Iron Maiden at Agganis Arena, Boston, MA - 10/06/06

Exploding out of the seedy shadows of East London in the late 1970s/early 1980s, Iron Maiden was a flag-bearer for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Maiden, along with Judas Priest, have arguably been the most popular and prolific from the movement. Expertly mixing incredible musicianship with dark lyrics and a heavy dose of bombast that defines heavy metal as a genre, Maiden endured some important lineup changes and now finds itself, some 26-years after their eponymous debut album, still going strong and touring in support of their newly released war-themed disc, A Matter of Life and Death.

Still plodding along from the beginning is bass player and founder Steve Harris and one of three guitarists, Dave Murray. Rounding out the current incarnation of the band are Adrian Smith, a brilliantly fluid guitarist who took over for the sacked Dennis Stratton in time to record Maiden's second album, Killers, in 1981. Smith flew solo in the early 90s, officially splitting from Maiden following the tour for the keyboard-tinged, but still heavy Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album in 1988. Smith rejoined Maiden in 1999 and has been with them for their three subsequent releases.

Replacing Smith on guitar for the No Prayer for the Dying disc was Robert Plant lookalike Janick Gers. And even after Smith's return to Maiden, Gers has remained, providing the band with a triple guitar threat.

On drums, pounding away and orchestrating the complex time changes, is the omni-present Nicko McBrain, who took over for the ailing jazz-influenced Clive Burr, an amazing timekeeper in his own right, in time to record Maiden's 1983 Piece of Mind disc, which contained one of the band's signature songs, "Flight of Icarus".

Finally, on vocals is the intensely energetic Bruce Dickinson, who replaced the raspy Paul Di'anno just before Maiden's seminal 1982 disc, The Number of the Beast. Prior to Dickinson joining the band, Maiden was a little more underground and gritty, but after Dickinson, they because a full-blown metal powerhouse, thanks to the band's increasing songwriting talent as well as Dickison's acrobatic and operatic vocal stylings. Dickinson left the band in the 90s to persue a solo career, and was replaced by the unfortunately named Blayze Bailey for some ill-advised records, before joining back up with Maiden, with Smith, for their Brave New World disc.

Arriving just before the lights went down, I didn't get an opportunity to check out the crowd very closely, but I will say this: Iron Maiden fans wear more t-shirts of the band they're currently going to see than any other band's fans, hands-down. It seemed like 60% of the sell-out crowd were clad in Maiden shirts, ranging from classics from the Killers era right up to the current tour shirt. Looks like no one bothered to read my concert-going guide.

The lights went down and the crowd went absolutely bananas.

The stage was a magnificent display, with McBrain nestled in a drummer's nook and above him, a secondary stage upon which Dickinson would often find himself, belting out his songs and conducting the crowd response.

The band isn't going to rival Franz Ferdinand for the "snappy dressers" award, with most of the band donning sleeveless t-shirts (bearing their own band's logo, no less!), and long 80s-metal hair, despite some receding hair lines. Bassist Harris, perhaps in theme with the new album, was actually wearing camouflage shorts, so for the greater part of the show, I thought he was just a torso and a head. I kid.

Dickinson, previously known for his long straight mane, and affinity for leather (especially metal-spiked armbands) was oddly, dare I saw, sophisticated-looking. He had short hair, with just enough of a messy tussle, and wore brown dress pants, a blazer, and a t-shirt that bore the likeness of an alien's head. For a cocktail party, he might have looked a little underdressed, but for a metal show, he might as well have been wearing a tuxedo. But strangely, it all worked.

And it all worked because Maiden is as tight of a live band as they come, and it especially worked because Dickinson's voice was abolutely perfect, and his talent as a frontman is unparalleled.

The first song of the evening was not-so-ironically the lead track from the new disc, "Different World". The crowd was in a frenzy, as Dickinson ran seemingly non-stop from one end of the stage to the other, and then up a ladder to the platform above McBrain, all while leaping and emoting and never once losing his breath.

The crowd, surprisingly familiar with the new material pumped their collective fists in time and even provided some backing vocals among the obligatory "horns up" signs. \m/

When the band proceeded to play the the new album's next two tracks, the audience participation-fueled "These Colours Don't Run" and the vocal tour-de-force, "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns", it became obvious that we might not hear and old song for quite some time.

