SNIP
WOW. I could have written all of that, word for word, from my show.
Yup. Same here other than this was closer to my 18th time seeing IM (I'd have to count) but the sentiment remains the same. I saw them last Friday and while having seen 3 shows on the previous leg and knowing basically everything they were going to do, it still came off as an epic performance.
Let me start by saying the Prudential Center was PACKED. It was sold out, but I can't recall ever seeing so many people at this venue before. I was on the floor, in the back, and even the back of the floor was packed. It wasn't like many concerts where you can see people all up close on the floor and the back empty, NOPE, the floor was jammed and even the folks in the back were singing and rocking out (like myself).
I still think Sign of the Cross is also the highlight of this tour. Senjutsu itself was just as I expected it, an extremely boring opener. I actually don't think the crowd cared much at all for this song as once they hit the stage and got their "coming out" pop, the crowd was dead for this track until Eddie came out to bring some more life to the song. I hope they do not play this on the next tour. Having said that, Stratego (here's my full recording of the song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDK4rDsoHf8) and The Writing on the Wall were both really good live. I had initially also ranked Stratego fairly low on the album, but it came off sooo much better live. The Writing on the Wall finally got the crowd going a little bit though. I think people have come to really like this song (including myself).
Bruce had a few good lines throughout the night. "Is it old fucking jersey or new fucking jersey?!"
Bruce is also on another level. He sounded pretty damn good to me that night and his energy is just through the roof. Also, Within Temptation were awesome. Great opener IMO.
Iron Maiden & Within Temptation LIVE @ Prudential Center Newark NJ 2022