ABORT Magazine™

Live Review: Iron Maiden – MAIDEN ENGLAND, July 29th, 2012 – Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver B.C.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE | Photos – Scott Alexander)

Iron Maiden w/ Coheed and Cambria
Pacific Coliseum
Monday, July 29th 2012

With their golden-era line up reformed, metal legends Iron Maiden had much to prove at the start of the millennium. As a band that charged through the 80’s at full speed -releasing an album almost every year as they galloped around the world with their high-energy, larger than life stage shows; they were doomed to a disappointing stretch in the 90’s, marred with member changes and a slew of sub-par releases. All that changed with the return of iron-lunged vocalist Bruce Dickinson; and as the band threw tour after tour at their massive, world-wide fan base, so did they rebuild their reputation as a world-class live act with a show that was not to be missed. It’s now been over a decade since Dickinson’s return. Four studio albums, and twice that many tours, since the reunion. Making the rounds once again with part three of their “History of Iron Maiden” live saga, one can’t help but wonder how much is left in the tank for ol’ Eddie and the boys.

As thousands of metal-heads (including just a handful of the female variety) filed into the Pacific Coliseum, Coheed and Cambria tuned up the crowd with their brand of narrative, progressive rock and metal. Singer Claudio Sanchez and his hair sounded great. Tight and powerful, his tone was sharp and his pitch, near-perfect. Also impressive were his playing chops and those of co-lead guitarist Travis Stever, as they traded blistering solo breaks while avoiding an excess of “shreddy wankage”. The response from the crowd was mostly positive, save for a few singular yells of “You suck, Coheed!” -but even those came to an end after an excellent cover of Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell”, perhaps in tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio’s group of the same name, for whom Coheed opened the last time they came through Vancouver. They modestly, and unnecessarily, thanked the crowd for being patient before closing out their set with fan-favourite ‘Welcome Home’.

As ‘Doctor Doctor’ by UFO began to play over the PA, those familiar with Maiden’s live tendencies began to find their place amongst the steadily-increasing floor crowd. Sure enough, the lights went down at the track’s conclusion, and on came the synthetic intro to ‘Moonchild’. The band swarmed the stage precisely at the strike of the first live note and didn’t stop for four songs. Veteran guitarist Adrian Smith played rockstar while dual-guitar co-pilot Dave Murray smiled and swayed; both playing their classic solos with effortless precision. Bassist and team captain Steve Harris charged around with the same fire and purpose he brings to every show, firing his imaginary bass-rifle into the crowd and yelling his lyrics at those in the front. After some brief banter from Bruce regarding his recent trip up north to pursue another of his hobbies (piloting planes, as it were. Perhaps later on the tour he’ll go fencing, write a book, or host a radio program), the band played live rarity “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” before assembling possibly the most powerful short string of live tracks this side of a Metallica “Early Days” tour. “The Trooper”, “Number of the Beast”, “Phantom of the Opera”, and “Run to the Hills”, four songs that could easily have comprised a powerful encore, managed instead to kick the show and the fans into overdrive at the setès midway point.

Dickinson sprinted around the stage, hurdling monitors and making himself big with gestures that would serve him well in scaring off hungry bears should his plane ever go down in the Canadian wilderness. His flag tricks during ‘The Trooper’ have improved as well, and his impressive one-handed twirling of the Union Jack was matched by his still powerful wail. The volume and clarity of that wail tended to waver throughout the night, with the sound being inconsistent and causing instrument separation to be a bit of a wash. The visual production was stellar, as has been the case for most of the band’s career. There was the “7th Son of a 7th Son” album-themed stage set, numerous song-based back drops, at least three different gigantic versions of band mascot ‘Eddie’, pyro, and even a strangely comical, masked keyboardist who would rise and lower at the back corner of the stage.

The band carried on with ‘Wasted Years’ and the epic title track from ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’. Without a live video screen, there was seldom a chance to get a look at drummer Nicko McBrain –just a flash of sticks visible through the cracks of his massive tom-ensemble, a wavering kick drum skin, and shimmering symbols as he maintained high energy and power throughout the entire set. Every once in a while his head would pop up from behind the kit like a smiling, flat nosed jack-in-the-box, before disappearing and continuing to re-define what a 60 year old metal drummer with a single kick pedal can possibly be capable of (read: quite a bit). Third guitarist Janick Gers pranced around like a drunken minstrel and really, when he’s not performing one of his adapted solos (which he does very well) you can’t be sure if they even turn his guitar up at all as he bashes away at his rhythm parts.

The band finished their main set with ‘The Clairvoyant’, live staple ‘Fear of the Dark’, and title track ‘Iron Maiden’ before breaking for an encore. They came back with crowd favourite ‘Aces High’, ‘The Evil That Men Do’, and chose to close out the night with their “Top of the Pops” hit from 1980, ‘Running Free’. All in all it was a great set, but not quite at the level of their massive “Somewhere Back In Time” show from ’08. While the most important pieces were there, and all six members still looked like they absolutely love to do what they do, there were a few cracks in the mighty Maiden’s armour. Times when Bruce would sway around and tiredly ‘act’ instead of ‘command’ like he usually does; times when you realize that the line between how Janick Gers and Dave Murray act on stage now and how they might if they started to go completely senile is fading more and more on every tour; and there’s the realization that the band has successfully re-created every acclaimed era of their history over the last ten years -fans have had a chance to see almost any song they could hope for. Having given everything they possibly could give, what will be left to bring fans in next time? Whatever happens, no one can take away that it’s been one hell of a run.

By: Justin Sarris

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