MadMax
Invader
Maiden 2008 in Switzerland was practically a sequel to what happened in Dortmund in 2006. But let me take it from the start:
Decided not to go to Wacken since I wanted to see Maiden only. Booked two tickets for Basle instead and later on an easyJet flight from Berlin to Basle. Total amount: approx. 320 Euros, but what the hell, it's Maiden.
I had high hopes that Swiss Maiden fans wouldn't be as ruthless as the guys in Dortmund. In fact there was a mix of Swiss, German, French and Italian fans in front of the St. Jakobshalle in Basle, and they were all in a good mood, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I didn't expect was that they would keep us waiting for exactly two hours in front of the stage, before even Lauren Harris came on. Standing three hours without moving (entrance + inside) is not fun, and the doors could have been opened much later! I also didn't expect there not to be a warderobe, but indeed there was none. So my girllfriend and I go in there with two backbacks which we now had to keep between our feet. Because the standing was so hard and we were kind of afraid that the whole hall might start moving again when Maiden would come, we thought about sitting down on the left or right wall of seats which were freely available. But since we had made it to row 3, center stage, we kept standing.
Lauren Harris was nice. This time she did not convince me as much as in 2006, and she only played for 20 minutes which was a little short. But at least there was no second act before Maiden, which would have been tedious at least. And at 20:00 Maiden followed...
And what happened? I grabbed hold of my girl, saw Nicko's beautiful drumkit, but then it all broke loose again, just like back then. Whereas we could see plenty of the stage before the show, everyone and their aunt was now lifting their arms and jumping, blocking our sight. But much worse, they all came from behind and pushed us hard to the front, and we had to push back just to keep from falling. Side note: I'm not the biggest guy at 173 cm, and she is 164, and most metal fans seem to be built for it at 180 to 210. So there was practically no chance to see anything, not even STANDING still. We were pushed back and forth, from side to side, which would have been tolerable if they had not squeezed us in so much. You could barely breathe and the first two songs were like a battle hymn for us vs. the audience. So we agreed to get out of the pit and to the seats, but it was easier said than done... the whole freaking hall had been filled to the last spot, and people just kept coming at us. So it took us Bruce's full first speech to get out. After we had reached the seats, we were wet, exhausted and thirsty, and our formerly good positions were wasted. What a great start, and my enthusiasm was slowly cut off even though I had sworn myself to enjoy this concert no matter what.
So we sat down on the right side of the hall, quite a bit high, and we could look over the stage. "Look over" as in "over the right wall and barely catching a band member". The side walls completely blocked any chance of spotting the band, and anyone standing down in the pit on the sides (which were the ONLY pushing-safe spots) might have seen Bruce and maybe one of the others at a time. See, the stage looked fantastic, but why do Maiden keep building themselves in so much that sidestanders can't see a thing of the band? It really, really disappointed me a lot since now we were forced to climb even higher, to a point where I completely failed to "experience" this concert like a paying fan should. Now we were up there, looking over the walls at the guys moving about the stage, completely ignoring the sides (Bruce never even looked at the seats, only interacting with the pit). And yet again there was no sight of Nicko or even his kit; I could only see some moving crash cymbals which looked nice. Again, had he not been built into the walls, we might have seen a lot more of him. And f*ck it, I never come to a concert to see stage props, I want to see MAIDEN!
So we watched the concert sitting from over there. Going back down was not an option. Song after song was played, all classic, and all worth the time and money spent to come here. But I didn't feel the least bit excited anymore. It was like watching a show on TV; the band was too far away and too much at the sides to be in my focus. Cheering them on was pointless, they wouldn't have heard or seen anyway, and to be honest, I didn't feel very much like it. So I leaned back and watched the show unfold. Special effects looked great, but the backdrop was completely awkward from this angle and it didn't look like it should. I had a fun few minutes watching the sound engineer work his 64 track mixer, which I probably wouldn't have even seen had I been down there with the others. But it was madness, they stood back to back and people were pulled out by security guys at the front, probably one to two each song.
Is this REALLY what a Maiden concert is all about? Going there, spending time and money on even flying to a concert hall because Maiden don't come to you, just so you can dive into the masses, not catch a glimpse of the stage, be forced to fight for your spot at all times, and even enjoy the experience? You've got to be kidding me. And I wonder how the fans could have found it so thrilling, but they came out afterward with big smiles on their faces. So I suppose it's meant to be like this, regardless of the country or the hall's layout. And for this, I'm never going to pay any money again until I'm given a fair chance to actually see the band and enjoy the concert.
So PLEASE Maiden, come to Berlin or any northern part of Germany so I won't have to travel cross-country a third time just to get a f*cked-up concert! I want to see you guys, but I want to be a part of the experience, not just a degraded bystander looking at stage walls. And while you're at it, your live sound could use some work too. Both Dortmund and Basle didn't sound very good, there was bass everywhere, treble that ripped your ears apart if not properly protected, but no mid-tones. Bruce was hard to hear, his voice dropping in and out randomly, and guitar solos were practically mute. This happened on borth concerts, regardless of where I was. And that's pretty lame for such a detailed guitar-driven band.
I too heard from Bruce that a new album is due. I truly hope that I will get a fair chance just for this one concert, because a brand new Maiden album is the best reason in my eyes to go see them live. I don't want premium positions, but sitting at the rim is not it, and pushing around is worse.
