The TAC Top 25 Concert Countdown #1 Puttin' On The Ritz

[cramx3]

As a huge fan of SiT, this tour is something I would have loved to see.  The setlist is really good too although I do agree with the oddness of having Rime in there, but that song is so damn good that I'd still be cool with it.  Awesome pictures.

[TAC]

I'm kind of surprised that you liked Somewhere in Time over Powerslave; not sure why, maybe the synths and all that. 

I've talked about this before, but at the time, I was not a fan really of Powerslave. I actually saw the Piece Of Mind tour so I was eagerly awaiting their new album.
The single, 2 Minutes To Midnight, which I love today, but then it was disappointing. It used the same recycled riff that I had a half times over already in my collection. I thought Aces High was a cliche fast opener. Rime I didn't think was all that special and all they did in interviews was highlight the fact that they wrote a 13 minute song. But it just seemed long for long's sake. And I was turned off at how proud they are. And I also thought the Egyptian thing was also cliche. I didn't find anything about the album original.

I thought SiT sounded so fresh.

That all said, Powerslave has aged well, and SiT hasn't. I probably rank them somewhat evenly today.

It's funny how things change, I totally remember that feeling of not knowing what was going to be played, and the thrill you got when you got something that you wanted or didn't expect. I miss that feeling.

Those days flew the coup long ago with the internet. It's too bad.



I would again recommend you guys to click on the Troy NY Boot I linked. That is the truest representation of a Maiden show that I've ever seen, especially from the 80's.

[TAC]

June 8th, 1992
The Ritz, New York City


Iron Maiden:
Be Quick or Be Dead
The Number of the Beast
Sanctuary
From Here to Eternity
Wasting Love
Tailgunner
The Evil That Men Do
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
Fear of the Dark
The Clairvoyant
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
2 Minutes to Midnight
Iron Maiden
Hallowed Be Thy Name
The Trooper
Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter
Running Free


Dream Theater:
Pull Me Under
Under a Glass Moon
Metropolis Pt. 1
A Fortune in Lies
Learning to Live






Video Boot of Iron Maiden
It's a bit shaky but definitely watchable. In some spots, you can see my camera flash down in front of Dave and Steve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SoofegTwk

Audio Boot of Dream Theater.
Only Learning To Live is on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvSWzXSD42Y

I've uploaded their full set..
https://we.tl/t-f9IBXiVAYp



So..when Iron Maiden played at L'Amour's in 1988 before the 7th Son tour, my college roommate, who lived in northern NJ, and I pledged that if we got wind of anything like that happening again, we'd be there. Well, 2 years after college, it happened.
We went into the city early in the day. One of my best friends from high school (the guy that had Rik Emmett sing at his wedding...I've posted those pics) worked in NYC at the time, and we met him and had lunch at Planet Hollywood. And SoCo shots!

I remember lining up so we could get in when the doors opened. We got down to the front on Dave's side. I just remember thinking that I hope the opening band doesn't suck. Hell, I wish they didn't have to come on at all. I was on a huge Iron Maiden fever pitch. I loved Fear Of The Dark, which was such a huge improvement over No Prayer.

So this band called Dream Theater come on and they start Pull Me Under, not that I had any clue. When they hit the "Watch the sparrow falling", my jaw was on the floor. Holy shit, I thought. This band is incredible. They were so talented and tight.
I two main thoughts were that first, the drummer was incredible. By the time I figured out what he was playing, he was already playing something else. Other than Neil Peart, I had simply never been so moved by the drummer.
And secondly, and this is funny, but I thought the bass player was a madman! JM was at the edge of the stage in front of us. Seriously, I thought he was insane.
My only regret was not snapping a few pics, but I did not want to take a chance and get busted before Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden was incredible. Seeing my favorite band on a small stage like this was truly amazing. There were no real surprises in the setlist, but I thought busting out TNOTB second song of the set was awesome. And they stuffed Fear Of The Dark in practically the middle of the set.
It was so cool to be so close to Dave. For the SiT and 7th Son shows, I was right in front of Adrian. So my pics from those shows are great, but unfortunately there's hardly any Dave.



