NWOBHM

Live Review: Iron Maiden at Horncastle Arena, Christchurch

Iron Maiden Book of Souls tour
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Iron Maiden

w/ The Raven Age

Horncastle Arena, Christchurch

Friday 29 April 2016

I missed out on seeing Iron Maiden in 2009 when they last came because I was at a school camp. Ironically enough it was a camp for my music class. One boy from my class skipped the camp to attend the concert, and I’d argue that he learnt more about music from attending the concert than he would have at the camp. Then again, another boy who came on the camp now tours the world playing music in Broods, so maybe my idea of worthwhile musical education isn’t accurate.

It was some consolation that I managed to see the original Iron Maiden singer, Paul Di’anno, play live when I moved to Wellington the following year. It was a good night, but not enough to make up for missing the full band.

Fast forward five years and I finally got the chance to redeem myself. Iron Maiden were returning to New Zealand to promote their latest album, The Book of Souls, and there was no way I was going to miss them this time around.

The most impressive stage set I had seen until now was Rammstein’s, at Big Day Out 2010. They had big cauldrons, and multiple levels of staging with a heavy, industrial look. This was enhanced by all the pyrotechnics that the band is famous for.

Iron Maidens set up made Rammstein’s look like child’s play. In keeping with their new theme, the stage was decked out like a Mayan temple, with Mayan imagery carved into the walls, jungle vines hanging from the lighting rig, and multiple layers of staging for frontman Bruce Dickinson to run about on. Large backdrops set the scene, while vessels overflowed with dry ice and vases spat fire onstage. Drummer Nicko McBrain could not even be seen behind his enormous drum set, with a larger than life array of cymbals and toms enveloping him. It was as if everything was prepared for a blood sacrifice to be made to the gods of rock.

Dickinson was the most theatrical, running about and yelling like a man half his age. This was especially impressive, considering his recent battle with throat cancer. Not that you could tell, with his operatic voice as epic and impeccable as ever. He donned a number of different costumes throughout the night, decked out in a red coat and waving a British flag during “The Trooper”, swinging a large noose around (and hitting the crash cymbals on the drums with) during “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and even donning a luchador mask at one stage. The most popular though, was when he rocked an All Blacks shirt with his surname printed on the back, towards the end of the show.

Bonus points for entertainment also go out to guitarist Janick Gers, who never let up his wild stage moves as he played. For the most part he could be found right of stage, doing the splits over a speaker, but he also ran around spinning, swinging and flipping his guitar with abandon.

The set revolved mostly around the most recent album The Book Of Souls, but Maiden kept the older fans happy by playing the “legacy songs”, as Dickinson put it. He laughed at the age variation of the crowd, noting that many of us would not have been born when their song “Children of the Damned” was written.

Of course everyone’s favourite mascot made an appearance. An enormous zombie Eddie the Head walked onstage and started swinging his axe at the band members. He got into a tussle with Dickinson, who managed to tear poor Eddie’s heart out of his chest, before spraying the blood from it over the front rows in the audience.

Eddie managed to come back later, with his head and chest the size of a hot air balloon rising up from the back of stage. An evil goat figure with folded arms arose in the same manner during “Number Of The Beast”, staring out over us mortal beings with disdain.

Iron Maiden more than delivered, with both stunning musicianship and immense stage presence. They’ve been going at it for a long, long time now, and they’ve made sure not to let their quality slip. This has earnt them a loyal fan base, and just to prove it, it seemed as if 90% of the crowd were wearing Iron Maiden merchandise. Finally seeing Maiden live was just as good – if not better -than I expected. Their show was just as long, fantastic and spectacular as their songs. I doubt that I’ll see any other band surpass this kind of quality for a very long time.

Joseph James

Live Review: Iron Maiden’s Paul Dianno at Bodega, Wellington

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Paul Dianno with Killrazer

w/ Entrails and Razorwyre

Bar Bodega, Wellington

Thursday 1 July 2010

 

Early Iron Maiden was essentially an epic sounding punk band. Just listen to a track like Sanctuary for example; it was punk without being an actual punk song, in the same manner that Paranoid was for Black Sabbath. The cause of this was original singer Paul Dianno, who featured on Iron Maiden’s first two albums, as well as a handful of EPs.

Dianno was replaced by Samson singer Bruce Dickinson due to issues regarding drugs and personal conflict within the band. Dianno’s voice is harsher than Dickinson’s operatic wail, but he has an ample vocal range, ranging from deep growls to punk style to higher wailing.

Opening act Razorwyre (formally known as Gaywyre) played a crowd pleasing set that they’re starting to get a reputation for. No points for guessing who their influences are: they emulate NWOBHM bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with precision, with touches of thrash thrown into the mix. The hair was huge; the riffs were razor-sharp and the solos stunning. And of course who else but a band so inspired by Iron Maiden to open for Maiden’s original singer?

When the Dianno and band Killrazer finally graced the stage their presence was certainly noticed. The dry ice was so dense I could barely see the musicians on the stage not even two metres in front of me, but I could certainly hear them.They opened with Wrathchild, which certainly did the job of working up the crowd. Though he didn’t move about much Dianno certainly commanded the stage as only a well seasoned performer can.

In between songs Paul spoke freely with the crowd, telling us about all sorts, topics including his ex-wife, a drinking incident. Sometimes the cockney accent made him hard to understand, but his jokes were funny and he seemed like a down to earth musician trying to make a living, rather than the cocaine fuelled ego that he once was. Dianno even allowed his backing band Killrazer to play a few of their own songs throughout the set. They played a much heavier technical metal style which added some extra variety to the set.

As promised on the promotional poster, Dianno and the band worked their way through all of the tracks on the eponymous Iron Maiden album, some of which hadn’t been played by Dianno for 15 or more years. He said that a few tracks like Remember Tomorrow were specially chosen to be played exclusively to Australian and New Zealand audiences.

After a heated altercation with some punter disrespecting late AC/DC singer Bon Scott, Dianno and band ripped into a rousing cover of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. The tribute was enough to leave Dianno with teary eyes, but he pulled the song off well. Unfortunately the Spice Girls and Lady Gaga covers Dianno joked about never eventuated.

For me, the best songs had to be Prowler, Iron Maiden and Running Free, although I probably could have also guessed as much beforehand. There’s just a timeless quality about those songs that always manage to excite. They concluded with Sanctuary, a song that packs a punch and sums up Dianno-era Maiden. Not the most extravagant and epic, but more hard and fast and punk-sounding.

I had regretfully missed Iron Maiden when they came to our shores early last year, so when I had the opportunity to see Maiden in an alternate incarnation I knew I could not miss it. Whilst this was obviously not going to be as impressive as a current large-scale Iron Maiden performance, I don’t feel that I missed out so much anymore. Sure there wasn’t any Eddie, 13minutes song or larger than life stage set, but it was still one hellova good night.

 

Joseph James