Iron Maiden
Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord, CA
June 20, 2010
By Dan Wall
Set List: The Wicker Man, Ghost of the
Navigator, Wrathchild, El Dorado, Dance of Death, The
Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, These Colors Don’t Run, Blood
Brothers, Wildest Dreams, No More Lies, Brave New World, Fear of
the Dark, Iron Maiden. Encore: Number of the Beast, Hallowed be
Thy Name, Running Free. One hour, 45 minutes.
When it
comes to seeing Iron Maiden live, there are some givens that go
with attending a concert by the heavy metal legends:
it is a
given that the group will play on a huge, modern stage set with
some sort of futuristic vision of hell serving as a backdrop for
the band to romp away on. The lighting will blink and blind with
fantastic colors and shapes, and the sound will be loud-very
loud!
Its a
given that lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson will lead the band and
sing with his huge, operatic voice reaching the farthest reaches
of the venue. The jet pilot/fencing champion/radio disc jockey
will work every inch of the large stage, often leaping and
bounding on a huge ramp system that rims the amp line and over
the stage monitors to the lip of the stage, where the most
over-the-top fans are going berserk in the pit.
it is a given that bassist Steve Harris will play
with fingers flying, playing faster than anyone alive, sing
every word to the band’s biggest tunes along with the crowd, all
the while resting his leg on the front monitors in his trademark
pose. Dave Murray (the fluid, calm one), Adrian Smith (the rock
star) and Janick Gers (the crazy one with jock itch) will
provide huge riffs and solos, and Nicko McBrain will hammer away
on the drums with Harris trying desperately to keep the whole
thing together. It’s not really a Maiden show unless the whole
show steams along like a runaway freight train, galloping like a
group of wild horses.
It is also a given that Eddie, the band’s monster
mascot, will make a visit and scare the hell out of anyone under
the age of 50.
So those are the givens. If you’ve seen Iron
Maiden over the years, you probably know this already. The one
thing that isn’t a given-what will the band play? And this is
what gets debated more by the band’s fans than anything else. On
the band’s recent tour stop in Concord, much of the pre-show gab
was about the set list, which was heavy with newer material and
softer on the classics that featured in the set the last time
out.
Buoyed by a crowd that was on the verge of
hysteria all night, Maiden came out cranking on all cylinders at
9 p.m. and didn’t let up for nearly two hours. Despite the new
material, this crowd didn’t really seem to mind. The sell-out
throng went just as bananas for “These Colors Don’t Run” as it
did for “Fear of the Dark,” and I didn’t see anyone leaving
early, as had been reported on earlier tour stops.
I’ve always been impressed with the band’s tandem
guitar leads, an influence that they picked up on growing up in
England from legendary guitar bands like Wishbone Ash and Thin
Lizzy. But instead of ripping those bands off, Maiden took that
sound and made it its own, and that sound is the cornerstone for
much of its newer material. I will go as far as to say that this
show should have been dubbed the “pretty tour,” because the solo
segments that make up songs like “Ghost of the Navigator,”
“Dance of Dead,” “Blood Brothers” and “Brave New World” are some
of the classiest and melodic segments the band has ever written.
It’s hard to believe that a band as evil and heavy as Maiden
could do it, but the proof is right there in the songs.
Along with the guitar sound, the other thing that
drives the band’s music is the huge, anthemic choruses that pop
up in just about every song it plays. And when the crowd picks
up on those choruses or the stadium chants that have become
parts of songs like “Fear of the Dark,” the whole thing, with
band playing on 10, Dickinson revving things up and the crowd
sounding like a big, evil choir, becomes almost larger than
life.
Was this another triumph for Maiden? I would say
so, because no matter what the band does these days, there’s a
big crowd there to see it and much written about what happened
once the show is done. With a new album due in August (“El
Dorado” was previewed here, and sounded great), another tour in
the works and the band bigger around the world than ever, the
Maiden machine just keeps rolling along, no matter the rock and
roll climate of the day or the ongoing financial crisis we all
face.
One thing that won’t change is this-the next time
Maiden tours, there will be calls for new songs, old songs, rare
songs and big hits to be included in the group’s set for the
tour. Blogs will fill with comments, and websites will fill with
requests, all demanding the band play certain songs in a certain
order for the band’s rabid fan base.
That’s a given.
