I’ve seen ton of shows, most of them back in the day. It was very hard to narrow it down. Actually, it was hard to simply not list 5 Iron Maiden shows!
But using the Desert Isle method, these are the 5 shows I’m taking with me:
Iron Maiden/Waysted
Providence Civic Center
March 30, 1987This is my favorite Iron Maiden tour. My all time favorite concert moment in my life was hearing the opening notes to Phantom Of The Opera. This was long before you ever saw a setlist, so seeing a show was watching blind. The Murray/Smith solo was amazing. It’s the only time Caught Somewhere In Time, which is a TAC Top 5 Maiden tune, has been performed.
A few pics from the show:
The other thing that made this show so special was having Waysted as the opener. I am a HUGE UFO fan, so finally seeing Pete Way and Paul Chapman in person was amazing. In fact, Paul Chapman was right in front of us the whole show.
Here’s a shot of Chapman:
Iron Maiden/Dream Theater
The Ritz, New York City
June 8, 1992
This was actually my 8th time seeing Iron Maiden. After they played L’Amour’s to kick off the 7th Son tour, my college roommate, who lived in northern NJ, and I pledged that if they ever did something like that again, we’d go. Seeing Maiden in a small place was a dream come true.
We lined up so when they opened the doors, we’d get a spot near the stage. Of course that meant standing for some no name local band.
Of course, within 2 minutes of Dream Theater hitting the stage, my jaw was on the floor. Holy crap! I had never heard a band this good. Never. Anyway, I was reluctant to take any pictures because I didn’t want to get busted for Iron Maiden.
Obviously, Iron Maiden was amazing! I did manage a few good shots. In fact, if you see the bootleg, you can see my flash going off down in front of Dave Murray.
Here are a few pics:
Alice Cooper/Megadeth
Providence Civic Center
February 17, 1987
Alice Cooper’s “The Nightmare Returns” tour in 1986-87 was one of the most impactful experiences of my musical life. I was never really into him, but for some reason, I watched the Halloween ‘86 show from Detroit on MTV. I was extremely interested. He came to Worcester a few weeks later and I saw that show. I was blown away. I thought about listing that one, but at that point, I wasn’t really familiar with his catalog. Well, by the time he came to Providence 4 months later, I was a full fledged Alice maniac. Over the next few years, I probably listened to more Alice Cooper than anything else.
Oh, and Peace Sells era Megadeth!!! I had an awesome view of Gar Samuelson. What a solid drummer. Unfortunately I didn’t take any shots of Megadeth, but here’s a few of Alice:
Dream Theater
Axis, Boston
December 16, 1992Having seen Dream Theater open for Iron Maiden in June, and then again in Boston in October, this was actually my third DT show in 6 months. And man, they were already my new favorite band. At this time, I was just so amazed by them. I was pleasantly surprised that they were coming back to Boston again. And Axis was a real small club. Very intimate. They played an awesome version of Oh Holy Night. And I vividly remember MP spinning his cymbals during The Killing Hand which to this day, remains a TAC Top 5 DT track. One thing I remember is that it was snowing pretty good. And walking through the snow to my car, with Learning To Live’s outro echoing in my head, is a concert scene I’ll never forget. I taped the show as well as shot some pics, and I literally listened to the entire show on the way home that night.
As mentioned..some pics:
So picking a 5th show was damn near impossible. So I’m going to pick two #5’s!
5A:
UFO
The Living Room
Providence, RI
June 14, 1986So, UFO, along with Iron Maiden, was basically the soundtrack to my high school life. I genuinely referred to them as my favorite band during this time. Even though Misdemeanor era UFO only contained Phil Mogg and Paul Raymond, I was hugely into it. I was only 17 for this club show, so thankfully it was an all ages show. Problem was, I was too young to drive home after the show. A guy (who was 22) whose wife worked with me was a UFO fan, so we paid for his ticket and he drove my car home. We actually went down early to try and meet the band. For some reason we stopped outside the Biltmore, figuring that was the nicest hotel in downtown Providence. When I tell you that we were not standing out there for 20 minutes, and then Phil Mogg walks out the front door, I am not kidding. My picture with Phil Mogg is one of my prized possessions. This was literally one of the best days of my life! Literally.
5B:
Grim Reaper/Armored Saint/Helloween
The Living Room
Providence, RI
September 24, 1987The metal guys on the forum already know this, but I blind bought Helloween’s Keeper Of The Seven Keys after reading a magazine article describing the music. I remember buying the tape, putting it in, and I literally had to pull over into a nearby park and stop and listen to it in its entirety while reading the booklet. It was musical life changing. When I found out they were coming to Providence I was there! The three bands did a signing at a local Strawberries. I skipped Armored Saint and Grim Reaper, and I remember talking with Michael Kiske. He looked so young, I asked him how old he was. He said “19”. I had just turned 19 myself!
After the signings, we were walking around, when we saw ⅗ of Helloween going to Dunkin’ Donuts. There I got a pic with them, arm in arm with Kiske.
Anyway, Helloween was all I expected, but after deciding to stay for a song of from Armored Saint, I couldn’t leave as they blew me away. Their energy, especially from John Bush was absolutely incredible. We stayed for Grim Reaper’s first song, but seeing Helloween AND Armored Saint was amazing.
Ingo RIP
Dave RIP
Honorable Mentions:Metallica/Queensryche
Worcester Centrum
March 16, 1989We had second row seats, plus I got Jason’s pick! Some pics:
Guns n’ Roses/EZO
The Living Room
Providence RI
October 26, 1987Appetite era club show. Amazing! Some pics:
Iron Maiden/Accept
Providence Civic Center
June 2, 1985While not a huge Powerslave fan at the time, this show is notable as Accept turned in the best opening performance I’ve ever seen. Well second only to Dream Theater..
Kiss/Shooting Gallery
Avalon, Boston
May 8, 1992Revenge era club tour. This was incredible. Avalon was such a great place to see a show. Small enough to be intimate, yet big enough to not be cramped. It was amazing seeing Paul and Gene so close. Plus Revenge was so bad ass, it was made for a club.
Oh, and Shooting gallery, which included Hanoi Rocks’ guitarist Andy McCoy was amazing. A TAC Top 5 Opening Performance.
Dio/Twisted Sister
Providence Civic Center
August 20, 1984Last In Line tour. ‘Nuff said. Dio was just amazing. His band was fantastic on this tour. Blown away by them and the stage show. Vivian Campbell kicked ass too. WTF happened to him? And Twisted Sister was awesome.
Topic: Your Top Five Live Shows (Read 7607 times)
