A
Anonymous
Guest
*put in 'The Best of Bruce Dickinson' CD 1*
Wow! Where to start? How can one put ones feelings into writing? I have no clue, but I'm gonna give it a go anyways. But I must warn that some things might not be included, purely because so much happened the past 3-4 days that I forgot.
Part one - The Iron Maiden Day at The Ruskin Arms, Sunday 30th. November:
I got up pretty early in the morning (8am) to meet Frester(nator) at my train station, because he wanted to drop his bags of at my place before we went together to the Arms.
It was pretty exciting, because I had never met anybody from the BB before. Anyways, after sitting at the train station for about 15-20 minutes, some guy from the other side of the tracks calls out my name..."Cyrus, I didn't recognise you mate". Yes folks, that was Frester
I went over to the other side and we greeted each other and started walking over to my place. It's about 15 minutes from the station to my place, and in that time we couldn't stop talking about the IM Day and of course the flight with Bruce (more on that later).
After he had dropped off his bag, we went straight down to the train station again to get to Charing Cross (Central London), and all the way we chatted about Maiden and other stuff.
Now this being the first time we make the 'pilgrimage' to the Ruskin Arms, and having no idea where it was, I have to say we did rather well in finding it (With a little help from Sultoooon
) It was just about 10 minutes from East Ham tube station.
When we got inside it was very empty, even tho the organizers had told us to come really early because it would be busy
But anyways, we managed to hook up with Sultooon and Megapocalypse (top blokes). We chit-chatted about Maiden (obviously) and the BB, and finally when the doors to "The Other Side" (TOS...where the stage was) was opened we went in to check out the first band. I don't remember what they were called, but they weren't any good (IMO). I'm not really into death metal and that sort, but they did have an interesting cover of Total Eclipse. After they were done we went back to the bar and basically did nothing except drink some more and watch people play pool. To be honest, it was a VERY poorly organized event and we all were just waiting to see Hi-On Maiden. Even the give-aways were shit. All we got was flyers and stickers. Nothing Maiden related.
After a very very long wait it was time for Hi-On Maiden, so we went to TOS where we also met and said hello to Boba Fett, Uncletrunx and oozily, who were all good people. Then there was speech by the organizer, some auctions...blah blah blah. And FINALLY Hi-On came out! And even tho there weren't that many people there, the crowd did rock They played so many great songs that Maiden hasn't played in a long time and I enjoyed every minute of it! Never before have I heard such a great tribute band. They played well and the singer was excellent! I will definitely see them again next year if I have the chance, and I recommend everybody else who hasn't seen them to go and see them live! :metal:
The set list was very long, so by the time they?d finished my head and back were killing me, so Frester, sultoooon, Megapocalypse and me headed straight for the tube station and went our separate ways. Frester came with me tho as he was crashing at my place
We almost didn't make the last train as we were running a bit late, and that would have been pretty shit, 'cos the train wouldn't start going again till like 6am :ugh:
All in all the day was good. It was cool to see the Ruskin and just fantastic to see Hi-On live. The only thing that I have to criticise is the way it was organized. It just seemed a bit unprofessional, but still they did their best.
Part two - Flying to Dublin with Bruce on flight AEU 666, Monday 1st. December:
After about 3-4 hours of sleep, me and Frester got up at 6am :zzz: The ears were still ringing a bit after last nights gig and we were both a bit tired, but he thought of flying with Bruce made us more awake
After a nice cuppa we walked down to the train station and it was pissing down. But nothing could bring us down that day The journey to Gatwick went surprisingly smoothly with no delays and we were the first one to check in, which meant that we were closest to the cockpit (or whatever it's called)
It didn't take very long till other Maiden people started to show up, so we chatted a bit to them and also Bruce's aviation friends (If you're reading this lurkio, it was a pleasure meeting you). I also meet oozily again and Lord SUMMERISLE for the first time...great chaps both of 'em.
Many of us were waiting for Bruce to show up and say hello at the check-in desk, but unfortunately he didn't, so we made our way to the departure hall where we hung out for a bit at different shops looking for markers (guess what we needed them for) and at a bar talking to the other travellers. Met Nerik-Iron there for the first time. He was there with his cousin (I think) and they were both from Malta Very cool dudes!