Decided not to go to Wacken since I wanted to see Maiden only. Booked two tickets for Basle instead and later on an easyJet flight from Berlin to Basle. Total amount: approx. 320 Euros, but what the hell, it's Maiden.
I had high hopes that Swiss Maiden fans wouldn't be as ruthless as the guys in Dortmund. In fact there was a mix of Swiss, German, French and Italian fans in front of the St. Jakobshalle in Basle, and they were all in a good mood, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I didn't expect was that they would keep us waiting for exactly two hours in front of the stage, before even Lauren Harris came on. Standing three hours without moving (entrance + inside) is not fun, and the doors could have been opened much later! I also didn't expect there not to be a warderobe, but indeed there was none. So my girllfriend and I go in there with two backbacks which we now had to keep between our feet. Because the standing was so hard and we were kind of afraid that the whole hall might start moving again when Maiden would come, we thought about sitting down on the left or right wall of seats which were freely available. But since we had made it to row 3, center stage, we kept standing.
Lauren Harris was nice. This time she did not convince me as much as in 2006, and she only played for 20 minutes which was a little short. But at least there was no second act before Maiden, which would have been tedious at least. And at 20:00 Maiden followed...
And what happened? I grabbed hold of my girl, saw Nicko's beautiful drumkit, but then it all broke loose again, just like back then. Whereas we could see plenty of the stage before the show, everyone and their aunt was now lifting their arms and jumping, blocking our sight. But much worse, they all came from behind and pushed us hard to the front, and we had to push back just to keep from falling. Side note: I'm not the biggest guy at 173 cm, and she is 164, and most metal fans seem to be built for it at 180 to 210. So there was practically no chance to see anything, not even STANDING still. We were pushed back and forth, from side to side, which would have been tolerable if they had not squeezed us in so much. You could barely breathe and the first two songs were like a battle hymn for us vs. the audience. So we agreed to get out of the pit and to the seats, but it was easier said than done... the whole freaking hall had been filled to the last spot, and people just kept coming at us. So it took us Bruce's full first speech to get out. After we had reached the seats, we were wet, exhausted and thirsty, and our formerly good positions were wasted. What a great start, and my enthusiasm was slowly cut off even though I had sworn myself to enjoy this concert no matter what.
So we sat down on the right side of the hall, quite a bit high, and we could look over the stage. "Look over" as in "over the right wall and barely catching a band member". The side walls completely blocked any chance of spotting the band, and anyone standing down in the pit on the sides (which were the ONLY pushing-safe spots) might have seen Bruce and maybe one of the others at a time. See, the stage looked fantastic, but why do Maiden keep building themselves in so much that sidestanders can't see a thing of the band? It really, really disappointed me a lot since now we were forced to climb even higher, to a point where I completely failed to "experience" this concert like a paying fan should. Now we were up there, looking over the walls at the guys moving about the stage, completely ignoring the sides (Bruce never even looked at the seats, only interacting with the pit). And yet again there was no sight of Nicko or even his kit; I could only see some moving crash cymbals which looked nice. Again, had he not been built into the walls, we might have seen a lot more of him. And f*ck it, I never come to a concert to see stage props, I want to see MAIDEN!
So we watched the concert sitting from over there. Going back down was not an option. Song after song was played, all classic, and all worth the time and money spent to come here. But I didn't feel the least bit excited anymore. It was like watching a show on TV; the band was too far away and too much at the sides to be in my focus. Cheering them on was pointless, they wouldn't have heard or seen anyway, and to be honest, I didn't feel very much like it. So I leaned back and watched the show unfold. Special effects looked great, but the backdrop was completely awkward from this angle and it didn't look like it should. I had a fun few minutes watching the sound engineer work his 64 track mixer, which I probably wouldn't have even seen had I been down there with the others. But it was madness, they stood back to back and people were pulled out by security guys at the front, probably one to two each song.
Is this REALLY what a Maiden concert is all about? Going there, spending time and money on even flying to a concert hall because Maiden don't come to you, just so you can dive into the masses, not catch a glimpse of the stage, be forced to fight for your spot at all times, and even enjoy the experience? You've got to be kidding me. And I wonder how the fans could have found it so thrilling, but they came out afterward with big smiles on their faces. So I suppose it's meant to be like this, regardless of the country or the hall's layout. And for this, I'm never going to pay any money again until I'm given a fair chance to actually see the band and enjoy the concert.
So PLEASE Maiden, come to Berlin or any northern part of Germany so I won't have to travel cross-country a third time just to get a f*cked-up concert! I want to see you guys, but I want to be a part of the experience, not just a degraded bystander looking at stage walls. And while you're at it, your live sound could use some work too. Both Dortmund and Basle didn't sound very good, there was bass everywhere, treble that ripped your ears apart if not properly protected, but no mid-tones. Bruce was hard to hear, his voice dropping in and out randomly, and guitar solos were practically mute. This happened on borth concerts, regardless of where I was. And that's pretty lame for such a detailed guitar-driven band.
I too heard from Bruce that a new album is due. I truly hope that I will get a fair chance just for this one concert, because a brand new Maiden album is the best reason in my eyes to go see them live. I don't want premium positions, but sitting at the rim is not it, and pushing around is worse.