Beast Over Hammersmith (2002)
Beast Over Hammersmith actually wasn’t released until 2002 as part of the Eddie’s Archive set (which we will discuss), but it makes more sense to discuss it after TNOTB.
The Beast On the Road tour started in the UK in February 1982 and and ran all the way to December of that year. The band made their usual stops as well as visiting new markets, such as Australia. They also performed their first headlining dates in the US on this tour, although they hadn’t completely moved to full headline status. They were attached to some pretty high profile tours with Rainbow, Scorpions, 38 Special, and, of course, Judas Priest.
Beast Over Hammersmith captures was one of the earliest dates on the tour. In fact, the album wasn’t even out yet by this point! It’s really surreal hearing the intro to TNOTB and nobody is chanting along. Anyway, it was filmed and meant to be released but there was a lighting mishap and the band decided it wasn’t up to their standard of quality. Some clips from the show were eventually released in the 12 Wasted Years video and another excerpt was eventually released on The Early Days DVD. It looks fine to me and I really think they should put the whole show out on video at some point. This performance is great. Everybody is on top form, Bruce sounds fantastic, and it’s a solid setlist. I actually prefer this to Live After Death.
The Beast On the Road setlist is pretty interesting. First of all, it’s one of the few tours where the opener wasn’t the album opener, and the only tour where the opener wasn’t a song from the latest album (Sanctuary was at least on the US version of the debut and was used to promote the debut). This was a good decision though. Bruce sounds great on Murders In the Rue Morgue, it fits his voice much better than it did Paul. It is also important to consider the timeline: Bruce was brand new, unless you caught one of his warmup shows the only idea you had of him in Maiden was the Run To the Hills single. Also the album wasn’t out yet when the tour started. So starting the album with two “safe” songs and fan favorites from the previous album followed by the single made a lot of sense. By then they had won over the crowd and could debut new material.
Another oddity with this setlist is that they played Total Eclipse, a b-side that was left off the album. Another good decision. Not only is it far superior to Gangland, but it comes off even better live. A true highlight of the tour. The rest of the set consists of highlights from the first two albums, making Beast Over Hammersmith a definitive collection of their early material. This is the best way to hear these songs IMO.
Of course the Beast On the Road tour marked another major change for the band. After three albums and three years of touring, it was time for Clive Burr to go. Clive Burr’s departure is eerily similar to Paul’s in that it isn’t totally clear if Clive quit or was fired because the story has changed over the years. Clive did have to leave the tour midway through because of a death in the family, which is when Nicko McBrain was hired to fill in. Clive returned, but was then dismissed from the band at the end. It is not clear whether Clive felt he needed to leave, if Maiden decided they were better with Nicko, or if Clive declined when he returned. Either way, Clive was out and the band’s classic 80s lineup was complete. More on that later.
As far as bootlegs go, there are some really good ones out there. Their performance in New York was recorded for an FM broadcast and it really sounds great. It’s a bit later in the tour after Hammersmith, so the band is more comfortable in the setlist. But Hammersmith is such a great and complete recording that the bootlegs aren’t all that necessary unless you’re a hardcore fan of the band or this tour in particular. So I thought I’d do something different. The Maiden/Priest tour has already been discussed by some members here and hopefully we’ll get some stories from those who attended, but I always thought that was one of those dream concerts. Judas Priest touring off of one of their greatest albums with Maiden as an opener is an insane combination. So instead of sharing New York, I thought I’d go with bootlegs of that tour, so people can get a glimpse at what it was like. I wanted to find recordings of the same date, but the only one I found was very low quality. So here’s Maiden in Philly and Priest in Chicago about a month earlier. Both shows featured both bands together, so it’s an accurate representation of the tour. Two legendary bands at the top of their game with two solid setlists.
Maiden:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1aj2j7aqkkk925d/AADJv5ddo0X1J6QjEVBsUlQIa?dl=0Priest:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jdwfs6whd1zo8s5/AADx2MuseBhL0r5-Xj5dLQG5a?dl=0