And here's the first big shock! I was texting somebody when I turned around and saw Rod Smallwood like 2 meters behind me!!!
He said he AND Nicko were going on the plane with us Can you believe it?! Rod, Nicko AND Bruce on the plane
After that big shock Frester, lurkio and I went to find the gate which was only like 5 minutes away from where we were anyways.
When the time came to board the plane the heart was working overtime. This was IT! We all found our seats, and I do believe me and Frester had the best seats in the house, being right in front and all I even got a nice picture of Rod when he got on board! After Rod we saw Nicko board the plane, but after a quick hello he popped into the cockpit with Bruce and we didn't see him more until we landed.
After everybody had got in Bruce came out with a BIG grin on his face holding the tickets He gave a quick speech and off we were!
During the flight I had a nice chat with the cabin crew (Sharon and Quentin...or Que as he was called). They were very cool and Que was the funniest man ever LOL I got some nice pictures of them as well. They were going to the gig with us, and it was their first Maiden/metal gig, so they were excited :metal:
Bruce made some more speeches during the flight, where one in particular was quite funny. Apparently at one point we were flying in 0.666 Mach (or something like that). That put a smile on the passengers faces
While we were up in the air another pilot dude handed out the concert tickets, and the interesting part with that is it says the BAND bought it Usually your own surname is on the ticket or something, but not this time. Someone else pointed this out to me, but I just thought that was a funny little detail.
When the time came for the landing I was expecting it to be a bit bumpy, however Bruce handled it like a true professional, and the landing was very very smooth. I was most impressed! Two thumbs up to you Bruce
After we were on ground we got the opportunity to take some pictures with the band. But we had to go one by one, and I was the first of the plane I was bloody nervous, 'cos there was a film crew there as well and all eyes were on me Luckily I didn't trip or anything and once I was down Bruce was right there to say hello. And for two or three weeks I had been thinking of what to say to a legend the first time you meet him. And what do you call him? Bruce? Mr. Dickinson? Sir? 
All these things were running through my head, as well as not saying anything stupid or pronouncing the words wrong. I sometimes do that when I'm nervous, 'cos English isn't my native language. However I managed to shake his hand and say "It is a great honour to meet you" without a problem. Bruce said something back, but I was so damn nervous I can't remember what he said 
I also shook Nickos hand and said the same thing. It was a bit hectic at this point as everybody was starting to get out of the plane, but I managed to get a quick picture with both Nicko and Bruce.
After that I just hung around to see the others take some pictures, and whenever Bruce and/or Nicko were alone I took some more pictures of them as well
When I went in the bus that was waiting for us I saw that Rod had gotten out of the plane and was standing all by himself. This was my chance to get something signed and take a picture with him! I jumped out and got oozily to take a picture of me and Rod, and asked him politely to sign my SSoASS CD. He was more than glad to do it for me. He even renamed me to Cyrus The Great!!! Isn't that just fucking cool? He knew where my name was from and said he had been to Iran (my home country) and seen Persepolis (do you know your history?) and he thought it was beautiful. At this point I thought the trip couldn't get any better, but you just keep reading on
After some more picture taking and chit-chatting, me and oozily got interviewed by Irish TV. I was so full of adrenaline that I have no clue what I said to them, but I'm sure I looked and sounded like a right plonker :ugh:
It was time to get in the bus, so I just found a nice standing spot and the next thing I see is Rod getting in the same bus as us and standing right in front of me We all talked about this and that, and it was like he was just one of us. He was just so down to earth and nice. It was truly a pleasure to meet and talk to him.
After the little bus ride we went through immigration control and all that, and got together downstairs where we had no clue what was happening. Met Maniac618 and MIKEDEAN there as well for the first time :metal: Anyways, after little while we started walking to the exit where we saw Rod again. Even though this trip wasn't organized by EMI, he was extremely helpful and guided us to the buses and basically took care of us. We just dubbed him "sir" after that, 'cos it was like we were on a school trip and he was the teacher Great fun to hear Rod Smallwood go "this way to the buses lads" and the rest of us going "yes sir" LOL
One of the buses was taking us to the footie match with Steve and the other one was going to the hotel. Guess which one I went on
Part three - Footie match with Steve, Monday 1st. December:
It didn't take very long to get to the footie match, and the minute the bus stopped people were almost running out to the field to see Steve. Maiden FC were already playing (against Air Lingus) so we all stood by the sideline and watched Steve, took pictures and chatted to Rod who was there with us. It was freezing cold, but nobody wanted to go back...except a few unlucky people (sorry Lord S). It will be revealed soon why they were unlucky.
