Concert Review: Iron Maiden, Dallas, TX, 8/17/12

Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing for the second time in my life, a concert performance by THE best live heavy metal band in the world: IRON MAIDEN! As part of the tail end of the Maiden England North American Tour 2012, they played at the Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas, Texas. Opening for Maiden was the alternative metal band Coheed and Cambria, promoting their new double album The Afterman, who put on an impressive set including songs such as "Running Free" and "Welcome Home". The weather was a typical August night in North-East Texas, in the mid-90s but cloudy. Just as Coheed & Cambria finished their set, there were huge, dark, thunderstorm clouds on the horizon, but thankfully the storm went around us and brought with it a cooling breeze as night fell and Iron Maiden began. Before Maiden began however, the venue played "Doctor Doctor" by UFO over the loudspeakers in tribute. Iron Maiden's stage set up had an arctic theme to it with large murals of icebergs which was accompanied by a video montage of arctic settings during the introduction followed by the song "Moonchild".

The show continued as Maiden played "Can I Play with Madness" followed by "The Prisoner" with an introduction on screen of scenes from the song's namesake: the cult 1960's British TV show The Prisoner. After playing "2 Minutes to Midnight", singer Bruce Dickinson spoke about a show they did for the U.S. 7th Cavalry followed by "Afraid to Shoot Strangers". As the band went into "The Trooper", which has become one of their most notable songs, Bruce Dickinson dons a British military "red coat" uniform and proudly waves a large United Kingdom Flag, a.k.a. "Union Jack". As the band started to play "The Number of the Beast", which is arguably their most popular song (and one of my favorites) they featured a large hoofed devil-figure atop the stage who turned his head surveying the crowd as they played.

Next they played "Phantom of the Opera" and "Run to the Hills" where surprisingly, they brought out their mascot Eddie, dressed in a caricatured General Custer costume. Afterwards they continued with "Wasted Years" (another fan-favorite), followed by one of their longest songs: "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and then "The Clairvoyant". They finished their set with the highly popular "Fear of the Dark" and of course their title song from their first album: "Iron Maiden". While their set included mostly classic and popular songs, (however devoid of such favorites as "Hallowed Be Thy Name" or "Be Quick or Be Dead") I was surprised they did not include any songs from the more modern albums such as Brave New World (2000) or even their most recent release The Final Frontier (2010) which was featured prominently during their 2010 tour, which was the last time I saw Iron Maiden at the same venue (See my past review). The show did however feature more songs from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988) and Fear of the Dark (1992) era, which no doubt pleased many of the fans. Of the many changing depictions of Eddie on their various backgrounds and stage props, the most impressive was from "Seventh Son..." including a huge mechanical Eddie complete with pulsing brain in hand!

After a short break the band returned for an encore with "Aces High" which included images from WWII era news reels and Winston Churchill's famous speech. They ended the show with "The Evil That Men Do" and another old-school hit, "Running Free". While the crowd was clearing out, as usual, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's The Life of Brian over the speakers.
It never fails that Iron Maiden consistently delivers extraordinarily fantastic shows and has rarely disappointed fans over the 30 years of their existence. It has always been Iron Maiden's forte to provide quality shows utilizing their own unique qualities of musicianship, theatricality and showmanship. Over the years they have included several new features into their live shows from huge multimedia presentations, lights and pyrotechnic effects, along with complex mechanized and animatronic characters with the various incarnations of "Eddie". This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Number of the Beast (1982) in which singer Bruce Dickinson replaced original vocalist Paul Di'Anno, leading the band to a whole new level of success and popularity. Despite Bruce having left the band in 1993, and he was replaced by briefly Blaze Bayley, but Bruce returned in 1999 and has since continued on with the continuation of the band's definitive lineup. Even after over 30 years Iron Maiden continues to be THE best live heavy metal band in the world, achieving worldwide fame and acclaim particularly due to their ability to travel anywhere in the world thanks largely to their own personal 757 jet-aircraft "Ed Force One" piloted by Bruce Dickinson himself. (See the documentary Flight 666). For any fan of Iron Maiden or live heavy metal shows, theirs is always an exciting and rewarding experience definitely NOT to be missed! \m/

LINKS: Iron Maiden Official Website, Iron Maiden on Facebook, Iron Maiden on Twitter

Special Concert Review: The Planets: An HD Odyssey

As most of you know, I am a big fan of heavy metal music but I also enjoy classical music and neither Ft.Worth nor I are not without a little culture. Both heavy metal and classical music share some of the same heavy themes and power with pieces such as Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Moussorgsky and of course The Planets by Gustav Holst. Last night, I experienced a very special concert (which I almost missed because of my health) at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas: The Planets: An HD Odyssey performed by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Associate Conductor Andrés Franco and also featuring a performance by the TCU Chorale. To begin the concert, the symphony performed the Star-Spangled Banner and then the 1812, Overture solonelle Op. 49 by Tchaikovsky, a surprising but fitting and impressive prelude to The Planets. This particular performance was accompanied by a visual presentation on a movie screen above the symphony featuring HD images of the actual planets of our solar system taken from satellite photos and The Hubble Telescope. Before the music began there was a short, documentary-style interview session featuring several prominent scientists and astronomers from institutes such as the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Ironically, although the performance features images of the actual planets, the theme of The Planets has more to do with their Roman mythological counterparts than the actual planets. The performance began with the most popular and recognizable of pieces from The Planets: "Mars, the Bringer of War". Mars is a very powerful and bellicose piece that incorporates images of battle and destruction, however while the planet Mars itself has a very barren, rocky terrain which has sparked the imagination of astronomers and Sci-Fi writers for years. Also on the screen, were images from the Mars Rover Mission in 2004. Next was "Venus, the Bringer of Peace", a very slow and light piece which reflects the mysterious surface of the planet accompanied by very colorful images. Then came "Mercury, the Winged Messenger", a very light and playful piece which hardly compliments the actual planet as it appears very grey and resembles our moon. "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" is probably the next best-known piece from The Planets and is quite possibly the most uplifting and triumphant with a very Western-themed sound. The images of it's gaseous surface and particularly it's great red spot are wondrous. Next came "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age", a piece that starts out very slow and grows very ominous. The images of Saturn's rings were especially impressive. Next was "Uranus, the Magician", while starting out very playful and lively, the piece ends very somber and foreboding. The striking blue color of the planet complimented the piece very well. The last piece of The Planets is "Neptune, the Mystic", another haunting and mysterious piece which featured the marvelous voices of the TCU Chorale towards the end. The performance was a success and very special experience which earned a standing ovation for the conductor and the symphony. This concert was originally performed by the Houston Symphony and is also available on DVD and Blu-ray. 

