The short story of my (Maiden) life.
Iīve been listening to Iron Maiden since 1991 or 92 canīt remember exactly. A childhood friend of mine introduced them to me, he was a huge fan and had all their records. Maiden was the first band that i became a real fan of and also the sort of music that defined my musical taste later in life and opened up the world of metal to me and all itīs sub genres.
So anyway, i was hooked to say the least and i remember that everytime i was at his home and played i always asked if i could borrow a new CD or LP. Then i would go home and just listen on repeat all day, read the album cover inside out and i loved trying to search after Dereks symbol on the album covers.
Itīs funny when i think about it, i was to young to be aware of what the band was doing at the present time i just had all their records that i listened to alot and that was fine to me. That also made the band more mysterious and exciting to me and i thank the lack of internet for that.
So the kind of small news that Bruce left the band just gently passed me like a summer breeze.
When i got to my teen years and became a little more aware of the world around me, the golden years of Maiden was long gone. My interest kind of cooled down and i started to get into other types of bands and genres. I also joined my first band (and my last...well kind of but thats another story) as a drummer and we were heavily influenced in the beginning by Hammerfall and the power metal scene.
Fast foward to 1999!
I remember it so vividly march 1999, i was at school and surfing the net when i read the announcement about the return of Bruce and Adrian. Damn! That was a happy day, i actually saved the article for years after. I must clarify: my loss in interest for Maiden had nothing to do with Blaze or anything i still followed them (X-Factor is a pretty damn good album if you listen too it!) but it was more a thirst for other kind music. So the Ed Hunter Tour 1999 was of course a must and the 18th of march in Gothenburg at Scandinavium marked my very first concert with Maiden. Happy day again!
I of course bought Brave New World when it came out in 2000 and had high hopes like everybody else and i liked it even though some of the magic that used to be there in the music was gone. But it was a good comeback album and i looked foward to the next one.
Now comes a point in my life where i realise that Maiden could never ever release anything that could come close to the magic i feel when i listen to their older albums!
So i kind of stopped dreaming for another SSOASS or TNOTB or whatever and just came to the conclusion that everything has itīs time and so does Maiden and itīs OK!
I love that Iron Maiden is still going strong, bigger than ever and the influence they have given and still give to bands, musicians and fans all over the world.
The fact that they are bigger than ever is something i never thought would happen when i asked my friend back in 1998 how the concert the night before was: Man, you not gonna belive me but the place wasnīt even full and the capacity was 1500! That was 20th of september 1998 in Copenhagen during the Virtual XI World Tour.
My live moments with Maiden:
TEHWT in Gothenburg, Scandinavium 1999-09-18
SBITWT in Stockholm, Stadion 2008-07-26
TFFWT in Gothenburg, Ullevi 2011-07-01
MEWT in Gothenburg, Ullevi 2013-?-? Well i sure hope so!
Hope you enjoyd it, i just had to get that out of my chest!
Topic: THE Iron Maiden Thread (Read 436505 times)
