Rough Cut Tour Diary Of A Fat Man – Iron Maiden On Tour
Written by Matt Phelps
Saturday, 20 August 2011 05:00
It was 1986. I was 11 and Iron Maiden changed my life quicker than anything I have ever known since. A kid with a few quid to spend on a new record, or tape as it turned out, I was browsing through the usual middle of the road recordings of averageness with no real interest in anything I saw. I liked music, at that age in the Eighties I had the usual suspects like Michael Jackson lurking around (oo-er) and I quite like Jean Michel Jarre but I didn’t LOVE any of it. I wanted something different, I didn’t know what, just something. I’d tried my Dad’s old Johnny Cash tapes and my Mum’s old Beatles records but they didn’t speak to me. Then I stumbled across this tape with the most awesome cover art I’d ever seen. ‘The Number Of The Beast’ positively screamed at me. I didn’t know what this tape was gonna be like. I had never heard of Iron Maiden but something drew me to it. I looked at the cover for what seemed like ages. Decided to buy it. Played it……..and the rest, as they say, is history.
It’s now 2011. I’m 36 and I still feel the same way now about Maiden as I did all those years ago. They’re part of me and a part that probably defines me more than any other. It’s been 25 years since that day with ‘The Beast’ set me on the only path I’ve ever wanted to travel on and 25 years is something worth celebrating. When The Final Frontier UK dates were announced I snapped up a few tickets because the chance to take a week off work and spend it stalki…um…following Iron Maiden around the mainland for the climax of the tour catching shows in Birmingham, Cardiff and London was something I would have been mad to miss.
What follows isn’t a review. It’s more of a rough cut tour diary of a fat man. I hope you enjoy it.
Sunday July 31st 2011 – National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Waiting for an Iron Maiden show these days ain’t like it used to be. Sure there’s still a hardcore element that faithfully wait outside the venue from the early hours for that elusive spot right on the barrier but these days before a Maiden gig most people can be found surrounded by friends and loved ones propping up the economy in various drinking establishments and eateries. The streets that line the canals through the centre of Birmingham were heaving with families eating out at Italian restaurants and knocking back lattes in swanky coffee shops. It’s a long way from kicking around cans of Hofmeister or Kestrel while hanging around in car parks but Maiden has become a real family orientated night out. Mums, Dads, Grandparents even, all bringing along a younger generation of fans who’ve been brought up with Iron Maiden blasting away in the household, waking up the neighbours with ‘Churchill’s Speech’ and drawing Eddie on their schoolbooks. Once inside the venue though, when the lights go off, nothing’s changed. All that matters is Iron Maiden. The focus is solely on six blokes in their fifties, a guy in a ten foot rubber monster suit and the little yellow bear propped up on the front of the drums, this time dressed in a space suit complete with little silver helmet. Sweep would be so jealous. Soo would be a panda-ring groupie.
Aussie boys Airbourne were a quality choice to kick things off. With the NIA in darkness the main title theme from Terminator 2 and some dazzling white spotlights built the tension before ‘Raise The Flag’ from the latest album ‘No Guts, No Glory’ was delivered with a hard hitting kick to the metaphorical balls and cemented the attention onto this metal blizzard from Oz. Like them or not there was no way anybody could have escaped the fact Airbourne had arrived. Loud, fast and in your face they darted around the stage covering every inch with hard rock sweat. Hair flying, head banging, foot stomping, they smash out a delivery like AC/DC on speed, throwing out infectious grooves with ‘Diamond In The Rough’ and ‘Runnin’ Wild’ and reeling people in that have been caught by something as innocent as a foot tap. Airbourne aren’t going to let you ignore them and neither are they going to let you ignore the unseen hands 
behind the scenes who make every gig possible. ‘No Way But The Hard Way’ was dedicated by Joel to the Iron Maiden road crew for being the hardest working guys in the business and his sincerity earned a ravenous round of applause for the crew as well as for Maiden.
‘The Final Frontier’ erupted into life and Iron Maiden exploded from the two sides of the stage with Bruce leaping off the front monitors and landing perilously close to the front of the stage. Time flew by through the first few numbers and soon it was ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’, Adrian’s riff storm stirring up a frenzy and the sold out crowd all seemingly pushed into my back for a spot nearer the stage. When the cameras feeding the video screens panned across the expansive crowd it was hard to believe just how many people were behind us. With a capacity of about 14,000 I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising but being only a few rows from the front meant I’d had no reason to look anywhere other than the stage while waiting for the arrival of the headline act. But when the chorus of ‘…Midnight’ kicked in nobody would have needed screens to tell how many people had packed into the NIA, the roof may have loosened a bit, better check that.
