Friday
Feb262016
This Is The Coolest Tour Opener Ever
Friday, February 26, 2016 at 12:01AM
Iron Maiden is back and on the road. The Book Of Souls world tour kicked off Wednesday night in Florida. Iron Maiden is a band I've still never seen live. Maybe someday. For now, check out this amazing show opening video. This must have cost a fortune.
Reader Comments (25)
Yes, they put on a great show. Every time. *I've seen them from their very 1st U.S. show, opening for Judas Priest at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas (which is sadly no longer around) until "Somewhere In Time" tour of 87, then I kind of lost interest in them.
If you've not seen them, Now would be the time, if they're on your bucket list.
The video clips from their first show of this tour look good. Steve "Only His Hairdresser Knows For Sure" Harris is in fine form and cargo shorts. Gers is still gainfully employed, acting like some guitar playing Teppanyaki cook. Dickinson still has that "it" factor, especially when he slows down and stops doing wind sprints across the Mayan-themed pinball stage set. And they close with "Wasted Years" after mixing in a lot of new with some of the old (after all, this isn't one of their 'tweener classics tours).
I sorta' lost interest in them, too, around the time Dickinson left. But, hey, they continue to put out quality stuff, even if it doesn't always appeal to people who pine for Powerslave or long for those early punk-ish Di'Anno years. And say what you will about the music (Metalboy!, I set that up for you . . .), they always have a great show, production-wise.
In many ways, they have been the most consistent NWBHM bands aside from Saxon . . . and have done it without airplay (when it mattered) or too many turns towards fads (though SIT definitely was their _Turbo Lover_, even if I personally don't think that is a slam on either band).
- Allyson
My reasons their not Metal is because they're too Proggy!
SAXON & PRIEST blow them off the stage in their sleep!
p.s. And you're right, BK, their mascot is kinda cute ; )
There is a marked difference between not being metal and not being metal you like. Apply this dictate freely.
Besides, I hardly think Barton was just flailing about in the 70s when he decreed that Maiden fit into the rather diverse and wide-ranging NWOBHM genre. To be fair, though, it was a fairly flexible designation.
I would agree with Snoot on the Halford v. Dickinson comparison . . . if it was a few years ago, prior to Halford's surgery. By all accounts, he is back on the mend, standing upright, and singing better than he has in years. Still needs to get that paunch back down to size. But he is doing more than a serviceable job keeping the Priest brand going post-pre-retirement. So I think I will take both of them, and rank them tied and much higher than Eliot these days. Which isn't a slam.
As Metalboy! might say (giggle): up the irons!
On a side note.Has anybody here ever saw the all female version tribute "Iron Maidens" live?. They absolutely cook from what I've watched on YouTube. Their guitarist Courtney Cox is incredible,and a transplanted Pennsylvanian girl to boot. Lol ( Alice Cooper plucked his female guitarist Nita Strauss out of the Maidens also.) I'd love to catch them live,but it seems they keep kind of out on the left coast here in the US...
When I saw that video, I instantly compared it to the CGI cannons on the latest AC/DC tour. Then I thought about bands like Megadeth, who traded flash pots for digital flames. That led me to a giggle: if Hetfield had walked into one of the newest flames on stage, all he would have done is caused a brief smoosh (compared to the splat that was Lulu).
Castle Eddiestein, anyone? And don't get me started on the Eddie in KISS boots that they have walking around. But the "Whole Lotta' Eddie" backdrop balloon is pretty nice looking.
They play Maiden better than Maiden!
And you are 110% correct: Courtney Cox IS amazing! And super nice, as I've had drinks with her several times on The Monsters of Rock Cruises!
I still don't understand how their booking agency has missed Ohio so often... I thought, (to quote another elder statesman of rock, Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter) "Cleveland Rocks"?
Trouble is, Maiden doesn't.
. . . rock the way I like my metal to rock.
Isn't that what you meant?
You want ROCK in Metal?
SAXON
PRIEST
MEGADETH
As I've said before, Dickinson's classic solo album, "Tattoed Millionaire" ROCKS!
Maybe he needed to make that record to get the ROCK out of his system since Tin Maiden fails to.
Whatever you want to call it, Maiden is phenomenal live.
On a side note, why does everything have to be labeled and fit neatly into pigeonholes? I listen to a lot of different stuff and the only genre or label I care about is "Stuff I Like".
Vinnie Vincent must have blown them off the stage!