Pics!
(I'm lucky to have this pics. Seems my negatives got jammed when they were developed. In this pic of the Marquee, in the lower right hand corner you can see an imperfection, and the pic of Bruce is almost ruined too. These are really the only decent pics I have from the show)











Unfortunately, this great Iron Maiden show is shadowed by my discovery of Dream Theater. In fact, my all time favorite Maiden show is the Somewhere In Time tour, but the inclusion of Dream Theater nudges it past that show slightly. 
I bought Images & Words and listened to it for what seemed like 2 years straight, only taking it out to listen to Live At The Marquee. There was no internet back then. I remember being at work and going through the Boston Phoenix, which was a free paper of mostly ads. It's where I would see who's playing in town. And low and behold, I see that Dream Theater is playing at Axis. Not 6 months from now. In like two weeks!! And then they came back in December, which I posted previously in the thread.

My musical life was forever changed, and had I not been at this concert, I'd likely not be here at DTF typing this.


Thank you all for your comments and reading this thread. It has been fun going through many of these shows and tours again. I scanned a ton of shit in for this. I'd come home from work, and my son, thinking I'll be scanning in more stubs and pics,  would ask, "Dad, do you want me to turn the printer on for you?"
What's better than that?

[Samsara]

Awesome. What an incredible gig to be at. DT on I&W, and Maiden killing it on the FotD run. Damn! 

You've been inspiring me to do something similar, Tim. I guess my thing is, I didn't take many pictures. But I remember a lot. I made it a rule to never drink at a show. I made a couple of small exceptions over the years (I was pretty drunk when I got to Maiden in 2000 at the Garden, after attending a pre-show gig where I outdrank QR's later-on road manager before he got sober). But I sobered up quickly throughout Halford's set and remember QR and Maiden pretty well.

But yeah, I'm wondering if I should do something similar. Not sure folks here would dig it, as my tastes are a bit different, and I don't have a ton of pics. But even if I write it up for myself, it's probably worth it.

[Anguyen92]

I just realized that Theater on that Marquee was spelled as Theatr rather than Theater or even Theatre.

[kingshmegland]

Should have known. What a fantastic experience!!

[TAC]

Awesome. What an incredible gig to be at. DT on I&W, and Maiden killing it on the FotD run. Damn! 

You've been inspiring me to do something similar, Tim. I guess my thing is, I didn't take many pictures. But I remember a lot. I made it a rule to never drink at a show. I made a couple of small exceptions over the years (I was pretty drunk when I got to Maiden in 2000 at the Garden, after attending a pre-show gig where I outdrank QR's later-on road manager before he got sober). But I sobered up quickly throughout Halford's set and remember QR and Maiden pretty well.

But yeah, I'm wondering if I should do something similar. Not sure folks here would dig it, as my tastes are a bit different, and I don't have a ton of pics. But even if I write it up for myself, it's probably worth it.

You should definitely do it. I'd love to read that. I just have my pics and my stubs so I like to share, but I'd be more interested in your thoughts and memories anyway.


I drank and will drink at shows, but I've been drunk just a handful of times. One time we went to see Mr. Big at The Living Room in Providence maybe in 1990 and they took one look at us, and wouldn't even let us in.

[wolfking]

Yeah, should have known and picked this one.  I loved IM on that tour.  Donington 92 is one of my fav vids discovering them as a kid.  The energy they had on that tour was immense.

Discovering DT like this though is certainly something else. 

[Lethean]

 

That is awesome TAC.  I've been waiting for this post. I had been listening to DT for a few months the first time I saw them, had most of the albums, and even then my jaw was on the floor and I came away almost not believing what I'd seen.  It was definitely a transforming experience for me.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to know absolutely nothing about them, wanting to just get it over with to get to the headliner, and then experience them for the first time live and up close.

[TAC]

I can't imagine what it would have been like to know absolutely nothing about them, wanting to just get it over with to get to the headliner, and then experience them for the first time live and up close.

It was a combination of this...



...and this..

[DragonAttack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7NyKw0VYQ

I wish I could have seen this 2010 pairing.  Jiffy Lube Arena near DC is a virtual cesspool for driving and parking on a week night, so I had to pass. 

