This thread seems to have slipped by me...........

Huge Maiden fan. Yesterday I picked up the recently reissued Live After Death/Early Days Pt. 2 DVD. I've been waiting for this since I unknowingly picked up the cassette in the 7th grade! Also includes a second disc with 3+ hours of documentary and extra concert footage! A Must Have!

Bruce's voice 'live' today is a lot stronger than it was during their heydey. You can really tell they were having fun back then though!

+1 on Accident of Birth. I was really hesitant, and Ivan had to kinda twist my arm to get it, but it's really friggin' good. MUCH better than what Maiden were doing at the time ... or even after Bruce rejoined, IMO.

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Ruhar
You guys have definitely peaked my interest on the Bruce Dickinson solo stuff. After I heard Tattooed Millionaire, I had heard enough. I'm definitely going to check Accident of Birth

Here's a bonus: Derek Riggs did the artwork for Accident of Birth! He did this mad puppet that Bruce called Edison (get it? Eddie's son). So, Bruce was definitely presenting a challenge to his old band - and he just blew Maiden out of the water at that time. No contest. Any Maiden fan will LOVE AoB and TCW.

Ivan

Ivan
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IvanP
He did this mad puppet that Bruce called Edison (get it? Eddie's son).
Ivan

ok NOW I get it

Woah...I just realized something...This thread is titled 'Iron Maiden Rules The World'...
There was also a thread at one time titled 'The Pyronauts Rule The World'..........Whoa.....Maybe there's some kind of epic battle in the future between surf & metal....whoa.....

The Tuesday's LA show review (BTD, I dare say you seriously missed out - but they'll be back for two more shows in LA in late May!):

http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/iron-maiden-bruce-1983908-dickinson-forum

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Rediscovering Iron Maiden at its beastly best

Review: The English metal giants' Forum bash gives our lapsed fan the 'Live After Death' experience he missed out on in '85.

By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register

Seeing as at least 98 percent of the chanting, sweating crowd for this show was male – only half of which will read this, and half of that half just stopped – pardon me while I regress and translate some thoughts into comprehensible guyspeak:

Dude. Iron Maiden at the Forum! Place was SO packed. Total crush on the floor. So sick.

More than two hours of nothing but fierce Maiden, man. Apart from "Fear of the Dark" they didn't play anything that wasn't at least 20 years old – three from "The Number of the Beast," including "Hallowed Be Thy Name" to close, four from "Powerslave," including an epic "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Dude, they haven't played that since the tour for that album in '85!

And did you hear about gigantic Robo-Eddie from the "Somewhere in Time" cover coming out and having a Lakers jersey put on him? Yeah, that was pretty lame. You should've heard what Bruce Dickinson had to say about it when they came back for the encore: "We're an English rock 'n' roll band. We don't give a (bleep) about basketball!"

And dude: I was sitting next to two of the 14 girls they allowed inside … and they were so hot for Dickinson! Just before the lights go out the dweeb in front of me, trying to act all cool, like he's been to Maiden before, he yells out "BRUCE DICKINSON," right? And the girl to my left, who never stopped taking pictures, she goes, "Yeah. Fifty years later."

Not sure what that means. Doesn't she know he's 49?

Anyway, then she goes: "And he's still hot!" And the chick in front of her turns around and goes, "Yeahhh, he is!"

Dude, we totally could've hooked up with them.

Dickinson says they're coming back in May, too. We are so getting your mom to drop us off.

Wait … what's happening to me … I feel myself evolving even as I type …

Ah, much better, thanks. Now, if you'll permit a more personal perspective to this Maiden bash in Inglewood, I have a past-becomes-present story to share.

Maidenheads, most of whom raced out to buy the first-ever DVD edition of the concert video "Live After Death" last week, might gather from my momentary lapse in sanity just then that the band nearly re-created it Tuesday night. "Aces High," then "Two Minutes to Midnight," followed by "Revelations" and "The Trooper" (in reverse order on the original album) … and so forth. The only two they left off were "Flight of Icarus" (much to my dismay) and "Running Free."