Much of the material in the set was a mix of stuff from ‘The Final Frontier’ and pre-Blaze classics but there were a few choice cuts of post reunion metal thrown in and ‘The Wicker Man’ lit up the night with a fiery intensity that licked around the walls of the NIA. Something wicked certainly came the way of the Birmingham during ‘The Number Of The Beast’ as backline gremlins attempted to derail the performance by cutting out all the guitars. Steve, Adrian, Dave and Janick were left to stand idle as just Nicko’s drums and Bruce’s mic were the only things left working. With McBrain keeping the pace Bruce and the chanting hordes made it to the end of the song in “rather splendid” fashion. I bet some people didn’t even notice 😉
Monday 1st August 2011 – Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff
Second day of the trip and the plan was to grab something to eat for lunch in the Cardiff arm of the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Turned up and found out that the fucking place had shut up shop a few months ago leaving me a bit pissed off. They’d had a Vinnie Vincent Rhoads V in that place and I had wanted to worship at the table beneath this hallowed piece of rock history but it was not to be. Still, there’s always a solution to be had food wise so it was a quick trip to the Bay area instead, after all where better to eat on a Maiden road trip than a place called Eddie’s Diner?
Airbourne again kicked off the night and were again on rocking form. Same set list and same amount of Maiden worship but a lot more interaction from the crowd. Cardiff was up for it from the start and ‘Raise The Flag’ raised more fists than it had done the previous night. It’s been a while since I first saw Airbourne live on their first tour of the UK at the tiny Exeter Cavern but the intervening years have taken none of the edge off their ferocious delivery. You can tell from the second the boys run on to the stage that they still have that fire in them and the fact that they’re touring with “the greatest fucking heavy metal band of all time” only seems to fuel their desire even more. Iron Maiden are the plate and Joel, Ryan, David and Justin do all they can to step up to it. Classic cuts of ‘Blackjack’ and ‘Stand Up For Rock N Roll’ dripped with the same dedicated sweat that the Cavern walls did 3 years ago. These boys can do no wrong in my eyes.
In all honesty when someone is pulled out semi lifeless from the unrelenting crush at the front all you can think of is the fact that for a split second you’ll have an extra millimetre of breathing space. During the two hour set I don’t think I got to fully expand my lungs once. From the off the crowd in Cardiff were noticeably more ravenous than they were in Birmingham although the fact that the CIA was 99% standing that night was likely a contributing factor. At only the second song in our bodies were drenched with sweat. Surging side to side, staggering to keep upright and not fall it was fucking intense and fucking amazing. The golden sound of ‘El Dorado’ pounded without mercy before the air raid siren wound up for the blistering ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’. “Scream for me Wales! That’s bullshit! SCREAM FOR ME WALES!!!” Dickinson had the rabid dogs of Cardiff eating out of his hand and even threw a few titbit hints out about next time they’re in town playing a “slightly bigger shed” (wink wink). Read into that what you will. I know what I’m hoping for. A certain album that changed my life is 30 years old next year. Surely that’s worth a celebration? Even if it’s once in a Millennium!
With the appearance of the most famous backdrop in rock the CIA crowd (including myself) went fucking nuts. The galloping charge of ‘The Trooper’ took the sing-a-long levels to new heights. The trio of six stringers stood central stage, Janick screaming “SING YOU FUCKERS!” while Harris ran right and left and Dickinson waved his flags. The ultimate British metal band showing the true mettle of Britain. ‘The Trooper’ was the first song I ever learnt all the words to and I’m glad to say that at 36 my memory is still as clear as ever when it comes to remembering my parts as a member of the Maiden choir under Janick’s direction. That song is etched into my very being as much as it is Arry’s arm. Last song of the main body of the set and the mighty ‘Iron Maiden’ brought the house down with the arrival of “Big Eddie”. Curling his gnarly fingers over the backline and snarling from side to side throught the climax as Harris machine guns off the riser before jumping to the finish.
A few icy cold Strongbows in the Park Inn over the road from the CIA went some way to rehydrating us. Clothes still sopping wet it was off to the kebab shop, shattered. Two down, two to go.
