Saw Iron Maiden on February 10th.
Acer Arena, Sydney.
Lauren Harris opened up. Very abrupt and punctual start at 7:30 for her. None of the songs were particularly exciting, although there was one power-metal-like solo which was pretty good. The highlight of her performance was Steve Harris, himself, coming on stage to play the bass on a lack-lustre piece, which was, like this performance, entirely forgettable. I feel bad for the bassist who was, clearly, pushed out of the band for Harris. The track is downloadable, apparently, off of her website. Fire and Ice? Or something like that. She (and the rest of the unnamed band) clearly has talent, but her material is not all that original or groundbreaking. She did make an effort at incorporating the audience, and got some of the people closer to the stage up and clapping.
Around 8:15 (I think?) Behind Crimson Eyes came on the stage. Well, I can't really form an opinion of this band. They came and played, didn't blow me away, but had some decent songs in their repertoire. Some of the sites I've checked out (primarily to find out more about who they are!) said their performance was pretty sub-par and that they were booed off the stage. Well, they reminded me of a local Bullet for my Valentine. Frankly, it's nice to see some support from Iron Maiden for a local band. Were they a bit generic? Yes. Were they talented? I'd say so, I've heard worse covers (they covered Ace of Spades). I dunno if they were appropriate for fronting Maiden, but they weren't that bad.
Well, around 9:00 the lights dimmed and on came UFO's 'Doctor, Doctor.' It was pretty incredible knowing THE Iron Maiden would be coming on the stage in any second. The air was dense with anticipation, By now the stage was pretty much revealed. I was sitting on the balcony, to the right of the band, with a large TV screen to my left. Well, after Doctor, Doctor another recording came on, this time 'Transylvania.' By now I was, practically, MOIST with anticipation and when Churchill's Speech came on I was pumped. The band came on in their usual fashion, full of energy. I've cut and pasted the set-list:
01. Intro - Churchill's Speech / Aces High
02. 2 Minutes To Midnight
03. Revelations
04. The Trooper
05. Wasted Years
06. The Number Of The Beast
07. Run To The Hills
08. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
09. Powerslave
10. Heaven Can Wait
11. Can I Play With Madness?
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Iron Maiden
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14. Moonchild
15. The Clairvoyant
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
A couple of highlights:
"Did you all have a good Sunday? Go to church? Are you familiar with the good book? I'm talking about, REVELATIONS!"
He talked about Ornithology for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which was incredible.
The mask came out for Powerslave
The Somewhere in Time Eddie came out during Iron Maiden, strutting around the stage. Janick got him to 'play' the guitar as he pointed his gun around the room.
Naturally, I was singing along like an idiot. The people around me must've wanted to throttle me. It was an INCREDIBLE show. Everyone was spot on. A couple of errors, but nothing unprofessional, and nothing that ruined the experience. I would've liked to see some more stuff from Somewhere in Time, but none of them seem to appreciate how awesome that album is. . .
Anyways, it was Frickin' IRON MAIDEN! So, I mean, wow.
~The (Iron'd) Cretin~
