Iron Maiden @ Madison Square Garden on Sunday, 6/15 (Father's Day)

I'm so envious of J0hn .. please re-post J0hn_Bruce.jpg

Yeah, Maiden never alters their setlists over the course of a tour, the whole show is so reliant on set pieces (like you noted, costume changes, light rig set-ups, backdrops). Happens a lot in metal. For a tour like this, I have no problem with that.

oh, I certainly don't have a "problem" .. was just curious if they did in fact alter it all, I guess especially in the encore where in these types of gigs it can tend to go a little more freewheeling...

actually, one thing that *was* gig-specific was that they were selling a Chicago-only T-Shirt, with an image of Eddie dressed as a 30s-era gangster with trenchcoat and gun, standing in front of the Chicago Theatre .. too cool, but at $35 ... had to decline

Ha, I just meant I'm normally bugged by bands who don't change things up a little. But no, Maiden never does.

That Chicago shirt sounds cool. We got a snazzy one of Eddie as a Team Canada hockey player, which sold out fast.

I'm so envious of J0hn .. please re-post J0hn_Bruce.jpg

yessir

God knows how many lbs. ago this was

http://www.fivetools.com/pix/europe2003/images/P0008247.jpg

Yeah, `Maiden shows tend to be meticulously choreographed (see also Kiss, Devo) but so what? They're `Maiden! I'm very psyched up for this show. Sure, the surprises will be few and far between (this is probably the sixth or seventh time I've seen them -- the first being on the Seventh Son tour).

I've always liked the habit of providing event-specific shirts. I remember an old one that featured Eddie giving the Statue of Liberty a lobotomy (as you do) and ripping the heart out of Radio City Music Hall.

`Cos, y'know, that's just what I need.... another black t-shirt with stupid band shit on it. But, again, IT'S IRON MAIDEN!

Oh, if there's an NYC-specific shirt (and you know there's gonna be) I'm definitely picking it up. My 2003-04 shirt (with an actual portrait of the band on the front rather than an Eddie graphic) is getting kinda raggedy from frequent wear.

If you're at liberty to say, unperson, where do ya work?

I'm the editor-in-chief of Metal Edge magazine.

Saw them in Concord a couple of weeks ago - awesome. A lot of the same sets
as the Live After Death show, and with the exception of Fear of the Dark, I didn't sit down for the whole show. Awesome, awesome show...and Bruce didn't even flip out at anyone! Have an awesome Father's Day guys, that will surely be a hugely kickass show

Power outage at MSG? That'd be something to remember.

From Blabbermouth just now:

"There was a strange event right in the middle of [IRON MAIDEN's] set [at Madison Square Garden in New York City Sunday night, June 15]. Halfway through the song 'Powerslave', the power died to the sound system, and MAIDEN were onstage with full lights, shrugging their shoulders. I was right behind the soundboard, and there was never any problem at that end. In fact, Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson were standing beside the mixing board making out, which made the whole situation even weirder. Who's the MAIDEN-head in that celebrity family? Anyway, obviously this was a high point of their set, and within a minute after the stalls the band produced a soccer ball on stage and began kicking it around to entertain the fans while the technical nightmare continued. After about ten minutes of silence, Bruce Dickinson picked up one of the Egyptian sarcophagi and began using it as a shield to play soccer. He was pretty good with it, too! This entire time, the lights were fine, and the soundboard was perfectly okay and didn't appear to be reset. There was definitely no panic at the board. Suddenly and happily, Steve Harris's galloping bass reappeared in the monitors, and the band regrouped and moved onto the next song. My friends and I were joking that this was a long-distance dedication from Sharon Osbourne, and evidently Dickinson thought the same. As soon as his mic worked, he muttered dramatically something like: 'The revenge of Sharon...the wicked witch of the west rises again!' Strong words, preached to a crowd of 18,000. MAIDEN had spent the whole night, and indeed the past two years, proving themselves leagues above the egg-throwing spat at Ozzfest 2005. Evidently, they are still sensitive to the long-reaching powers of the Sharon. Why would he even joke about that if he didn't think it was possible?"

Hilarious!

So how was the show, otherwise?

Weirdly, the power failure thing when I saw them at Earl's Court right before Christmas in 2006! That was the tour where they played all of A Matter of Life and Death from start to finish, and the sound cut out right at the end of the fifth of sixth song and didn't come back on for about 20 minutes or so, prolonging what was already quite an audience's patience-testing experiment to absurd lengths.

Maiden handled it brilliantly, though, doing the same football kickabout thing. Bruce Dickinson also lead mulitiple Mexican waves and somehoe got the crowd singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, too, to pass the time while the power cable was repaired.

So are Maiden being stalked by Osbourne hitsquads or what?

... the power failure thing "happened", even!