Friday 5th August 2011 – O2 Arena, London
I thought time in London ahead of the culmination of the tour would be best spent taking in some sights of Maiden based interest. I’d always wanted to make it out to the Ruskin Arms but had never got around to it when it was open. I decided it was somewhere I still wanted to go anyway just to see the historic facade. It’s a sad sight now, sat behind scaffolding and boards. It’s heart may have been ripped out in the name of development but its soul will always have a home in the Maiden history books. Just standing outside you can almost hear the ghosts of those legendary Seventies/Eighties performances and the sound of Di’Anno smashing a glass across some unfortunate head. A trip to the West Ham football stadium was also on the agenda. It appeared to have been on quite a few agendas as the stadium store was busy with people browsing the claret and blue merch while sporting Maiden shirts, patches and scarves.
Back to Greenwich and afternoon boozing took place at The Pilot Inn, just a short walk from the O2. Some quality time was spent knocking back (and sometimes knocking over) icy chilled pints of Strongbow on the grass outside the pub. The place was teaming with IMFC members of which I am, of course, one. So many in fact that at one point they ran out of glasses and no one was getting served unless they already had a vessel for their poison. I had a glass. I got served (Hic).
Wrapping up the World Tour with two climactic sold out shows at London’s O2 Arena Maiden had switched away from Airbourne to have two different bands (Dragonforce and Trivium) playing at the nights in Greenwich. Trivium (who played the second night) looked the more interesting on paper as I’ve never been overly taken with Dragonforce but since they were sporting a new frontman to replace the departed ZP Theart I thought they would be worth 
checking out. Due to the O2’s size the new Dragonforce line up got to play to a large number of people but the still relatively large number of empty seats made it seem almost painful to watch them going through over enthusiastic actions to a largely uninterested and half empty house. Their desire to please was strikingly evident but they lacked any hold over the crowd whatsoever. New singer Marc Hudson did a damn fine job of fronting the band during what he said was only his second official Dragonforce gig but the sound wasn’t on their side and left their maniacal barrage of notes sounding like an inaudible wall of noise, indecipherable and unattractive which left me feeling unattached from the performance. However, the new song that was aired, ‘Cry Thunder’ from the forthcoming new album with Hudson sounded quite interesting. A more direct, melodic and powerful approach similar to something Hammerfall might knock out, it was considerably better than the deluge of guitar hero kiddie twiddling that is ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ which finally ended the torment for both band and crowd. Thought for the day: If you want people to take you seriously then don’t use a keytar in public, it’s 2011!
This was the first time Maiden had played the 20,000 capacity O2 and Bruce wanted to know if the sound was ok. Well, the sound was fucking awesome. There were times I actually found myself wondering if I’d ever heard such a clear and well rounded sound live before. Maybe I have but the clarity was something I kept taking note of and it really makes for a top night when the sound isn’t a muddy pile of shit, this was near perfect. ‘The Talisman’ was another of the choice picks from ‘The Final Frontier’ that made the set list. Maybe not an obvious choice for inclusion when you consider the wealth of material that took a back seat to make way for it but it had the crowd surging like the stormy seas depicted on yet another of the constantly changing backdrops. The swell of bodies mounted throughout the voyage as Steve kept an eye on the storm and lead yet another woah-a-long as the surging crowd broke against the bow of the stage. Folk tinged mini epic ‘Dance Of Death’ was another wild card but fitted the set perfectly. Bruce was hamming up the lyrics with a glint in his eye and tongue planted firmly in cheek as Janick danced and twirled around the stage pretty much non stop. Thankfully no Stonehenges or dwarves were harmed during the performance of ‘Dance Of Death’ but my AC/DC boxers were severely moistened.
With the O2 bathed in blood red lights the arrival of ‘The Evil That Men Do’ saw one of the loudest cheers of the night. “Walk on” Eddie got his freedom during this one and squared up to Janick like usual before finishing off jamming along with Dave and Adrian. ‘Fear Of The Dark’ and ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ are two staples that if were ever left out of the show would have Maiden fans falling apart at the seams like cheap magazines. These epics are what Maiden live are all about to me and seemingly everyone else as the reception they get and the volume of interaction they garner prove why a live Iron Maiden show is one of the best experiences I think you can have in life.
