Back to that "WOW"....
Unbelievable weekend in Brooklyn. I just can't believe how awesome of a show IM are putting out there. This was the first time seeing IM since reading Bruce's autobiography, but so much of this show makes so much sense to me from Bruce's mind. Also, the set list makes a lot of sense too. Below is my long review...
The show starts off with more a of "war" theme. There's camoflage on the stage (Nicko's drum set is hardly even visible as he's behind a camo mesh). This place comes out and it's Aces High, a fighter plane song. The plane isn't just sitting above my head, it's moving too with the propeller spinning. It's going up/down, left/right, tilting and shifting. Quite amazed how much it was able to move in that spot to really make it feel like a flying plane. Bruce is also wearing his pilot hat (not sure what it's called) and just looks so fit for the part wearing it while belting out Aces High
Then we get some more older songs with Where Eagles Dare and 2 Minutes to Midnight, both with their own backgrounds (seems every song gets its own background these days, all very well done images too). Bruce in a straight jacket, drawing up images from Peace of Mind. Then Bruce gives his talk. Night one he spoke a bout all the foreign flags he saw and both nights mentioned the 14k sized crowds and that metal is alive and well. Then both nights his speeches went to the same spot, to talk about freedom. The Clansman is such an awesome song. Bruce has his sword for this song to just dance and swing it as he sings. The crowd singing Freedom. Amazing, song was everything I had hoped it would be live. Following this, and with the camaflage still up on the stage, they go into the last "battle" song of The Trooper. Having seen this so many times, it's really not one I love watching live anymore, but they added some flare to this to make it entertaining. Eddie came out for a sword fight (Bruce was still swinging his sword from the Clansman) and after thier little skirmish (and a kick to the butt by Eddie to Bruce) Bruce comes back out with a musket with the American flag on it and shoots Eddie right as he sings the line "I pull the trigger feel the blow"
And now the show begins...
Seriously though, things change here and 5 songs in, off comes the mesh around the back of the stage. Now you can see Nicko's kit fully and we get a new back drop and now some side panels to the stage all of awesome Eddie images in stained glass making the whole stage look like you are now inside an Iron Maiden church (makes me think of that guy from the Flight 666 film
) oh and also some chandeliers from the lights come down adding to the church feel. It makes sense, they play Revelations followed by
For The Greater Good of God (full song from night 2) No extra thrills here, just two religious songs performed awesomely in a church themed stage.
They then play The Wickerman. I was up real close on Dave's side for night 1 and this was a real fun one to rock out too. Quick hitter song. Now came the centerpiece. The side stain glass looking panels stayed up and another awesome image for the background came up. It was like the church was now burning in the distance and we were in the graveyard near by. A cross was placed in the center of the stage, Bruce came out with a hooded cape on, and I love the first verse of this song
. During the song, Bruce rips the cross out from the floor and it lights up as he holds it out towards the crowd before running away with it as the guitar instrumental part gets going. Lots of fireworks too, reminiscent of Rime of the Ancient Mariner from Flight 666. Bruce comes back out on the top of the back with the cross and places it down behind Nicko's kit with flames coming out from the stage as the song ends
After the burning is over, a large angel comes out behind Nicko... and it's about to burn too!
The imagery here is so strong. A cloudy background, the stained glass is gone although the side panels remain. Definitely has a heavenly feel to the stage. Bruce has a flame thrower and looks like he's having a blast just shooting flames wherever and whenever he pleases throughout the entire song. Until we get more fireworks as the angel falls from getting too close to the sun with it's wings shriveling up as it goes down and away.
(you can see my tweet I linked in my last post for that)
To me, that was the end of what made this show so unique and memorable and different than any other show I've seen from them. From here on out we get the hits, but the show still delivers the good and the theatrics don't end just yet although nothing from here on out quite reaches the level of Sign of the Cross in terms of power and vibe from the music + show. The go into Fear of the Dark next. Bruce has a cool green light he carries around and this gets the crowd singing again (Flight of Icarus had the crowd engaged, but not everyone was singing along lets say). It's fun, but its been done time and time again. The Number of the Beast follows and this one brings lots and lots of fire as usual, maybe a bit more than usual though and I love some pyro. The set closer is Iron Maiden of course and we get the big stage Eddie as well.
Maybe the most dissapointing song for me was the first of the encore. I really love The Evil That Men Do, but something about this made me feel like no one in the band wanted to play it or something. For once in the show, Bruce seemed uninterested and just essentially talked teh verses. There was no stage show or anything, this felt like IM stripped down but just also felt flat. The theatrics returned for Hallowed. Bruce sings the beginning from a jail that appears on the stage and as he gets out of it, there's a noose hanging next to him that he swings and sings next to. Just once again, amazing imagery. It's also my favorite IM song so this one is just so awesome to be seeing again in the set, if there was ever one setlist staple for IM for me, this would be it.
And they finish it off with Run to the Hills. Maybe the loudest the crowd got each night. It's not my favorite IM song, but it gets the crowd going and I can dig that. And after all the fire works, all the lgihts, the stage show, the back drops, it all comes down to Bruce hitting the button for the TNT right at the end for one last explosion
(there were tiny explosions along his way to the TNT too
)
I got to say, my jaw is a bit floored still from how amazing this weekend was and how this band continues to amaze me. I do think they are starting to show their age a bit, it seemed Nicko's timing was off quite a bit both nights and Bruce's vocals are not quite as strong live, but overall, the performance was pretty good all things considered. I really wouldn't put too much stock into what I just said especially when it seems like they aren't using backing tracks or playing to a click. It's raw metal music with Bruce's theater incorporated. If you have a chance to see this, you must.
Anyway, if you want to watch all I explained, I have it all here:
Maiden Brooklyn 2019Mixed from both nights so you get a couple different perspectives, the audio and video is pretty strong here too especially since I had such an amazing view for night 2.
Topic: The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls (Read 565031 times)