It wasn't a particularly exciting game to be honest. Most of us were busy talking to each other and to Rod, but when Steve got the ball all eyes were on him You could see that Steve was unhappy with how his team mates played, and for a good reason...they were shait! LOL But still they won 1-0!!! :metal:
After the game some of us contemplated to whether or not to go and say hi, and as soon as we saw people going towards him we decided it should be okay to just go and say hi and congratulate him. However his bodyguard was all over him, so we didn't want to cause any trouble. We just walked behind him to the clubhouse, and as he was walking in to the dressing rooms, I pretended to go along with him and said "alright, see you later" to the rest of fans, but Steve thought I was talking to him so he replied "yeah, see you later"
The bodyguard told us that Steve was just gonna have a shower and then he would take pictures and sign stuff for us!!! Incredible! I was about to meet Steve "God" Harris soon! Rod went in to the clubhouse to see if we could sit at the bar (good ol' Rod ). He sorted everything out (again), so we went to this very nice and swanky bar upstairs in the clubhouse. oozily, Frester, Maniac618, the_metallian, Nerik-Iron and Nason (more about him later) and I found a nice spot and ordered some drinks till Steve would show up. We chatted about this and that for a while, and took some very cool group photos, till our "teacher" had to sort out how many we were, 'cos there might have not been room in the bus on the way back. He offered 5 of us to come with him in his car, and the rest could go to Steve's bus (yeah right...as if Steve would be in the same bus with us). Anyways, oozily "volunteered" to go with Rod.
A couple of minutes later Steve showed up and chaos broke loose Everybody almost stormed towards him with booklets and other stuff for him to sign and to get a photo with him. And I must say, Steve was TOTALLY cool about it. He had his own marker with him, so we just had to put out booklets under his hand and he would almost automatically sign it He never complained and always had a smile on his face! TOP MAN!!! I got SSoASS signed, took a picture with him and also got Powerslave signed for sultoooon. It all just seemed so surreal and it was over so quickly, but man what a rush
After I got the autograph and the picture I didn't want to bother him more so I went back to my seat. I saw that Rod was sitting alone, so I thought I could have a chat with him. I tell you, he is such a nice person! We talked about Iran and his travels there. He told me he's very interested in history so he loved seeing Perspolis and the country was very beautiful. I didn't want to take up much of his time, so I said thanks and went to pack my CD's and stuff 'cos we were leaving in a minute.
We all made our way to the bus, and when I got in I couldn't believe my eyes! Steve Harris himself was sitting in the bus that we, the fans, were going on!!! Rod wasn't joking! Maniac618 sat behind him, and jumped next to him I had never been so close to "God" before LOL It was just so surreal people! Words can't describe it, you just had to have been there to get the feeling! I don't think anybody on the bus, except Steve's mates, were talking. We were just looking at Steve, this great metal legend and founder of the band we all know and love. Wow...truly a great moment!
Part four - Finding the hotel, Monday 1st. December:
The bus stopped somewhere in central Dublin, so Frester, Maniac618, the_metallian and I jumped out and the last thing we saw before leaving was of course Steve who was in the front of the bus saying goodbye to us
We had absolutely no idea where out hotels were, but luckily we had our very own personal guide Nason was his name and a great bloke he was He helped us to find our hotels and we got to see some of Dublin. It was pretty cold and rainy, but it seemed like a very nice city.
After we found the hotel Maniac618 and the_metallian were staying at, we parted with them but arranged to meet them there later so we could all go together. Nason helped me and Frester to find our hotel as well, and after we had sorted ourselves out we went to meet the others. But the cheeky bastards had gone without us LOL So we decided to have a bite to eat before the gig at Burger King. Luckily we saw oozily, Maniac618 and the_metallian there, so we all hooked up again and decided to go to Jury's for the meet-up with everybody else before the gig.
