Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

[Baum83]

Well, I just returned from there... Iron Maiden were simply awesome. Bruce's vocals were top notch and he was in a pretty good mood as well, Steve was just as always, and Janick didn't even dance too much - Dave Murray's guitar tech used a Wayne (I think, it didn't have a Fender headstock but I couldn't clearly see the logo) during soundcheck, I didn't see it during the performance tough. Was too busy trying to survive the moshpits. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Anyway, if you have the possibility to see them on this tour - GO and see them, whatever it takes! They played an excellent setlist:

Number of the beast (opener)
Hallowed be thy name
22 Acacia Avenue (way cool)
Revelations (need I say anything...)
Heaven can wait (they had some guys from the audience or fanclub or whatever during the "singalongphase" on stage)
The Clansman
The Clairvoyant (that bass intro... [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] )
Bring your daughter to the slaughter (1st encore, not exactly one of their stronger tracks but nice to sing along to)
The wicker man
Brave new world
The trooper
Wildest dreams (new song)
Fear of the dark
2 minutes to midnight
Die with your boots on
Iron Maiden
Run to the hills (last song)

That's about it. Pretty cool setlist if you ask me. I'll maybe give a somewhat more detailed review tomorrow, it's 5AM here... [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

"Wildest Dreams" live MP3:

http://www.zie.pg.gda.pl/~mlalak/wd.html

[BK]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

That sounded as an great show. Can't wait until I see Maiden on Roskilde and in Oslo this summer

Btw, MTV (Europe i believe, or was it MTV Scandinavia) showed Metallicas gig from Rock Am Ring yesterday, and their show was really great. Metallica played mostly tunes from the good old thrash days

[Baum83]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

It certainly was an amazing show. The whole crowd was into it, even though you can barely hear it on tv, Bruce was in excellent shape both as a singer and as a frontman (he did a little rant before the Clansman and was funny between & during songs as usual) - the whole band quite obviously enjoyed themselves.

Anyway, starting out with NOTB was killer - everyone was talking along to the intro, then the band started playing - moshpits all over the place. During the chorus, they had a "666" lighting stuff at the back of the stage. Dave nailed his solo, everything was fine. On it went with The Trooper... awesome. Most of the stage antics were the same as on Rock In Rio, so Bruce had the Union Jack out on this one as well (Bruce and Janick still have the same clothes, Dave has a new Tshirt beneath the vest, Adrian has a completely new kit - looks kinda Somewhere In Time-ish, Nicko didn't wear spandex pants). Can't remember too much of the performance, though...
Anyway, next in line was Die With Your Boots On. Crowd went ape**** [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] . Bruce's singing was okay, not like on the album but still very nice. Especially considering he was jumping around on the stage like he always does [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Short pause, then he announced some old stuff... time for Revelations - another song the crowd was very glad to hear. Great atmosphere in the crowd, everyone was singing along, they played the little harmony part they usually didn't play (but now they have 3 guitars... yay). This one was followed by Hallowed Be Thy Name, way too early in the set IMO but they did a great job on there as well. Bruce's singing was once again top-notch (he nailed the long-held notes pretty well).
After that, another old one that hasn't been played in a while, 22 Acacia Avenue, was played, and as usual we had a lot of fun in the crowd.
Now, Bruce announced the new album and told "everyone who accidentally records this new song" to "send it to their friends and everyone they know, put it on the internet" and stated that "we don't care if you buy the ****ing album". Nice one, Bruce. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Anyway, they played the new song after that - pretty fast, kinda reminiscent of Wicker Man but there's more variety in it. Adrian plays a great solo in this one, and Dave used the Wayne on this one - I think it was a Sunburst one, with an unfinished (I think...) maple fretboard and Floyd Rose. Chorus goes "I'm on my way/Out on the road again" 2 times. Not exactly innovative, but it does the trick.
Next up were The Wicker Man and Brave New World, to which everyone knew the words and was jumping around. After that, it was about time for a little rant by Bruce. He started out by saying that there's certain times in a country's history that people don't like talking about, went on saying that once upon a time "the evil English king" went to Scotland and oppressed them etc, gave the crowd a hint that there's been a movie about the topic entitled Braveheart starring Mel Gibson, that the song was about freedom and basically that people mustn't let themselves be forced into conformity, because they "listen to music that's unnormal to some". Enough of the Bruce rant though. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Clansman was followed by The Clairvoyant (it's back! yeah!), the bass intro sounded a LOT darker and heavier than on the album, and people (including me [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ) singing the guitar melody of the song, or rather trying to sing it, sounded pretty funny. Hehe. Next one was Heaven Can Wait, with that great sing-along middle section. They also had some people up on stage during that one, I guess they were fanclub members and one or two lucky crowdsurfers. They slowed things down a little after that by playing Fear Of The Dark (I don't think I have to elaborate on that one), and Iron Maiden before going off stage for the first time.
Every time there's been a pause, there've been "Maiden!" chants from the crowd, and it wasn't any different then... when they finally came back on stage, Bruce told the crowd that they were amazing (yay! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) and they played Bring your daughter... to the slaughter as the first encore. Did some nice singing/have the crowd try to do it during the middle section, held one note forever at the ending and then returned to normal singing. He had some fun up there I guess. The last two songs were 2 Minutes To Midnight and Run To The Hills - I don't think I have to tell you that the crowd went ape**** again. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Definitely a great gig, and it's been very cool to see Maiden put some old stuff back in the setlist, combined with a huge will to play and to please the audience.
For those interested, on each of Nicko's drums there was a different Eddie painted (black Eddies on white ground).

--edit--
Wow, that's a long post. For those of you who don't want to read the whole thing, go and see them if you can - it's worth every cent. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[ June 09, 2003, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: Baum83 ]

[toejam]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Very cool!! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[Ironhead_metal]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Way cool! I can't wait! I'll be seeing them - at the very least - 21st in Holland and 25th in Paris. And i'm thinking of seeing them at Long beach Arena in august for sentimental World Slavery Tour reasons. It 'll be one helluva trip!

[Baum83]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

I'll try to get to Graspop Metal Meeting, they headline that one. Then Wacken to see Slayer, and I've had it with festivals for the next few decades [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I'm really looking forward to the headlining tour they'll kick off in late '03, they said they'll be back - hell yeah. The new albums sounds quite promising as well. It'll be released three days after my birthday, it couldn't be any better for me this year. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[eet_fuk_81]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Oh **** YEA!!!! Can't wait to see em, and again, and maybe again! I'm going to see em twice (big maybe three times) in july and I CAN'T ****ING WAIT!!! Awesome setlist, and I'm glad they didn't play Running Free, I've always thought this wasn't a great setlist ender, but that's just me

[RacerX]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Originally posted by Ironhead_metal:
And i'm thinking of seeing them at Long beach Arena in august for sentimental World Slavery Tour reasons. It 'll be one helluva trip!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You best look me up if you're coming to my hometown! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Ironhead_metal]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Hey Ron! For sure I will! Let's hook up! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

Originally posted by eet_fuk_81:
and I'm glad they didn't play Running Free, I've always thought this wasn't a great setlist ender, but that's just me

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Running Free kicks ass any day of the week over that Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter crap; that's got to be one of the worst songs they've ever done, but that's just me. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[ June 11, 2003, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: toejam ]

[Baum83]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

It's certainly one of the worst lyrics they have in their repertoire. And that's pretty hard to imagine, considering To Tame A Land, Sun and Steel or Quest For Fire [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ryansean]

Re: Iron Maiden @ Rock Am Ring

My friend might be getting me free tickets to see Iron Maiden/Motorhead in Boston. I'm wishin.