Saturday 6th August 2011 – O2 Arena, London….The Final Frontier
The second night at the O2 and the final night of the entire tour. I had to be there. Didn’t actually have any tickets until about 4pm though. A quick phone call and a few minutes later some cracking production holds that had been released at the last minute were mine. Seats in a block right next to the side of stage aren’t ones I’d usually go for but having the knowledge that our view wasn’t going to be obscured by any high amps on the side I snapped them up and man, what great seats they were. A great platform from which to catch US metallers Trivium ahead of the release of their brand new album ‘In Waves’. Trivium faired far better than Dragonforce. With a stage void of any fanciness the Floridian foursome got a much more enthusiastic response from the Maiden faithful. ‘In Waves’, ‘Black’ and ‘Built To Fall’ from the now released new album all got a pre-release airing alongside the more standard Trivium staples. ‘A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation’, ‘Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr’ and ‘Throws Of Perdition’ all got a blood pumping in the fist-throwing crowd as Matt Heafy stoked the fires of the fanatical with well placed comments about Iron Maiden being the most important heavy metal band of all time. Although, like for Dra
gonforce, the O2 was still half empty Trivium succeeded in pressing the right buttons and had the majority of the people present supporting their cause.
The video intro of ‘Satellite 15’ was broadcast for the last time. Space scenes, explosions a CGI Brucie and of course Eddie himself set the tension level to maximum and when the band exploded onto the stage the O2 erupted with a sheer wall of noisy hungry appreciation. With these two gigs being bang on the home turf of East London ‘Coming Home’, with its patriotic intro speech concerning William Blake and Albion (not West Bromwich as had to be pointed out in Birmingham), couldn’t have had a more appropriate setting and was lapped up by all whose blood runs red, white and blue. A quick talk from Bruce about the unifying power of Maiden followed another fiery ‘Wicker Man’. From playing to 30,000 Islamic Heavy Metal fans in Jakarta, aiding and abetting the overthrowing of Egyptian dictators with the modern miracle of photo messaging to promoting the benefits of being a Jedi it sounded like it’s been a busy year for Iron Maiden. ‘Blood Brothers’ wrapped all those messages up into one and showed that in the Maidenworld there are no lines of division between people of different race, religion, sexuality or gender.
An apocalyptic backdrop portraying a war torn Canary Wharf fluttered silently as an eerily lifeless wind blew forth enveloping the O2 in a chilling embrace. ‘When The Wild Wind Blows’ carried us through an emotional 11 minute journey highlighting the futility of nuclear war. Images of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, “their tins of poison laying near by their clothes” flashed through my head as Dave Murray let out a radioactive whammy bar breakdown in the midsection that was simply awe inspiring. Dave’s always portrayed as the “quiet one” in a team of attention seeking strikers fronted by Harris and Dickinson but when he plugs in and lights up the fret board with his criminally underrated magic all eyes and ears are focused solely in his direction. The sustain he held during ‘The Number Of The Beast’ would have even had Nigel Tufnel weeping.
Last song of the last night of the tour and the 32 years it’s taken to travel the short distance from the Ruskin Arms in East Ham to the O2 Arena in Greenwich were rewound in the flash of the blade back to 1979 for a triumphant finale of ‘Running Free’. A raucous conclusion to a two hour set that saw a Long Beach style shout out and return, Mexican waves, Bruce dropping drumsticks out into the crowd firing up the frenzy front of stage even more and finally him throwing his sweat drenched hat one last time out into the crowd onl
y to go diving for cover as several dozen instantly flew back, along with several pairs of novelty sunglasses funnily enough. The whole of this night was really emotional knowing it was the last show. The view, sound and all round experience of this last hurrah was, on so many levels for me as a Maiden fan, nothing short of fantastic. With the side view seat I had an eye on everything, the huge video screen was literally just feet from my left side, 20,000 screaming maniacs on my right and Maiden dead ahead. Words can’t adequately convey just what this week meant to me. One week to celebrate 25 years of having the greatest fucking heavy metal band of all time be part of my life. Seeing four shows in seven days and ending with ‘Running Free’ in London. Life doesn’t get much fucking better that that. Whatever happens next, I’ll see ya down the front. Up the Irons \m/
Set List:
Satellite 15…..The Final Frontier
El Dorado
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Talisman
Coming Home
Dance Of Death
The Trooper
The Wicker Man
Blood Brothers
When The Wild Wind Blows
The Evil That Men Do
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden
The Number Of The Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Running Free