This was actually OK with me. Despite having never seen Maiden before, I was actually enthralled with how well the new album, especially the single, "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg", translated live. Smith, Murray, and Gers all traded guitar solos and rhythms while Harris provided his patented galloping basslines while assuming his familiar position: one leg stepped up on a stage monitor, as close to the crowd as he can get, all while mouthing the words to every lyric, even without a microphone being within 10 feet of him.

Dickinson played the crowd to a T. I'm not one of those concert-goers that usually claps in rhythm when the lead singer directs the crowd to, and I rarely sing along, or make noise upon request. But there is something about Dickinson's presence...something that makes you do all of these things. I was like a puppet from The Number of the Beast album cover and Dickinson was the master, playfully controlling my response. And most of the crowd was just like me.

Announcing that the band was going to be playing their entire new album in its entirety and in order left me with a little bit of trepidation and fear that I would not hear the songs I have waited a long time to hear live. No matter, Dickinson and the band absolutely slayed the new material, reproducing each note and vocal part flawlessly.

As the set progressed, the more epic songs like the intense "For The Greater Good Of God" and "The Longest Day", exuded an almost classical aire. Between the time changes and the guitar harmonies and Dickinson's powerful and clear vocals, one could have easily imagined Mozart banging his powdered wig-adorned head along with McBrain's snare drum beats.

All the while, Dickinson played with the lights, climbed upon speaker cabinets, and dynamically worked the entire audience into a frenzy. At one point, because of his constant movement, the light guy lost him. The band started the song's intro while Bruce whimsically chastised the light guy: "Over here...over here...near the speakers...crouched down. You twat."

The main set ended with Spinal Tap-esque bombast and folly. As the band began the album closer, "The Legacy", Gers apparantly had a mistuned acoustic guitar which caused a lot of shoulder shrugging and frantic looks between Murray, Smith, Gers, and a sure-to-be spoken to guitar tech offstage. The band recovered as a giant army tank emerged from the backdrop and above the hatch rose an oversized soldier with binoculars, scanning the crowd.

This was followed by the obligatory appearance of Eddie, Maiden's undead mascot, who emerged as a 10-foot high foot soldier, complete with huge AK-47.

Dickinson again told the crowd that that portion of the show was A Matter of Life and Death, which caused us all to anticipate what was sure to the next half of the show...the songs we all knew.

The band then launched into the title track from 1992's Fear of the Dark, a brilliantly spooky song, characterized by more crowd singalongs and Dickinson's ominous vocals. Then came "Scream for me, Boston!", usually Bruce's lead-in to the song "Iron Maiden" and that is what came next.

Again, the band was flawless, particularly Smith and his tasteful solos, often mirrored by Murray. During this song, Gers started doing these weird gimmicky tosses of his guitar over his shoulders and crap like that. It reminded me of Whitesnake and I was half expecting to see an age-ravaged Tawny Kitaen dislocate a hip dancing on a Camaro or something. While Gers is definitely a talented guitarist, his presence is almost superfluous as Murray and Smith more than adequately can handle the guitar duties. No matter, it was still brilliant.

But then, "thank you, good night."

Ummm...WHAT?!?!

No "Aces High"? No "Flight of Icarus"? No "Run to the Hills"? No money song ("The Number of the Beast")? No "Wasted Years"?

Well, no.

There was a couple of encore songs and, honestly, they were great. Hearing the spectre of nuclear war-tinged (hey, it was from 1984) "2 Minutes to Midnight" was utterly amazing, as was hearing one of my favorite later-Maiden songs "The Evil That Men Do" from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The entire set concluded with the goosebump-inducing song of a condemned man, "Hallowed Be Thy Name" from The Number of the Beast.

But that was it. Other than the new album, they played 5 old songs. Which were fucking fantastic, but left me definitely wanting more Maiden.

While the setlist was a tad disappointing (I had no problem with hearing the new disc, but a band that has been around as long as they, with their catalogue, should be playing without an opening act), I was really blown away by the band. Musically, they are elite...virtuousos at playing and composing. But when the night was over, the one thing I will carry from this show is just how amazing Bruce Dickinson is as a frontman. Intense, energetic, commanding. And that's just his presence. His voice was absolutely mint and, despite my fandom of Di'anno-era Maiden, I now realize that Dickinson and Dickison alone is the voice of this band. The backbone of Harris and McBrain, along with the genius of the guitarists all augment this and made the show a tremendous experience and a concert I won't soon forget.

"Up the Irons",

- Dim.