Part four - Jury's and the gig, Monday 1st. December:
When we got to Jury's the place was PACKED!!! There was really no point in staying there, so after saying hello to some fellow BB'ers we started walking to the venue. It was a shame that we went so quickly, because I wanted to find Frodo. I knew he was gonna be there, but like I said, the place was so packed that it would have been hard to find him.
When we got to the venue the doors were open, so the first thing I did was to buy the tour book and a t-shirt. oozily had to meet somebody so the rest of us went to find our seats. There were pretty good seats...very near the stage. The only problem I had was a huge speaker in front of us that was in the way of the stage. But for now we sat down and watched FFAF. They sucked! That's all I have to say about that The sound was horrible, the singer was screaming and shouting all the time so I couldn't hear what he was singing and it looked like he had some spasm going on Think it was his way of "dancing" and being "cool". Well it didn't work At one point it looked like something was stuck up his ass and he was jumping around like a...I dunno...it just looked silly.
Couple of minutes before Maiden went on, we moved to the front seats as nobody was sitting there, so the view got much much better then. We could see the whole stage and all
There's really no point for me to go on about the gig. I'm sure you all have read reviews from others about this, but I must say, DoD, Paschendale and Journeyman live...WOW!!!! I absolutely LOVED it! Bruce's outfits for DoD and Paschendale were terrific and his "dance" was really cool The stage set for Paschendale was just unbelievable, so I took lots of pictures of that.
All in all it was a FANTASTIC gig! The crowd was great, the band was superb and I couldn't have asked for a better night out :metal:
After the gig we slowly made our way out, but it took a little while before we all found each other. Maniac618, the_metallian tried to find out where the after-party was by asking the BBC people, but they wouldn't tell us, the bastard! They first asked us if we had passes, and I think it was Maniac618 that said no, so they were like "oh then we don't know where the party is *grin*". I can't help thinking that if we had said "yes" they would have told us where the party was Thanks Maniac618...thanks a lot! 
)
We also got interviewed by the BBC people again, and the silly interviewer almost believed me when I said we are gonna hijack the plane and take Bruce with us :err:
After we hooked up with the rest of the gang we went to Jury's for a while where we chatted to some people, but everybody were tired so we got a cab back to our hotels for a good nights sleep
Part five - Flight back to London, Tuesday 2nd. December:
After a very nice breakfast, me and Frester hooked up with Maniac618, the_metallian, oozily and Lord SUMMERISLE at their hotel, and decided that we should take a bus back to the airport and pay for it ourselves. We had asked people the night before if there was organized a bus for the passengers back to the airport, but nobody knew. Anyways, it was only 5 Euros for the bus so we didn't mind.
Back at the airport we met with others from the flight and after some small-talk we checked in, with the same seats as before We were pretty early so we just sat at the bar in the departure hall till our flight was called. It was really nice to just sit back, chill and think about the previous night
After we had boarded the plane Bruce came out again and told everybody that after we were up he would sign all of our stuff, so we shouldn't worry about anything. I quickly took out just about everything I had and was ready to go
Before Bruce came out, Frester, oozily and I had a nice chat with the cabin crew (Sharon and Que). They really enjoyed the gig :metal: Sharon had apparently screamed so much that she had little voice left, so giving the safety instructions were pretty hard and we didn't make it easier for her by joking around
Bruce AND Nicko finally came out to sign the stuff for us, but they seemed to be in a hurry and had little time for talking, so I didn't get everything signed (really sorry about that sultoooon). But still, I got to take a picture with Nicko again, I just hope it turns out good. Have a feeling the last roll of film didn't turn out properly :sniff:
After everything was signed, Bruce and Nicko went back into the cockpit and we got ready for landing. Sharon went through the normal procedure of thanking us etc. and also added a "...and up the irons...", which was followed by a great cheer from the passengers. Gotta love that!
After we landed I thanked Rod, Bruce and Nicko for everything and went out with Frester and oozily.
The End!
Part six - Epilogue, Tuesday 2nd. December:
I couldn't have asked for a better trip. It was so unreal to meet the lads and see that they were so nice and down to earth. I especially enjoyed talking to Rod. That was one of the highlights for me.
