Belgrade 14. 03. 2007.

U

Urizen

Trooper
I came back hour and a half ago, completely exhausted.

I came in front of the arena and stand in line at 2:30pm, they let us in at around 5:30, and the place was completely packed.

Lauren opened at around 8 o'clock , played 5, 6 songs, and then Iron Maiden took the stage at 9, and played a great concert. I'm not saying it was great just because they're Maiden and this was my first time seeing them live, but because the performance was no worse then what I saw at their live releases (RIR, DOTR...). The boys were in good form, full of energy, especially Bruce, who sang very well and was energetic and animated.
Playlist was something like this:

Different world
These colours don't run
Brighter than a thousand suns
Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
Wrathchild
For the greater good of God
Trooper
Fear of the dark
The number of the beast
Run to the hills
Iron Maiden

2 minutes to midnight
The evil that men do
Hallowed be the name

Brighter than a thousand suns is amazing live. We went berzerk when classics like Trooper, HBTN, IM, TMTM, FOTD... were played. All of us there listened to those songs million times, and we got to see and hear them being performed in front of us.

There was Eddie with a machine gun, and also the cannon on top of the stage. I was on the floor level, in the center at 3-10 m (depending on the crowds movement :bigsmile:) from the stage and was pouring sweat, pushed from all sides dozens of times, and tired from being on my feet from 2pm, but I gathered all my strenght when Maiden started playing, and sang along and screamed, jumped with my hands in the air and all that.
Bruce gave us his famous "the media don't like metal, and feeds you with commercial rubbish, but you listen what is in your hearts and your heads and we are here to play it for you" speech (which was strongly welcomed since the media BS music is happening in Serbia since I could remember and metal or rock gets very little TV play), which we supported loudly. He also said we must do this again sometimes, and that the venue is not big enough for 'the two of us', so next time it's gonna be in 'some fucking football stadium '.

Oddly I haven't noticed British fans (Bruce air) in the front rows or anywhere for that matter, perhaps they were at the elevated ground.

The crowd was very good imo, we knew all the words and gave our best, at least those of us who were at the ground level.

For me and many others maybe, it was unreal seeing them live, and for me the show passed so fast. It lasted for hour and a half, but I had a feeling like it was half an hour.

Well I'm going to sleep, and to sort these impressions in the following days, And also to recuperate - I came home couple of pounds lighter after today - a real endurance contest.
 
Congrats!  There is nothing like your first Maiden show.  :)

I understand they have not been in Belgrade since 1986.  The fans waited a long time.
 
Thanks Urizen, 't was was a nice read!

What I'm beginning to wonder only is why Maiden plays such a short set (14 songs!!).
In fact, it's one of their shortest headlining sets ever (apart from the period: seventies until circa 1980/1981).
 
have a praise mate

Thanks for the review
I'm a little dissapointed about the setlist (even if I didn't pay for a ticket), but you don't have to!!
You never saw them live before, so in fact is a pretty good setlist for Serbia, Dubai, India ect

Anyway, I hope they change it for summer concerts because I would like to see them in Holland
 
It was like a dream...  And the newspaper (I bought like 4 different newspapers the day after) reviews spoke favourably of the concert and with a good reason too! :ok:

Some of the statements I've read: 'The best heavy metal band of all times yesterday held a concert in Belgrade's arena'

                                              'They played as if it was the last show in their lives.'        'Ferocious'
                                             
                                              'Belgrade's fair arena barely survived Iron Maiden'

                                              'Whoever was on the Fair last night went home very satisfied. Who wasn't, has himself to blame!'

After couple of songs Bruce said to us: 'When I was approaching Belgrade's airport, the flight controller said to me 'Bruce I'm not gonna let you land in Belgrade if you don't play one song you played when you were here more than 20 years ago.' And what song is that - I asked. He said
'Wrathchild'.

Dickinson made it to the 'in' section in one of Belgrade newspapers. It said 'probably the only frontman in the world who personally drives his fans to the show.'

