lemmy is a monster of charisma and professionalism because people like Motorhead or even Maiden, who would hit the stage shortly after, are people who still enjoy being on stage, they thrash about, they want us freaking "motherfuckers" to have fun and headbang to their songs, but undoubtedly the most moving moment for which Motorhead received a spontaneous and warm standing ovation was the drummer’s solo, something beyond description, something absurd and damn rock! Nothing more to say about this immortal and legendary band!
When around 21:15/21:20 the notes of "Doctor Doctor" by UFO echoed in our ears, it's the signal, after the usual martial and classic-tinged music, Iron Maiden (Rating: 10+) took the stage of the Stadio Olimpico delivering a grand performance, even better than the Jammin Festival if possible, and then who the hell said that "A Matter..." wasn’t liked by fans? Everyone was singing the songs from the new album placed at the beginning of the setlist and there came "Different World", "These Colours Don’t Run", and "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" giving way to classics like "Wratchild" where I screamed and loosened my hair to unleash the most absurd headbanging in the world, and during "The Trooper" I then lost every ounce of sanity, a song that always makes a worthy figure at a Maiden concert, and then the legendary Bruce dressed as an English soldier waving the "British-flag" always makes an impression. Like at Heineken, Bruce explains the reason for the setlist, and thus the story of the 25th anniversary of "The Number of The Beast" (this name unleashes havoc) and the success achieved by "AMOLAD" so "Children of The Damned" kicks off, a great song. Returning to the recent production with "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" whose chorus was truly sung wonderfully and the majestic "For The Greater Good of God" for which during the chorus I began to notice the first "mutinies" of my voice, but with a bit of water, I managed to return to singing crazily to "The Number of The Beast". But really the pinnacle was "Fear of The Dark", sung by the whole Olimpico, with Bruce becoming very emotional for the warm feeling the Maiden fans have with their favorite band.
"Run To The Hills" was a triumph of lights and choirs, as was "Iron Maiden" with the legendary Eddie-tank and Bruce's thanks. And then obviously the inevitable encores, but before them, Bruce said they’ll return in 2008 with material from "Powerslave" to "Seventh Son of A Seventh Son" (how wonderful I’ll hear "Heaven Can Wait!") and then a huge ovation from the public for the Maiden with the band members really moved by the welcome and love we Italians have always had for Our Masters. So there’s "2 Minutes To Midnight" with Dickinson having fun annoying Nicko by touching the cymbals, on "The Evil That Men Do" here comes our Eddie on stilts whom Janick Gers lets play the guitar with the rifle. And to conclude, "Hallowed Be Thy Name" was really a splendid ending to the best concert I’ve seen. It’s the third time I’ve seen the Maiden (GOM 2005, HJM, and yesterday in Rome) and this time they surpassed themselves and even the splendid performance in Bologna 2005 with the classics turned out to be inferior to this show!
UP THE IRONS!
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