Despite the length of this thread, it is still somewhat incoherent and I probably forgot some details, and I apologise for that, but so much happened to me these three days that it's almost impossible to give an accurate account of everything. Besides, like I said before it's very very hard to put your feelings into words, so just trust me when I say this was the best time in my life!
Finally I would like to say it was a great pleasure to meet the BB'ers on the flight! Maniac618, the_metallian, oozily, Lord SUMMERISLE, Nerik-Iron, MIKEDEAN and a special salute goes to Frester!!! It was a true pleasure to get to know you and thank you for everything! I don't know how or when I can repay you for everything you did, but some day I will! I hope to see you all again at Earl's Court :metal:
If I have forgotten to mention anybody, I am very sorry!
PS. I took LOADS of pictures. As soon as they are developed I will post them on the BB
PPS. Sorry it took so long to write this, but I was so tired after I came back and I also got ill, so I didn't have much strength to write it all in one go.
Wow! Where to start? How can one put ones feelings into writing? I have no clue, but I'm gonna give it a go anyways. But I must warn that some things might not be included, purely because so much happened the past 3-4 days that I forgot.
Part one - The Iron Maiden Day at The Ruskin Arms, Sunday 30th. November:
I got up pretty early in the morning (8am) to meet Frester(nator) at my train station, because he wanted to drop his bags of at my place before we went together to the Arms.
It was pretty exciting, because I had never met anybody from the BB before. Anyways, after sitting at the train station for about 15-20 minutes, some guy from the other side of the tracks calls out my name..."Cyrus, I didn't recognise you mate". Yes folks, that was Frester
I went over to the other side and we greeted each other and started walking over to my place. It's about 15 minutes from the station to my place, and in that time we couldn't stop talking about the IM Day and of course the flight with Bruce (more on that later). After he had dropped off his bag, we went straight down to the train station again to get to Charing Cross (Central London), and all the way we chatted about Maiden and other stuff.
Now this being the first time we make the 'pilgrimage' to the Ruskin Arms, and having no idea where it was, I have to say we did rather well in finding it (With a little help from Sultoooon
) It was just about 10 minutes from East Ham tube station. When we got inside it was very empty, even tho the organizers had told us to come really early because it would be busy
But anyways, we managed to hook up with Sultooon and Megapocalypse (top blokes). We chit-chatted about Maiden (obviously) and the BB, and finally when the doors to "The Other Side" (TOS...where the stage was) was opened we went in to check out the first band. I don't remember what they were called, but they weren't any good (IMO). I'm not really into death metal and that sort, but they did have an interesting cover of Total Eclipse. After they were done we went back to the bar and basically did nothing except drink some more and watch people play pool. To be honest, it was a VERY poorly organized event and we all were just waiting to see Hi-On Maiden. Even the give-aways were shit. All we got was flyers and stickers. Nothing Maiden related.After a very very long wait it was time for Hi-On Maiden, so we went to TOS where we also met and said hello to Boba Fett, Uncletrunx and oozily, who were all good people. Then there was speech by the organizer, some auctions...blah blah blah. And FINALLY Hi-On came out! And even tho there weren't that many people there, the crowd did rock
They played so many great songs that Maiden hasn't played in a long time and I enjoyed every minute of it! Never before have I heard such a great tribute band. They played well and the singer was excellent! I will definitely see them again next year if I have the chance, and I recommend everybody else who hasn't seen them to go and see them live! :metal:The set list was very long, so by the time they?d finished my head and back were killing me, so Frester, sultoooon, Megapocalypse and me headed straight for the tube station and went our separate ways. Frester came with me tho as he was crashing at my place
We almost didn't make the last train as we were running a bit late, and that would have been pretty shit, 'cos the train wouldn't start going again till like 6am :ugh:
All in all the day was good. It was cool to see the Ruskin and just fantastic to see Hi-On live. The only thing that I have to criticise is the way it was organized. It just seemed a bit unprofessional, but still they did their best.
