Maiden rocked hard and maiden rocked proud!
I saw Iron Maiden last night at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. They were loud but not as loud as say, the late 80's early 90's metallica.
They sounded great. Bruce's voice is still something of a phenomenon; he just soars when he hits his higher range. Donning a black blazer, dark loose (relative to the 80's) fitting pants, white high tops and a hair cut suggestive of a treaterous deflection toward the establishment, Bruce ran about both ends of the stage with the fluidity of an Athlete.
In the beginning of the show, he announces that their new album has broken the top 13 in the American charts and #2 in Canada and they've never seen that level of success on any album from any error.
"We're going to play the album in it's entirety" he defiantly announced to the audience. Someone held up a cardboard sign that read "PLAY THE CLASSICS" which was snagged and surfed to the front of the stage where Bruce grabbed it, held it up, and then ripped it asunder as the audience cheers. That was so rock and roll.
In the bathroom I heard a couple of fans critiquing the show. "They should have better mixed classics and new material" one fan complained evoking recognition and nods of four from the urinal. At the shows end, one disatisfied fan yelled plaintively, "Maiden Sucks". Although I can empathize with the disatisfaction, I was inspired by Maiden's prescence and power.
I think they only did 4 old songs (fear of the dark was one of them) and they didn't do "run to the hills" or "number of the beast" which, was a bit disapointing. Maiden clearly don't see themselves as a nostalgic act and I think it was more about Maiden than it was the audience. They are still a great band to see live.
The larger than life stage show wasn't as excessive as a typical 80's concert but it was fun. There was a large tank that slowly raised from the upper stage platform with the tank rifle was pointing to the right. Out of the top, the terret hatch opens and Eddy's head pops out to survey the audience through binoculars. Detecting his target, the tank rifle arm spins slowly and stops pointing directly at the center-stage audience. On their last song, a broad shouldered fifteen foot Eddy with ablazed eyes ablazed came out jabbing and pointing a rifle in the direction of the audience. What a kick.
Walking around and looking at the fans was part of the specticle. Out of the woodwork crawled an alien race of odd looking folks. I've never seen so many asymetrical faces and mulleted heads under one roof. This smacked of inbreeding and poor culture, for sure. I even saw a gaggle of Maiden Hispanics - long hair, leather and stud bracelets....that raised a brow.
Overall, the admission was worth the spectacle (planned and incidental) and all I can say is rock on Maiden!