I loved the setlist. 9 top classics, plus 5 great songs from the newest album.
 
Urizen said:
After couple of songs Bruce said to us: 'When I was approaching Belgrade's airport, the flight controller said to me 'Bruce I'm not gonna let you land in Belgrade if you don't play one song you played when you were here more than 20 years ago.' And what song is that - I asked. He said
'Wrathchild'.
Click to expand...

I am not sure if I understood you well, but before the gig that you witnessed, Maiden only played "Wrathchild" in 1981 and that was without Bruce. :)
 
That's what Bruce said. -_- :)


If they haven't, as you say, played Wrathchild in 1984 or 1986, then the flight controller must had referred to the concert in 1981.
 
Urizen said:
That's what Bruce said. -_- :)


If they haven't, as you say, played Wrathchild in 1984 or 1986, then the flight controller must had referred to the concert in 1981.
Click to expand...

Or he has the same memory as Bruce (quite crappy sometimes ;) )
 
The gig was really amazing, especially because of fans in Belgrade which are one of the loudest and craziest in the world. It was real tough in front rows because of crowd of 20.000+ fans all wanting to be in front of stage and the atmosphere from start to end was hell.  :okok:
Fear Of The Dark Belgrade http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/Morpheus_B/Zanimljivosti/?action=view&current=3aee69b1.flv

The thing I noticed is that every time I went to Maiden gig the set-list is shorter and shorter
In Budapest 1998 there were 20+ songs
Give Ed till I’m dead 17 songs
Death On the Road 15 songs
AMOLAD 14 songs
…
Still counting  ;)

About Bruce comment before Wrathchild, first He didn’t reveal which song they will play until it began, than after sentence with air traffic controller he said something like “… and this next song, which I sang first time live here in this very building, will be surprise 'cause we wanted something special to play for not being here in last 20 years …” and in that moments before Wrathchild started I thought that Bruce was just wrong about place (1984. they played in this building, 1986. they played in Pioneer hall) and that they will play “loneliness of the long distance runner” again.  :yey: In mattereffect  I was sure after that speech they will play it (or some other from that gig), but very quickly my hopes faded away.  :(
What happened is that Bruce have not only mixed dates and venues but he mixed himself with Paul DiAnno  :D . September 1981. concert in Belgrade was one of the last of Paul and Bruce stepped in very shortly afterwards, his first gig as far as I know was in October that year in Bologna, Italy where he sang wrathchild for very first time live. I can’t believe that he forgot his first concert with Maiden. The most probable solution of this crap is that Bruce wanted to tell a good story so he mixed couple of things together 1986. first gig on Somewhere on tour, 1984. “same venue” and October 1981. his first Maiden gig, not to mention that this guy from air traffic control asked him to play some totally different songs  (I know that because I’ve worked at JAT airlines).
Anyways, I was glad that Bruce if nothing else than tried to tell something different than he usually does.
 
Exactly. I have seen the setlists of all the gigs in Belgrade on Mav's website. With such a speech I would also expect Loneliness..!

Summary of my point: Iron Maiden has played Wrathchild twice in Belgrade. --->
Once with Paul (1981) and once with Bruce (2007).
 
It would be great if the boys pulled Loneliness of the Long Dinstance Runner out of the bag, especially with Adrian back on guitar duties.

I haven't seen Maiden since they last came to Oz in 91, but having followed their tours and setlists I am dissapointed they played Run To The Hills in Belgrade and Dubai.  Dull.  If they are going to play anthemic title tracks (NOTB, FOTD, IM) then why not replace RTTH with Powerslave.  If I was Steve and Bruce and the boys and I was deciding on the tour setlist, a no-brainer would be Powerslave...nice opening riff, killer chorus, beaut change up during the solos and a perfect excuse to pop an egyptian eddie on stage.

The rest of the set rocks, and I realise that at late 40s the sets are shorter...if they could squeeze another in it would have to be The Longest Day or Only The Good Die Young.
 
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