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Note: All the reviews are complete responsibility of their authors.
Iron Maiden, Aragon Ball Room, Chicago, Illinois, 25 July 1999
Iron Maiden, Ahoy
Rotterdam, Holland. 10 September 1999
Yesterday was the big day, I was going with some friends to THE
concert of 1999: Iron Maiden!! I had big expectations of the new
line-up and I was interested how things would work out.
Of course, first there was Megadeth. I was not very impressed, they played some new songs (including the new single "Crush 'em") and old stuff, which the audience seem to like more. Not beeing very familiar with Megadeth, I was happy when it was over. They played a bit shorter than one hour. About 25-30 minutes later, the lights went out again... a big roar went through Ahoy (sold out, about 10.000 people).
I wanted to see Maiden a bit closer than the last time that I've seen them, so I went to the front.. I arrived at the left side, about 3rd row.
The Ed Hunter video began with Transylvania playing and suddenly there was a big bang.... the roaring of 2nd world war planes. This was it!!! Aces High! After so many years the classic opener was back! Nicko was showing his head from behind the drumkit and then all others rushed into the front of stage. After a while it became clear that Dave and Adrian were left on the stage, Janick and Steve on the right side and Bruce was about everywhere. Steve was also running a lot and he was looking straight into the eyes of the audience.
Bruce wore black spandex (as always) trousers, with white lines on the side of his legs and he really seemed to be into this gig.
This night his voice was really in good shape and he reached all high notes.
Some cool moments:
Bruce was introducing a song, talking a bit and suddenly someone from the audience threw a cap at him... in the middle of his speech, he said:" o, wait a minute, what's this?" He looked at the cap, to see what was written on it, and said (a bit annoyed): "Ooh, f*ck! Bacardi! Dreadful! I hate that shit!" Anyway, for those who are interested: Bruce doesn't like Bacardi :-)
Then he continued with a somewhat "brave" speech, telling us that this wasn't a kind of cabaret, but that they were f*cking back and that they were about to record the best, the hardest Maiden album ever, coming out next year! The audience went mental after hearing these words and in the middle of the roar he said: "And by the way, this is Phantom of the Opera." This song was one of the highlights of the show.
After the 3rd or 4th song Bruce said with a smile: "Welcome to the new old new Iron Maiden."
During the first verses of "Hallowed be thy name", Bruce was on the top of the stage, on the left side, standing behind bars, and he was actually putting his head between the bars, so it seemed very dramatic when he sang: "I am waiting in my cold cell.... etc"
Of course I also had interest for the others on stage. Janick played about as much solo's as Adrian, e.g. he actually played the solo in "Hallowed be thy Name", and played the intro of "2 Minutes to Midnight". He really goes wild sometimes, throwing his guitar around like a madman. Great to see that. :)
Janick is way too underrated and I think he is very important for the band. Thanks to him, the band is still alive, because he was the one that kicked the rest of the band under the arse, when Adrian left.
"The Evil that Men Do" has always been one of my favourite songs, and when they played it, I was surprised when the solo came on. I already heard a mp3 from a recent show in the States and I couldn't figure out who was playing the solo. :-/
When I saw it live on stage, Janick played the solo, but also Adrian!! So they both played the same solo at the same time, which was very original, in my opinion.
The setlist was exactly the same as it has been in the last months. No "Stanger in a Stange Land". I really wonder why they have left that song out.
Aces High
Wrathchild
The Trooper
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Clansman
Wasted Years
Killers
Futureal
Man On The Edge
Powerslave
Phantom Of The Opera
The Evil That Men Do
Fear Of The Dark (with sing along, just like on "A Real Live
One"
Iron Maiden
encores:
The Number Of The Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Run To The Hills
This was the 4th time that I saw Iron Maiden, and it was the best
concert I have ever been to. To everyone who still has to see
them: you won't regret it!
Cheers,
Iron Maiden, Aragon Ball Room, Chicago, Illinois, 25 July 1999
It all Starts out in the morning at 9:00am. I awaken and remember what is
taking place today. A sudden wave of enthusiasm flows over me and I begin my
day with a smile. To make a long story short I have to go pick up my friend
kristy who lives 2 hrs away from me and then go to chicago which is also a
good two hour drive from where she is. After much driving I meet with Kristy
and we are off to IRON MAIDEN!!(plays air guitar).
Its hot (100F) and traffic is plain awful. After searching for a place to
park and ending up in the EXACT same place as last year when I saw Maiden at
the Riviera, we make or way to the Aragon at 5:30pm. We get inside and find
a nice place to stand about 15 ft from the stage. Then the
wait...........Finally after hearing "Helldorado" 16 times the lights dim
just after 7:00pm and the first band comes out. The first band is called
Clutch. I don't like bashing so I will just say that they leave much to be
desired. The guitarist was good but other than that they didn't do much to
excite me.