I can only relate as to what it's like to see a band that is basically an unknown as a Ute, and it ends up as a life changing experience. 

[TAC]

I wish I could have seen this 2010 pairing.  Jiffy Lube Arena near DC is a virtual cesspool for driving and parking on a week night, so I had to pass. 

That tour didn't come here and I was so pissed. I was trying to figure out a way for us to go to NY for it, but The Lovely Mrs TAC was having none of it. We may have gotten pretty heated too.

We ended up being rewarded with the last US DT headline show of the MP Era instead, which almost made the countdown.

[Lethean]

I wish I could have seen this 2010 pairing.  Jiffy Lube Arena near DC is a virtual cesspool for driving and parking on a week night, so I had to pass. 

That tour didn't come here and I was so pissed. I was trying to figure out a way for us to go to NY for it, but The Lovely Mrs TAC was having none of it. We may have gotten pretty heated too.

We ended up being rewarded with the last US DT headline show of the MP Era instead, which almost made the countdown.

I was at that show!  I saw a couple of the Iron Maiden/DT shows but I really wanted to see some headlining shows as well.  And I totally wanted to see The Count of Tuscany again.

[The Realm]

Awesome TAC! I know I didn't comment on this thread as the reveals came through but I really loved ready these write ups. I actually saw Iron Maiden live for the first time on the Fear of the Dark tour - this was at Festival Hall in Melbourne and that is probably my number 2 concert of all time.

And the fact you also saw DT as the support! WOW!

[Zoom E]

I knew another Maiden  show would be your #1, I just wasn’t sure which one it would be. Sounds like an amazing show. I did catch this pairing  on the 2010 tour, but that’s nothing like seeing them in a small venue.

[cramx3]

I figured this was #1 going in but still, such a cool concert and story.  Stadler mentioned something in another thread about the openers being really good and I said sometimes "a band has "it"" and I truly believe you experienced the same thing that night. Obviously I'm jealous of this show and many others you have seen, but at least I can say I also saw these two together on that final MP tour with DT    I defintiely think that SiT setlist was better, but I get it, DT would put this show over the top as it's such a memorable experience, not just to see a really good young band, but also how it lead you here like the rest of us. Thanks for sharing these concert stories.

[jjrock88]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

[TAC]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

Jeesh, you finally weigh in and then you go all Jazzy Jeff on me!

You just never knew how security was going to react. I'd seen them have people remove their film a number of times.

[DragonAttack]

I wish I could have seen this 2010 pairing.  Jiffy Lube Arena near DC is a virtual cesspool for driving and parking on a week night, so I had to pass. 

That tour didn't come here and I was so pissed. I was trying to figure out a way for us to go to NY for it, but The Lovely Mrs TAC was having none of it. We may have gotten pretty heated too.

We ended up being rewarded with the last US DT headline show of the MP Era instead, which almost made the countdown.

Give it the Viper King treatment and add it on as a bonus, please. 

[jjrock88]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

Jeesh, you finally weigh in and then you go all Jazzy Jeff on me!

You just never knew how security was going to react. I'd seen them have people remove their film a number of times.

Yeesh, security and police can put a damper on things sometimes 

[Cool Chris]

As I said in lonestar's thread, I am not a concert guy. Never have been. So have little to contribute to these threads. But I do read them and appreciate the thought and care you all put in to them.

[wolfking]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

Post more.

[axeman90210]

Awesome. What an incredible gig to be at. DT on I&W, and Maiden killing it on the FotD run. Damn! 

You've been inspiring me to do something similar, Tim. I guess my thing is, I didn't take many pictures. But I remember a lot. I made it a rule to never drink at a show. I made a couple of small exceptions over the years (I was pretty drunk when I got to Maiden in 2000 at the Garden, after attending a pre-show gig where I outdrank QR's later-on road manager before he got sober). But I sobered up quickly throughout Halford's set and remember QR and Maiden pretty well.

But yeah, I'm wondering if I should do something similar. Not sure folks here would dig it, as my tastes are a bit different, and I don't have a ton of pics. But even if I write it up for myself, it's probably worth it.

