21st October 2006 - Irvine, California – USA

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Reviews, pictures...


Note: posts with an abuse of abbreviations and not using the spoiler tags appropriately will be slashed.  <_<
 
The sold out show last night was fucking amazing! just like Maiden knows how to do 'em.
The songs were spectacular, I am not a musician so I wouldn't know if there were any mess ups and frankly I really don't care.  I paid to see a show and a great damn show it was, and from where I was sitting section 5, 3rd row I had a great view.  I am glad I had the opportunity to once again witness one of the greates metal bands ever!! every cent I spent on this concert was well worth it. 
The band was in top form, it seem they still have lot's of fun up on stage, Bruce's voice was incredible, The crowd my god! was awsome supporting the band every step of the way with their decision of the setlist, Bruce had total control of the crowd and we coulnd't have been more happy than to go along with him. 
Not once did I hear anyone complaining about the setlist to the contrary the crowd was really into it.

From reading so many opinions regarding the setlist I was beging to doubt the bands desicion, but after last night I really don't understand why people are bitching about it! IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING.

Can't wait for them to come back to Los Angeles. (Bruce said they would) :bigsmile:

UP THE IRONS!!!!!!!

Forgot to mention...people seem to dig the opening act. I personally had never heard of them, they were cool :)
 
Going to have to disagree with the above poster.  The show was sold out but you could tell that the crowds weren't feeling it. I was in the lawn section. Nobody around me knew any of the lyrics to the new stuff. Even those in the front. Those that shelled out the bigbucks weren't throwing up their hands during the playing of the entire album either, only when Bruce was talking.  The crowd went wild during the last few minutes of the show. Then everybody knew the lyrics. Big Maiden fan but not digging this album at all. Couldn't even bring myself to buying a shirt.  Very impressed with 3 inches of blood though. As a  matter of fact got home and went looking for their albums online. Good stuff.
 
I was on the orchestra section. From what I saw a lot of people where into the new album. There was only an old couple next to me that look bored, they sat down and then they left. The better for us, the people start filling up the empty seats. I saw people from all walks of life singing and shaking their fist at the air, a lot of young people, a few little kids, a lot of girls too. Everybody around the orchestra section and the middle were shaking their fists and singing. Now, here come the spoilers.

Actually, after Out of the shadows, I think? The whole arena started spontaneously chanting "Maiden, Maiden" and Dickinson looked so happy about it. They just wouldn't let him talk. Also by the end of the concert, somebody threw a big, unopened pop corn plastic bag at the stage. Dickinson saw it coming and ducked, then a stage hand came out and grabbed the bag, but Janick started playing around with the stage hand, and Bruce snatched the popcorn out of their hands and opened the bag and threw it all over the people in the pit. By the end of the concert, he promised they'll be back, and they all looked so happy. Then Steve did something great. When they were saying their good byes to the audience, he came to our side of the stage and pointed at a little kid with a Maiden shirt. "YOU, yes YOU" he said, to make sure the crowd knew this was for the little kid. Then he threw his wristband at the kid. He actually got it. For what I saw, the whole arena supported the new album, everybody was into it
 
Maybe it was pretty mild up in the lawn as one of the above posters says, but I was down in the pit; right in the nitty gritty of it all. Everyone was going wild for the entire show, and countless people around me were belting out the lyrics at the top of their voices.

Unfortunately I'm in a hurry and can't post a full review, but here are but two of the many pictures I took last night. I'll update later with more pictures and maybe video.

DSC00592.JPG


DSC00595.JPG

Edit: Sorry about the spoiler tags.
 
and still more pictures....By the way...Adrian had a big white "Peace sign" sticker on his guitar.





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The cool thing about this show was that Bruce said...or maybe just joked...that they would probably do TWO dates in Califronia next time considering how packed the stadium was. Guess I'll have a choice of destination with their next visit
 
From Rod Smallwood's Diary:

"Anyway the gig was amazing. I already told you it had sold out over a week before (16,000).... The atmosphere was terrific and the crowd did us proud. Thank LA . Ranked almost alongside Quebec as the best of the tour so far."
 
I've been to five other Maiden concerts, Powerslave, Fear of the Dark, X-Factor, Bruce's Reunion Tour (Greek Theatre) and Brave New World. I would have to say The Matter of Life and Death concert was by far the best one I seen. I was in the loge section dead center 15 rows up. I sat in the Lawn section for a Metallica concert and I had a miserable time. All the Fans in the Terrace, Loge, Orchestra and Pit seating were having and awesome time. Tickets were only $65  and I had 5-twentyfour ounce beers ($52.50). It was well worth it. THEY WILL BE BACK TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AT THE END OF THIS TOUR. So Cal is a great place to have a Vacation. Orange and San Diego counties anyway. Long live Maaaiiii-deeeen!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Found this review of the concert on the official Maiden web page.

24/10/2006Metal gods Iron Maiden still 'Matter'


IRVINE, California (Hollywood Reporter) - Iron Maiden has never been a band to approach its career on bended knee and with nostalgic sentiments; the British metal veterans proved why they don't have to Saturday night in the sold-out finale of their North American tour in Irvine.

As was the case throughout the tour, they performed the new album 'A Matter of Life and Death' in its entirety, with five deeper, career-spanning cuts performed later in the show.

Their heavy-metal army of 16,000-plus screaming die-hards wouldn't have had it any other way. 'There's an uncomfortably large number of you here tonight,' frontman Bruce Dickinson quipped at the show's midway point, thanking the audience for making the album the first release of the band's storied career to crack the domestic top 10. It was a welcome moment of spontaneity in an otherwise meticulously tailored dispatch of the 75-minute album.

Arguably the strongest release of the band's quarter-century career, 'Life and Death' delves into the philosophical depths of war. The stage reflected the theme, with sandbags piled atop the monitors at the front of what resembled a battle-torn bunker. Backdrops helped finish the picture, but the performance of the album was remarkably free of the theatrical grandeur that has marked the band's live spectacles over the years.

Dickinson's vocals powered through the full metal jacket of 'These Colors Don't Run' and the William Blake grandeur of 'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns,' and the band played with a militaristic precision. Guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers and bassist Steve Harris bled seamlessly into the music's epic, progressive tapestry, but it was drummer Nicko McBrain that proved the commanding general of Maiden's march.

Dickinson solicited an ovation when he nailed the final note of 'The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg,' but 'For the Greater Good of God' and the album closer, 'The Legacy,' driven by Gers, were highlights. While the album was performed gimmick-free, a colossal army tank commandeered by Maiden's skeletal mascot Eddie overtook the stage during 'Iron Maiden,' which followed 'Fear of the Dark' in closing the set. The encore featured '2 Minutes to Midnight,' 'The Evil That Men Do' and closer 'Hallowed be Thy Name.'

It didn't take an album about the atrocities of war to teach us that the evil that men do lives on and on, but it may have taken the live majesty of 'A Matter of Life and Death' to cement Iron Maiden as heavy metal's reigning superpower. There isn't another band of their storied status that could eschew their hits in favor of playing an album of new material in its entirety and still have a crowd leave satisfied.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
 
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