After Clutch the lights came back on and we all got to listen to Helldorado
16 more times. Monster Magnet was the second group to perform. They were
good. The lead singer had a thing with flipping the audience off constantly
but he was good. I was next to a bunch of Monster Magnet fans, I could tell
because they screamed "MAGNET!!" like they were a broken record and almost
killed each other from moshing so hard! They were so out of control that
they were almost taken out by security! Magnet was a good act and if they
came around again I would go and see them.
Enter Iron Maiden!! The only way to describe the place was total chaos! You
talk about loud!Everyone was fine until Bruce suddenly appeared, then we
went from being about twenty feet from the stage to about ten! We were
packed in like sardines. I have never heard a band play so well in concert.
All of the songs were perfection and bruce was unbelievable. He looked
really good too, if I didn't know any better I would never have guessed he
was 40 yrs old at that show. For that matter they all looked like they were
in good shape. My favorite part of the Maiden experience has always been
the lights. Even though the venue was small the light show was great, I
couldn't get enough. I would have to say that my favorite songs performed
were Futureal(amazing), The Clansman, Phantom of the Opera, and Powerslave.
When you get right down to it though they ALL 'KING ROCKED!! It was a very
enjoyable experience all around for both of us. I was just happy as a lark
to see bruce so close up and in person and Kristy, being a guitar player
herself, kept herself entertained by watching the guitarists and how they
played.
We ended the trip a long drive back from whence we came, I got home just
after the sun came up! Four days later the ringing in my ears finally
ceased. After traveling a total of 600 miles, suffering from massive sleep
deprivation, seeing multiple car accidents along with almost having one
myself, and not being able to hear completely for four day after wards do
you think I would do it again next year?? You'd better believe it! I'll be
first in line! UP THE IRONS!!
Iron Maiden, Montreal Quebec, Canada 13 July
1999 Iron Maiden started around 8:35 p.m.
Montreal. It opened when the center light rig turned in to a
movie screen for all to see "Eddie Hunter" game
Demonstration with "Transylvania" playing in the
background. Remember Live after Death? Towards the end of the
demonstration you can see Eddie on a hill looking down at us
portraying Winston Chirchhills speech, "We shall go on to
the end.We shall.." complete flash back! Nicko was leaning
over his kit with his white ball cap while Janick, Adrian, Dave
and Steve rushed to the stage appearing and playing the
opening lines for Aces High...the crowd went wild and energized
and her comes Bruce...SCREAMING ..."There goes the siren
that warns out the air raid..." Bruce was singing as
if he were 24 again! Keeping his tone, holding his notes
screaming fuking loud. The stage is immense with black and white
checker floor covering, may I add that Nicko's Tom Toms had every
other head black and white. Bruce is all over this stage running
left running right, hops up here hops up there, wearing white and
black stretch tights If you take notice behind Nick there are
back drops representing album and single covers. Aces High was
the back drop until the band starts playing Wrathchild. Faster
than 1982, more power also, the fans are completely hysterical
when the crowd is lit up by lights for the us to sing the chorus
"Wrathchild.... Wrathchild..... Wrathchild"
Everyone in the Molsen Centre Amphitheater is ecstatic! Forget
the fact Adrian forgot to kick on one of his pedals for a solo,
he was phenomenal with his cords and solo rifs. Just after
Wrathchild (I believe) Bruce gets the crowd going with some
French talk, I haven't got a clue as to what he said! I do
remember hearing him say "The Trooper!!" Her comes
Steve running across the stage. Look at Dave's head swaying to
the rhythm of his playing. Adrian, can't stand still! Janick
whaling on his git, running all over the fuking place too! "2...Minutes...to Midnight" yells
the crowd, almost as loud as Bruce singing it through the mic. At
this point of the show I'm esthetic on how all the guys are
playing, continuous, screaming, running, jumping plucking,
strumming, beating, kicking.....time to slow down a bit to
Steve's awesome entrance lines to "The Clansman", nice
transition from the acoustic to the bass gits. Bruce has already
out sung Blaze. Sorry Blaze! Timing was of the essence for this
song, excellent job guys! Adrian and Nicko's collaboration for
the beginning of "Wasted Years" was awesome and Steve's
pluck could be heard for miles! There is never any "Wasted
Years for these guys. Talk about team work how about Steve and
Nicko's coordination queue's for "Killers", Dave's had
a "Killer" solo. For some of us coming far away to see
this show, Iron Maiden sure knew how to make a "Stranger in
a Strange Land" feel right at home! This was the second of
two tunes played off "Somewhere in Time", I wished
there were more but this was still cool! "Futureal" and
"Man on the Edge" had a awesome light, sound and
"VOCAL" display! Bruce was just fantastic singing these
tunes. Steve is so mesmerized by the energy of all 15,000 raging,
screaming, frantic Fans. The crowd is demanding Maiden to play
more. Where did Bruce go? The music to
"Powerslave" begins...here comes Bruce running,
yelling.."Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave...."