This was the second time Maiden have had power problems when I was there...maybe it's me. At the 2003 show at Hammerstein Ballroom, the sound system went down right at the end of the set, preventing them from playing an encore. Last night, it was right before the final chorus of "Powerslave," and yeah, once they got the sound back on, they did a killer version of "Heaven Can Wait," including bringing on about 50-60 fans/family members/members of the Iron Maiden soccer team to chant backing vocals. Nice way to recover from the brief interlude. And yeah, the show was fucking awesome. You could actually feel the temperature in the arena rise when the flames went off for "The Number Of The Beast."

So what was the New York specific shirt?

Well, you remember the album cover for Party Music by The Coup?

:-D

It was Eddie as the Statue of Liberty; you can see it here.

I think they were sold out by the time I hit the T-shirt stand; I got a different shirt.

The NY shirt was kinda weak, I thought. Also, does Derek Riggs no longer do stuff for them? The artwork all looked a bit second-rate.

Show was great, apart from the afore-mentioned power failure (ironically during "Powerslave"). If anything, the sound popping out during that song meant Bruce could take off THAT RIDICULOUS FEATHER MASK (remember the feather mask in the live video for Live After Death? This one is a hundred times more embarassing). Their impromptu soccer match was amusing.

Otherwise, it was typical Maiden all guns blazing. Jannick seems to have (slighly) reigned in his tireless penchant for dignity-free shenanigans (I don't believe he's actually plugged in most of the time). Bruce was hyperkinetic as always. Lots of leaping about. I love the fact that Adrian Smith WILL NOT BOUNCE when Steve and Jannick do (Dave kinda hops). Adrian's too cool for that.

Great setlist, although oddly top-loaded. "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" afforded me the opportunity to use the bathroom, buy a beer, peruse the t-shirt booth and read "War & Peace" before returning for the last half of the song. Eddie came out twice -- once as gargantuan mummy with snakes coming out of his mouth, the second as the cyborg bounty hunter from the cover of Somewhere...

Tracks I'd have liked to hear that they didn't play: "Wrathchild, "Running Free," "Sanctuary," "Prowler" (the only Di'anno era track played was -- wait for it -- "Iron Maiden," which was awesome). I'd have liked "Die with Your Boots On," "Where Eagles Dare," but didn't get'em. I still love "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Wicker Man" from Brave New World, but they didn't touch that album.

Stuff they played (in no order): "Aces High," "The Troooper," "Number of the Beast," "Powerslave," "Two Minutes to Midnight,""Revelations," "Wasted Years," "Can I Play With Madness," "Fear of the Dark," "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," "Number of the Beast," "Moon Child".... I'm forgetting something, I'm sure. Oh yeah - "Hallowed by Thy Name"

When searching for seat, I got to shake hands with a security-flanked Nicko McBrain. Also chatted with the dude from the Raveonettes. What he was doing there is anyone's guess, but I defintely made his night by recognizing him.

I did not end up buying a shirt. I did buy much beer.

Oh good lord, forgot to mention: opening act was Laura Harris, who is -- presumably -- Steve Harris' daughter. Imagine a less-tuneful Ashlee Simpson (yes, this is hard to imagine, I know) singing the Lita Ford catalog, flanked by tribute metal band players. Entirely difficult to watch, much less listen to.

Although, to be fair -- she is "quite fit," as some of the Brits around me observed.

I got her CD in this morning's mail (I'm sure it arrived sometime last week, but I just dug it out of the mailbag this morning). It can't be as bad as the Scars On Broadway album, which makes me wish I'd been born without ears. But I'm not gonna run the risk of playing it.

"Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" was actually the highlight of the set for me. I've always loved that song, and they really tore into it - Bruce was wearing this tattered black robe, and given that he's in his 50s now, he did actually look somewhat ancient 'n' crazed on the big screens. A great performance, probably the most flat-out theatrical part of the whole show. I half expected him to stalk the stage with the mic in one hand and a candelabra in the other.

You had me at "Lita Ford catalog"

semi-libelous addendum to Alex's review of a performance by one of the best live bands in the history of the world…

two years ago, I showed up to the Garden State Arts Center (don't know what its called in the last couple of years: PNC something, where I last saw Maiden) to interview an artist for a since shuttered guitar mag.

A very very prominent photographer was there to do the shoot before the interview. Apropos of nothing, this photog went batshit with the anecdotes…my fave concerned how Steve harris is a huge racist and homophobe…behind his back, his associates and contemporaries like to say that he would lose his mind if one of his sons started dating a black guy…

Ok a friend of mine JUST told me he saw Maiden in Chicago about two years ago and, um, MY BLOODY VALENTINE opened up for them! I half-assedly googled it but turned up nothing. Who is this other MBV? Because it can be THE MBV (can it?).

You had me at "Lita Ford catalog"

J0hn, we've talked with your loved ones and this is going on your tombstone. Hope it serves you well in the afterlife.

Because it can be THE MBV (can it?).

Oops. It CAN'T be....

Your friend probably means Bullet For My Valentine.

Yeah, that's it! I'll definitely let him know. Thanx, PF.

There is video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBnxDclM-ic&hl=en

See what I mean about the feather mask?

I dug the mask .. like old school Peter Gabriel with Genesis stylee