   

"Every artist ought to pray that he may not be a 'success.' If he's a failure he stands a good chance on concentrating upon the best work of which he's capable." - Gustav Holst, 1925

IRON MAIDEN IN DALLAS!

Last night was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen! IRON MAIDEN with Dream Theater at the Superpages.com Center in Dallas, Texas! Starting at 7:30pm, I was really worried about the weather. The Superpages.com Center (formerly Smirnoff Music Center) is a partial open air amphitheater with the a covered stage and seating pavilion with a sloping lawn seating area. I have been to the music center before (Ozzfest) and I decided to get tickets for the Lawn seating since the price was cheaper but as the date for the show approached I started to reconsider my decision. This week had been very hot and humid with temperatures in the mid 90s but when thunderstorms came in Wednesday morning, I feared the worst. Although my tickets said "Rain or Shine" I was determined not to miss this concert, so I came prepared with a disposable rain poncho and a towel. Thankfully when I got to Fair Park the weather was clearing up, cloudy but not raining. As night fell, the weather was almost perfect, still very humid (Texas Summer!) but cloudy and with cool breezes and temperatures in the high 70s. The amphitheater was already mostly full and I was glad I got lawn seating because I was in view of a large suspended video screen. The opening band Dream Theater started about 5 minutes early, and played about an hour. I was familiar with Dream Theater and their progressive metal/synthesizer styling's as they performed several songs including "Pull Me Under". Dream Theater put on an impressive show and got the crowd going although there was a long, at least 30 minute break between shows while they were setting up for Iron Maiden.
     As it started to get dark, around 9pm, the lights went out and with a star-filled backdrop amongst a spaceship-like stage with flashing red lights they played a clip from the classical piece "Mars" from "The Planets" by Gustav Holst. As images of space-scenes came up on the screen "Mars" grew louder and Iron Maiden appeared on-stage playing "Wicker Man" from their 2000 album "Brave New World"! As most audiences are familiar with Iron Maiden's huge stage productionswith classic tours like "Somewhere In Time" and "Live After Death", with the release of their new album "The Final Frontier" in August, their stage setup reflects more of the spaceship/futuristic theme of the album. Most Iron Maiden shows usually start with a sound clip of Winston Churchill's beginning the song "Aces High" from 1982's "Powerslave" but this tour marks a whole new beginning! This tour also marks a change with Iron Maiden as most Maiden fans are used to hearing many older hits at their concerts such as "2 Minutes to Midnight" or "Run To The Hills", however most of this show featured songs from more recent albums like "Brave New World" and "Dance of Death" (2003) such as "No More Lies" and "A Matter of Life and Death" (2006) with "These Colours Don't Run" which may have been disappointing to some fans however I thought it was a welcome change and a treat to hear newer songs. As the 2-hour set went on, they also played a new song from the new album "El Dorado" which is available for free mp3 download on IRON MAIDEN.com.
 Towards the end of the show they performed "Fear of the Dark" and of course their signature song "Iron Maiden" in the finale in which they brought out the bands mascot 'Eddie'! Eddie has always been a major part of Iron Maiden shows since the beginning and is usually featured in the shows finale as either a puppet or costumed/animatronic character dressed as either a zombie, a mummy, or a cyborg, but with the new album Eddie has been transformed into a giant alien creature! With an impressive encore they performed some older favorites starting with 'The Number of the Beast', featuring an impressive, ominous devil to the right of the stage and then finished off with "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Running Free"! As the concert came to an end and the road crew started their cleanup as the crowd dispersed, in true Maiden/British fashion they played 'Monty Python's' song "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" from "The Life of Brian" over the sound system. The energy was high and Iron Maiden was definitely in top form, this was truly a great concert experience! IRON MAIDEN RULES!
     On a personal note: Anybody who considers themselves an Iron Maiden "FAN" and then curses and boo's the band for not playing enough of their older songs, is NOT really a fan. In the world of live music and especially heavy metal, any band or artist must evolve and grow and play new songs along with old favorites to stay alive and fresh, keeping both fans young and old cheering and raising their devil-horns! "You can't please all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln. Another thing, I was surprised at the number of people taking video and pictures with their phones and cameras, most concerts I've been too usually discourage this but as I could see hundreds of lights from phones and cameras in the audience I suppose the event staff and security didn't care, so I got a few videos and pics myself but from Lawn seating, you can't see very much!
 (Picture of Alien Eddie from Twitter @IronMaidenFC)