With a Egyptian style mask on his face. Somewhere around
this time Bruce starts to tell a story of how metal music is told
to be dead and Bruce goes on to bash dance, rap, and r&b
music and states that Maiden is back to stay and with a new album
to come out next year and metal lives on! The crowd roars with
excitement. If you haven't bought your copy of "Run to the
Hills" by now it may be completely sold.Go get your
T-shirts! But wait until after the show 'cause you don't wanna
miss "Phantom of the Opera". 1980's version was slow
compared to how they played it tonight! They punched every note
and pounded every beat it felt like there were a earth
quake happening inside here. "Is anyone afraid of the
dark".... "Bruce, Lets try playing "The Evil that
Men Do" first. OOPS! "Fear of the Dark" was played
after, the crowd is still off the wall fuking loud! See the blood
flow? Try, see the adrenaline flow of the band and the fans to
"Iron Maiden". Dave, Janick and Adrian all had their
own special parts with this tune and they all played damn good.
"Iron Maiden's ganna get all of you" look out here
comes Eddie again raised 35 feet above and behind Nicko with
blistering lit eyes piercing out into the stadium. The first
Eddie? OH...he came out an to the stage earlier in the night. He
stood about 8 feet tall. While Bruce was showing Eddie how to
jerk off Eddie was getting beat up by Steve. After "Iron
Maiden" was over Nicko jumps out in front of his set and
throws out sticks and a snare head & the band left the
stage...............................................the light
tech. starts to raise the house lights and you can hear all
15,000 fans chanting
"MAIDEN................MAIDEN..........MAIDEN". The
place gets dark again, "Woe to you of earth and see"
Vincent Price's voice re-lit the adrenaline of the crowd, we go
wild and chant with Vincent's poem and here they come
again...MAIDEN back on stage playing "The Number of the
Beast" Bruce singing better than ever.. "I left alone
my mind was blank I needed time to think to get the memories from
my mind"....This tune rules!!!! No concert should be played
with out it. To think after all that running around, screaming,
and singing and jumping to 16 songs prior to "Hallowed be
thy Name" Bruce would sound tired...he didn't...he was
awesome, held his notes and sang fuking fast, he exceeded my
expectations! Nicko's beat of Hi-Hat to Tom Tom clutter has begun
for "Run to the Hills". The ending of "Run to the
Hills" was very unique with Steve and Bruce still running
all over the place, Janick throwing his git around Dave and
Adrian whaling away on their gits and Nick smashing the
"Paiste" symbols to no end! Lights flickering still and
all of a sudden...they were gone....just like that Iron Maiden
left the stage only for us to wait for another tour. I may have
missed a couple of songs in my documentary review, sorry. Iron
Maiden is definitely thankful to their crew for an outstanding
job on meeting the bands every need during the show! The show was
the longest (2 hrs.), fastest, heaviest, head banging concert
Iron Maiden has ever played, we are all anxious to feel and hear
there next album and tour! Bruce Dickinson, Hardenberg,
Holland. 27 November 1998 Setlist:
Trumpets of Jericho
Tattooed Millionaire
Road to Hell Greetings,
For me Bruce was the main point of attention, screaming and jumping
like hell. But this was the first time I saw Adrian playing live on stage.
He had a lot of parts in the solo's. He played the one in Tears of the Dragon,
and also the 1st (slow) one which Dave played in Powerslave...
that song by the way: Bruce suddenly said the beginning (intro) of NOTB,
and a lot people thought this song was coming.... BUT! at the end of the
well known speach it was, instead of: "It's number is 666" No.. it was
"and this number is POWERSLAVE!!" Anyway, as you can read I am still excited
and very, very impressed by the show of this band....
King in Crimson
Chemical Wedding
Gates of Urizen
Killing Floor
Book of Thell
Accident of Birth
Darkside of Aquarius
Tears of the Dragon
Laughing in the Hiding Bush
The Tower
Powerslave
2 Minutes to Midnight
Flight of Icarus (with a scream of almost 1 minute long).