Yeah, RJ and now TAC's lists have gotten me to at least try to make a master list of all the shows I've been to. I'd probably only have enough really good shows for a top 10, but I also don't have pictures in my personal collection for the most part or the sleuthing ability for digging up live footage.

I wish I could have seen this 2010 pairing.  Jiffy Lube Arena near DC is a virtual cesspool for driving and parking on a week night, so I had to pass. 

That tour didn't come here and I was so pissed. I was trying to figure out a way for us to go to NY for it, but The Lovely Mrs TAC was having none of it. We may have gotten pretty heated too.

We ended up being rewarded with the last US DT headline show of the MP Era instead, which almost made the countdown.

I was also at that last Worcester show thanks to the king and queen. How could a show where the whole audience was that close to heatstroke rank so highly

[cramx3]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

Jeesh, you finally weigh in and then you go all Jazzy Jeff on me!

You just never knew how security was going to react. I'd seen them have people remove their film a number of times.

Did you ever have an issue with your camera?  I noticed on a lot of the ticket stubs it explicitly said no cameras.  Did they check at the door and you had to hide it?  I'm kind of curious since it was brought up and I've had my moments of being sneaky with a camera before.

[Stadler]

This was an excellent thread! Great stories! One question, you've mentioned it a few times; what's the deal with the illegal activity of taking pictures and getting tossed out of a venue like Jazzy Jeff?

Jeesh, you finally weigh in and then you go all Jazzy Jeff on me!

You just never knew how security was going to react. I'd seen them have people remove their film a number of times.

Did you ever have an issue with your camera?  I noticed on a lot of the ticket stubs it explicitly said no cameras.  Did they check at the door and you had to hide it?  I'm kind of curious since it was brought up and I've had my moments of being sneaky with a camera before.

There are about 100 or so ticket takers still talking about that guy whose cock looked square when he came through the turnstile.   

[TAC]

I was also at that last Worcester show thanks to the king and queen.

Yes, that was the first time I met Joe, and he introduced us. You were pretty lit I think. 

Did you ever have an issue with your camera?  I noticed on a lot of the ticket stubs it explicitly said no cameras.  Did they check at the door and you had to hide it?  I'm kind of curious since it was brought up and I've had my moments of being sneaky with a camera before.

I actually never had an issue with my camera. I was told a couple of times "No pictures" by an usher but then I'd chill and snap off more later in the show. I used to put it right in my crotch. Never got busted.


I was recording shows for a while, and I got busted at The Strand in the bathroom setting up my tape recorder. I was in a stall, and a security guard noticed I was fiddling with something. They took my batteries. This was the A Change Of Seasons tour, but luckily, there was someone else that taped the show, which I have.

[DragonAttack]

I was recording shows for a while, and I got busted at The Strand in the bathroom setting up my tape recorder. I was in a stall, and a security guard noticed I was fiddling with something. They took my batteries. This was the A Change Of Seasons tour, but luckily, there was someone else that taped the show, which I have.

Care to rephrase that one!

[kingshmegland]

I should sig that.

[TAC]

 

 

[ProfessorPeart]

The wide stance must have tipped off the security guard.

[TAC]

 

I think they heard a clicking sound.



....oh boy..

[Stadler]

I was also at that last Worcester show thanks to the king and queen.

Yes, that was the first time I met Joe, and he introduced us. You were pretty lit I think. 

Did you ever have an issue with your camera?  I noticed on a lot of the ticket stubs it explicitly said no cameras.  Did they check at the door and you had to hide it?  I'm kind of curious since it was brought up and I've had my moments of being sneaky with a camera before.

I actually never had an issue with my camera. I was told a couple of times "No pictures" by an usher but then I'd chill and snap off more later in the show. I used to put it right in my crotch. Never got busted.


I was recording shows for a while, and I got busted at The Strand in the bathroom setting up my tape recorder. I was in a stall, and a security guard noticed I was fiddling with something. They took my batteries. This was the A Change Of Seasons tour, but luckily, there was someone else that taped the show, which I have.

See?  You thought I was kidding with the "square" comment.