Part two - Flying to Dublin with Bruce on flight AEU 666, Monday 1st. December:
After about 3-4 hours of sleep, me and Frester got up at 6am :zzz: The ears were still ringing a bit after last nights gig and we were both a bit tired, but he thought of flying with Bruce made us more awake
After a nice cuppa we walked down to the train station and it was pissing down. But nothing could bring us down that day
The journey to Gatwick went surprisingly smoothly with no delays and we were the first one to check in, which meant that we were closest to the cockpit (or whatever it's called) It didn't take very long till other Maiden people started to show up, so we chatted a bit to them and also Bruce's aviation friends (If you're reading this lurkio, it was a pleasure meeting you). I also meet oozily again and Lord SUMMERISLE for the first time...great chaps both of 'em.
Many of us were waiting for Bruce to show up and say hello at the check-in desk, but unfortunately he didn't, so we made our way to the departure hall where we hung out for a bit at different shops looking for markers (guess what we needed them for
) and at a bar talking to the other travellers. Met Nerik-Iron there for the first time. He was there with his cousin (I think) and they were both from Malta Very cool dudes!And here's the first big shock! I was texting somebody when I turned around and saw Rod Smallwood like 2 meters behind me!!!
He said he AND Nicko were going on the plane with us Can you believe it?! Rod, Nicko AND Bruce on the plane After that big shock Frester, lurkio and I went to find the gate which was only like 5 minutes away from where we were anyways.
When the time came to board the plane the heart was working overtime. This was IT! We all found our seats, and I do believe me and Frester had the best seats in the house, being right in front and all
I even got a nice picture of Rod when he got on board! After Rod we saw Nicko board the plane, but after a quick hello he popped into the cockpit with Bruce and we didn't see him more until we landed. After everybody had got in Bruce came out with a BIG grin on his face holding the tickets
He gave a quick speech and off we were! During the flight I had a nice chat with the cabin crew (Sharon and Quentin...or Que as he was called). They were very cool and Que was the funniest man ever LOL I got some nice pictures of them as well. They were going to the gig with us, and it was their first Maiden/metal gig, so they were excited :metal:
Bruce made some more speeches during the flight, where one in particular was quite funny. Apparently at one point we were flying in 0.666 Mach (or something like that). That put a smile on the passengers faces
While we were up in the air another pilot dude handed out the concert tickets, and the interesting part with that is it says the BAND bought it
Usually your own surname is on the ticket or something, but not this time. Someone else pointed this out to me, but I just thought that was a funny little detail.When the time came for the landing I was expecting it to be a bit bumpy, however Bruce handled it like a true professional, and the landing was very very smooth. I was most impressed! Two thumbs up to you Bruce
After we were on ground we got the opportunity to take some pictures with the band. But we had to go one by one, and I was the first of the plane
I was bloody nervous, 'cos there was a film crew there as well and all eyes were on me Luckily I didn't trip or anything and once I was down Bruce was right there to say hello. And for two or three weeks I had been thinking of what to say to a legend the first time you meet him. And what do you call him? Bruce? Mr. Dickinson? Sir? All these things were running through my head, as well as not saying anything stupid or pronouncing the words wrong. I sometimes do that when I'm nervous, 'cos English isn't my native language. However I managed to shake his hand and say "It is a great honour to meet you" without a problem. Bruce said something back, but I was so damn nervous I can't remember what he said I also shook Nickos hand and said the same thing. It was a bit hectic at this point as everybody was starting to get out of the plane, but I managed to get a quick picture with both Nicko and Bruce. After that I just hung around to see the others take some pictures, and whenever Bruce and/or Nicko were alone I took some more pictures of them as well
When I went in the bus that was waiting for us I saw that Rod had gotten out of the plane and was standing all by himself. This was my chance to get something signed and take a picture with him! I jumped out and got oozily to take a picture of me and Rod, and asked him politely to sign my SSoASS CD. He was more than glad to do it for me. He even renamed me to Cyrus The Great!!!