Dickinson, that fleet-footed animal prone to leaping off monitors as if he's about to stage-dive, told the crowd that this new Somewhere Back in Time World Tour '08 "has everything to do with 'Live After Death,' which was recorded not far from here." Long Beach Arena, to be exact, across four nights in March 1985.

Then Dickinson spotted one of the thousands of teenagers on hand. "And you definitely weren't even (bleepin') born when we did it, were you?"

I was, though – I was a sophomore in high school and due to go with a friend of a friend. But the day before the show I got a bad feeling something would go wrong – and chickened out. Years later, when I had the same bad feeling before a Cocteau Twins gig, I learned I wasn't cowardly so much as succumbing to a family trait. My dad, for instance, long had an irrational fear that terrible things would happen if he were to fly to Hawaii.

But the fact remains that this "Piece of Mind" fan missed out on seeing one of the most historic shows in Maiden lore. After which time metal meant less and less to me, and Maiden grew more and more excessive and fractured. Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith split in the '90s. Then they came back – and have since helped the group reclaim its collective seat at the round-table of metal giants. But by the time they were getting pelted with eggs at Ozzfest a few years back, I had completely lost interest.

Which leads to this revelation: This Forum show is the first time I've ever seen Maiden. So I am, in a sense, that same kid who kicked off this review. And how awesome is it that I got to hear all the same songs I missed back then, played every bit as powerfully?

That's the most impressive point: a whole new generation of teenagers, many of whom appear to be following Maiden around the globe on this trek, is now discovering that the band hasn't lost the slightest bit of edge or chopsmanship. (Unlike, oh, Ozzy Osbourne.)

Never mind how Dave Murray and Janick Gers take flight during solos – note how bluegrass-fast their six-string picking is on riffs alone. Notice how unerringly sharp the whole unit is, motored by the furiously galloping rhythms of bassist Steve Harris and the drummer with the best name in metal, Nicko McBrain. (Harris' daughter Lauren opened the show, by the way.) Notice, too, how prescient so many of their metaphorical songs have proved to be; "The Trooper," for starters, a great anti-war track that warns against nationalistic arrogance, couldn't be more timely.

As for Dickinson … OK, I found it hard not to chuckle at his Axl Rose-in-"Mad Max" outfits. His "Powerslave" mask was straight out of "The Wicker Man." His costume for "Ancient Mariner" only added to the Spinal Tap-estry of that piece – which might explain why it had been retired.

Yet, despite a faulty microphone that at times couldn't seem to handle his roars, Dickinson's sky-high voice is still an uncommon wonder. Next time you're jamming on "Rock Band," try singing "Run to the Hills." In his original range.

Seriously sick, dude.

Oh, and my earlier alter-ego didn't misreport: Iron Maiden, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, May 30-31, after they get back from a tour of South America. Dickinson says for those dates they're bringing out much more than the pyrotechnics they could stuff onto Ed Force One, their touring jet. All 18 trucks of Maiden madness next time – including the sarcophagus! It will be insane. Tickets go on sale March 1.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2248 or bwener@ocregister.com

Ivan
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Thanks Ivan!
That was hands down, the best show review I've ever read. Man, I would have loved to have been there.

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
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Sorry,
I went to the Jimmy Wilsey cd release party on Tues.
6 bucks,
cant beat it.
plus didn't ave to pay 20 bucks to park.

but thanks for posting the review.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Virtual XI isn't even a good coaster.

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Blaze Baley?
I can understand a debate about Dianno vs. Dickinson, but Dickenson vs. Baley? Wow.

I think their latest, A Matter of Life & Death, is superb. A true Maiden album in every sense of the word.

I'm still partial to the Dianno years though by a very small margin:

image

Ryan
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