Post by Admin on Jul 29, 2019 6:48:01 GMT
Without a new record to promote, last night’s show was a ripping festival of some of their best hits and as always they brought a relentless and prodigal level of athleticism and energy, touchstones of the Maiden experience, to the proceedings. As they’ve done for eons, the show opened with UFO’s classic 1974 cut “Doctor, Doctor” playing over the house system. Not only does this song represent a huge influence on the Iron Maiden sound, it also serves as a four-minute and ten-second warning shot for everyone loitering in beer and bathroom lines in the arena’s hallways that the show is set to begin.
From there they kicked right into “Aces High,” a tune that featured a massive airplane hovering over the stage (what an epic sight!) and had Bruce Dickinson donning a WWI-esque fighter pilot outfit complete with goggles and leather skull cap. If this show’s intensity had to be quantified on a scale of one to ten, “Aces High” came right out of the gate at an immediate ten and that’s where the level stayed throughout. Crushers “Where Eagles Dare,” “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “The Clansman,” and “The Trooper” immediately followed and had the entire arena on their feet scream-singing, air-guitaring, air-drumming, high-fiving, devil-horn-throwing, beer-spilling, and woo-hooing. Sadly absent was one of my favorites, “Wasted Years,” but given the majesty of the setlist as a whole, which you can see below and which also included crushers like “The Wicker Man,” “The Number of the Beast,” “Run to the Hills,” among other gems, that’s a small detail overall.
For the Book of Souls tour in 2016, the live show was preceded by an awesome, incredibly detailed animated video of Maiden mascot Eddie’s massive, rotten, subterranean hand throwing Ed Force One into the sky. It was awesome and thematically corresponded with the show in general. Unfortunately, at last night’s show, all we got was a commercial for their video game Legacy of the Beast. Now, I realize that that is also the name of the tour, and that it fit, but at the end of the day it wasn’t some cool narrative piece like we got at Book of Souls; it was a commercial. The place erupted in cheers regardless, but if I had to complain about one theatrical element of the show, it’d be that video.
The other theatrical elements were off the chains and what you’d expect from a Maiden show — Bruce went through several costume changes; the stage-wide artistic backdrop changed for nearly every single song; a gigantic Eddie walked out on stage and got into a sword fight with Bruce. A massive, MASSIVE, moving, three dimensional Eddie-devil head menacingly overtook the back of the stage at one point, and at another point the entire stage was transformed into a Gothic cathedral complete with flaming chandeliers. And of course there was that goddamned massive airplane at the beginning the show. There was fog, there were flaming explosions, there was elaborate lighting. It was an absolute spectacle. And when you add that to the flawless technical performance of the band, you were part of one of the most rewarding metal shows ever staged.
From there they kicked right into “Aces High,” a tune that featured a massive airplane hovering over the stage (what an epic sight!) and had Bruce Dickinson donning a WWI-esque fighter pilot outfit complete with goggles and leather skull cap. If this show’s intensity had to be quantified on a scale of one to ten, “Aces High” came right out of the gate at an immediate ten and that’s where the level stayed throughout. Crushers “Where Eagles Dare,” “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “The Clansman,” and “The Trooper” immediately followed and had the entire arena on their feet scream-singing, air-guitaring, air-drumming, high-fiving, devil-horn-throwing, beer-spilling, and woo-hooing. Sadly absent was one of my favorites, “Wasted Years,” but given the majesty of the setlist as a whole, which you can see below and which also included crushers like “The Wicker Man,” “The Number of the Beast,” “Run to the Hills,” among other gems, that’s a small detail overall.
For the Book of Souls tour in 2016, the live show was preceded by an awesome, incredibly detailed animated video of Maiden mascot Eddie’s massive, rotten, subterranean hand throwing Ed Force One into the sky. It was awesome and thematically corresponded with the show in general. Unfortunately, at last night’s show, all we got was a commercial for their video game Legacy of the Beast. Now, I realize that that is also the name of the tour, and that it fit, but at the end of the day it wasn’t some cool narrative piece like we got at Book of Souls; it was a commercial. The place erupted in cheers regardless, but if I had to complain about one theatrical element of the show, it’d be that video.
The other theatrical elements were off the chains and what you’d expect from a Maiden show — Bruce went through several costume changes; the stage-wide artistic backdrop changed for nearly every single song; a gigantic Eddie walked out on stage and got into a sword fight with Bruce. A massive, MASSIVE, moving, three dimensional Eddie-devil head menacingly overtook the back of the stage at one point, and at another point the entire stage was transformed into a Gothic cathedral complete with flaming chandeliers. And of course there was that goddamned massive airplane at the beginning the show. There was fog, there were flaming explosions, there was elaborate lighting. It was an absolute spectacle. And when you add that to the flawless technical performance of the band, you were part of one of the most rewarding metal shows ever staged.