Iron Maiden at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Check out my photos of Iron Maiden at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater over at OC Weekly.

My review is also over at OC Weekly.

Iron Maiden at Irvine Meadows(Verizon Wireless)

My Heavy Metal worshipping brother checks in with a guest show review from the second night of Iron Maiden at Irvine Meadows(Verizon Wireless). My brother's first record was Destroyer from KISS in case you were wondering. His report follows below.

Lauren Harris, Steve Harris' daughter, opened up the show both nights. Gives "Bring your daughter to the slaughter" a whole new meaning.

Anthrax


I was really excited about seeing Anthrax both nights, as I still remember picking up my Spreading the Disease at Middle Earth records in Downey, CA. They broke in their new singer Dan Nelson with his first arena shows, and boy did they deliver. He seemed to fit in with the band very naturally as his vocals blended in seamlessly. The setlist was definitely a best of and was repeated both nights. Scott Ian (Guitars) also made a reference to Guitar Hero for "Madhouse" as it is featured in the omnipresent video game.

Anthrax setlist for May 30 and May 31st
"Indians"
"Got the Time"
"Caught in a Mosh"
"Madhouse"
"Anti-Social"
"Room for One More"
"Safe Home"
"Only"
"I am the Law"

Iron Maiden




I couldn't wait to see Iron Maiden though, being a bass player myself, it was like going to Mecca. I also was unable to attend the Long Beach Arena Powerslave tour, so this was a close to a consolation prize as possible (Live after Death DVD doesn't count). One thing about a Maiden show is the T-shirts. They had at least 15-20 different styles available and at $40 each, I decided to look only. The show started off with "Aces High", "Two Minutes to Midnight", then shifted to "Revelations" and "The Trooper" off of Piece of Mind. Bruce did don a British Army uniform similar in style to the cover of "The Trooper" single. "Wasted Years" and "The Number of the Beast" followed, with a sneeze by Adrian Smith (Guitars) preventing a start to "Can I Play with Madness?". Bruce started laughing uncontrollably and needed time to recover.






The time transport back to the '80s continued as midway through one of their songs, a gal stared to disrobe and continued to remove her shirt completely. The kid next to me was with his parents and the mom shielded his eyes so he wouldn't see. The show had the usual beach balls bouncing around and Bruce running from side to side. Maiden played tight as usual and sounded incredible. Eddie had two showings with the first being the Mummy version circa the Powerslave tour that comes through the Eddie Pharoah headpiece that splits into two pieces. The second showing was as the Somewhere in Time Eddie that walked around the stage with the band.

Iron Maiden Setlist for May 30th and May 31st
"Aces High"
"Two Minutes to Midnight"
"Revelations"
"The Trooper"
"Wasted Years"
"The Number of the Beast"
"Can I Play with Madness?"
"Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
"Powerslave"
"Heaven Can Wait"
"Run to the Hills"
"Fear of the Dark"
"Iron Maiden"
"Moonchild"
"The Clairvoyant"
"Hallowed Be Thy Name"

Iron Maiden at the Forum

I think I may have mentioned a long time ago that my first concert was Judas Priest in 1984 for the Defenders of Faith tour. I am not exactly sure why I missed Iron Maiden at the Long Beach Arena for their Powerslave tour but I imagine it sold out extremely fast. The tour was captured in all its glory for the "Live After Death" release that I have on VHS somewhere. "Live After Death" was recently released on DVD and is a must own DVD for your collection. I even have the Iron Maiden video game on PC somewhere that was pretty killer for its time. I even saw Iron Maiden's triumphant return to the Greek Theater in 1999. I immediately got a floor ticket when Iron Maiden stated they would return to the Forum to revisit material from their classic albums "Piece of Mind", "Powerslave", and "Somewhere In Time".


I knew it was going to be a crazy show when I saw scalpers just off the 405 exit to the Forum. I rolled into the atrocious $22 Forum parking only to laugh it off as it was straight out of the classic "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" documentary. I carefully dodged the various beer cans littered on the way to the Forum only to be greeted by dozens of intoxicated chanting fans screaming "Iron Maiden!". It was so nostalgic that I already felt I got my money's worth.



The atmosphere inside the Forum was off the charts. It was like time had ceased to exist and I was transported back to 1984. After watching a short intro about the insane custom Iron Maiden plane flown by Bruce Dickinson (Vocals), Winston Churchill's famous speech blared over the speakers as the screaming guitars of Dave Murray (Guitars) Adrian Smith (Guitars) and Janick Gers (Guitars) filled the Forum as the band broke into "Aces High". The combined elements of the amazing musicianship, nostalgia and electric atmosphere made this a top 20 concert event. "2 Minutes To Midnight" was phenomenal as the guitars were blazing and Nicko Mcbrain (Drums) pounded on the drums.




Steve Harris (Bass) is a bass God. I remember hearing the album "Killers" thousands of times coming from my brother's bedroom as he pounded away on "Murders In The Rue Morgue". The camera would show Steve slaying the crowd on his custom Fender bass and I looked away in disgust as I could not bring myself to watch how good Steve is. Steve has not lost a step and his fingers were just blurs on the televised screen.




"Revelations" kept the iron hot as Dave Murray's solo would have made the guys from Avenged Sevenfold cry as he tore away on his Fender Stratocaster. The backdrop of the show changed to the iconic Iron Maiden mascot Eddie on a battlefield as they marched into "The Trooper". Bruce was gallantly waving the Union Jack as raced across the catwalk. It was heavy metal heaven or shall I say hell?




Adrian showed the crowd he was no slouch either with his Gibson SG fueled wah solo during "Number of The Beast". Bruce would later talk to the audience about flying from Japan to the United States and that he saw two Sunday sunsets. I have to give Bruce credit for actually flying the miles and singing for nearly two hours with more energy then people half his age. "Rime of The Ancient Mariner" is a classic Iron Maiden opus that is adapted from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem. The quiet breakdown in the song was stunning before all three guitarists went center stage to solo. It was a trip down memory lane as "Powerslave", "Run To The Hills" and "Iron Maiden" had me grinning from ear to ear and occasionally throwing up the devil horns.





"Somewhere in Time" era Eddie made his appearance near the end of the set and donned a Lakers Jersey that had "Eddie 08" on the back to the semi jeers from the predominantly international audience. Bruce was happy to announce that they were coming back in May with the full "16 Truck" stage setup at Verizon Wireless on 5/30 and 5/31. Your concert schedule should be immediately cleared for those two days. You know where I will be.