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Iron Maiden
Expectations
are high as usual when Iron Maiden take the stage a quarter past
nine. As I expected, Different World from ‘A Matter of Life
and Death’ opens the ball. Thinking back to the comeback tour
with Bruce after the release of ‘Brave New World’ where they
played the first five songs from said album, I’d somehow
anticipated something like this. I’d even sort of put together
the five tunes from the fine ‘A Matter of Life and Death’
that I could see them play.
Next
song, These Colours Don’t Run, is also on the list. Fine.
Works great live. Then Brighter Than a Thousand Suns is aired.
Hm, wasn’t exactly on my list, but ok, then. Beginning to need
an old song to make this a real Maiden night.
And
then comes the shock; Bruce announces that they’re going to
play the entire frigging ‘A Matter of Life and Death’! The
cheer from the crowd isn’t really overwhelming. Everybody
around me is looking at each other in slight panic. And it’s
no joke, Mr. Dickinson not joking at all – Harris’s troopers
work their way through the entire bloody album!
A bold move, some would say, arrogant, others could interject.
I’m more inclined to say a bit disappointing, though I’d be
hesitant when saying it. You see, everything is executed
perfectly, I’d say even better than on the album, because the
groovy parts stand out better and more powerful. The
Reincarnation of Benjamin Screech, for example, is just perfect
in every way. The same can be said of most of the songs, in fact.
But only when, finally, the first notes of Fear of Dark tear
through the PA, the crowd, myself included, really stand behind
the band, you know, REALLY feel like this is Maiden. And a
fantastic version of the band’s immortal anthem song, Iron
Maiden from the first album brings tears to many a balding fan
among those circa 8000 souls in Aalborg Gigantium. And then it
ends. Just like that. TWO old songs?!
No,
not quite, Iron Maiden does show mercy, three encores are served:
Two Minutes to Midnight, The Evil that Men Do and finally
Hallowed Be Thy Name.
It’s as if I’ve been to a really good concert but not really
to an Iron Maiden concert. I so awfully missed a couple of my
old friends, Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, for example,
and…well, so many others. I can’t help feeling that I’ve
been cheated a bit although I in the back of my mind know that I
experienced a unique band displaying a massive amount of
self-confidence in their musicianship.
Hard to rate, but: 80 |
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