Isn't that just fucking cool? He knew where my name was from and said he had been to Iran (my home country) and seen Persepolis (do you know your history?) and he thought it was beautiful. At this point I thought the trip couldn't get any better, but you just keep reading on After some more picture taking and chit-chatting, me and oozily got interviewed by Irish TV. I was so full of adrenaline that I have no clue what I said to them, but I'm sure I looked and sounded like a right plonker :ugh:
It was time to get in the bus, so I just found a nice standing spot and the next thing I see is Rod getting in the same bus as us and standing right in front of me
We all talked about this and that, and it was like he was just one of us. He was just so down to earth and nice. It was truly a pleasure to meet and talk to him.After the little bus ride we went through immigration control and all that, and got together downstairs where we had no clue what was happening. Met Maniac618 and MIKEDEAN there as well for the first time :metal: Anyways, after little while we started walking to the exit where we saw Rod again. Even though this trip wasn't organized by EMI, he was extremely helpful and guided us to the buses and basically took care of us. We just dubbed him "sir" after that, 'cos it was like we were on a school trip and he was the teacher
Great fun to hear Rod Smallwood go "this way to the buses lads" and the rest of us going "yes sir" LOLOne of the buses was taking us to the footie match with Steve and the other one was going to the hotel. Guess which one I went on
Part three - Footie match with Steve, Monday 1st. December:
It didn't take very long to get to the footie match, and the minute the bus stopped people were almost running out to the field to see Steve. Maiden FC were already playing (against Air Lingus) so we all stood by the sideline and watched Steve, took pictures and chatted to Rod who was there with us. It was freezing cold, but nobody wanted to go back...except a few unlucky people (sorry Lord S). It will be revealed soon why they were unlucky.
It wasn't a particularly exciting game to be honest. Most of us were busy talking to each other and to Rod, but when Steve got the ball all eyes were on him
You could see that Steve was unhappy with how his team mates played, and for a good reason...they were shait! LOL But still they won 1-0!!! :metal:After the game some of us contemplated to whether or not to go and say hi, and as soon as we saw people going towards him we decided it should be okay to just go and say hi and congratulate him. However his bodyguard was all over him, so we didn't want to cause any trouble. We just walked behind him to the clubhouse, and as he was walking in to the dressing rooms, I pretended to go along with him and said "alright, see you later" to the rest of fans, but Steve thought I was talking to him so he replied "yeah, see you later"
The bodyguard told us that Steve was just gonna have a shower and then he would take pictures and sign stuff for us!!!
Incredible! I was about to meet Steve "God" Harris soon! Rod went in to the clubhouse to see if we could sit at the bar (good ol' Rod ). He sorted everything out (again), so we went to this very nice and swanky bar upstairs in the clubhouse. oozily, Frester, Maniac618, the_metallian, Nerik-Iron and Nason (more about him later) and I found a nice spot and ordered some drinks till Steve would show up. We chatted about this and that for a while, and took some very cool group photos, till our "teacher" had to sort out how many we were, 'cos there might have not been room in the bus on the way back. He offered 5 of us to come with him in his car, and the rest could go to Steve's bus (yeah right...as if Steve would be in the same bus with us). Anyways, oozily "volunteered" to go with Rod. A couple of minutes later Steve showed up and chaos broke loose
Everybody almost stormed towards him with booklets and other stuff for him to sign and to get a photo with him. And I must say, Steve was TOTALLY cool about it. He had his own marker with him, so we just had to put out booklets under his hand and he would almost automatically sign it He never complained and always had a smile on his face! TOP MAN!!! I got SSoASS signed, took a picture with him and also got Powerslave signed for sultoooon. It all just seemed so surreal and it was over so quickly, but man what a rush After I got the autograph and the picture I didn't want to bother him more so I went back to my seat. I saw that Rod was sitting alone, so I thought I could have a chat with him. I tell you, he is such a nice person! We talked about Iran and his travels there. He told me he's very interested in history so he loved seeing Perspolis and the country was very beautiful. I didn't want to take up much of his time, so I said thanks and went to pack my CD's and stuff 'cos we were leaving in a minute.
We all made our way to the bus, and when I got in I couldn't believe my eyes! Steve Harris himself was sitting in the bus that we, the fans, were going on!!!
Rod wasn't joking! Maniac618 sat behind him, and jumped next to him I had never been so close to "God" before LOL It was just so surreal people! Words can't describe it, you just had to have been there to get the feeling! I don't think anybody on the bus, except Steve's mates, were talking. We were just looking at Steve, this great metal legend and founder of the band we all know and love. Wow...truly a great moment! Part four - Finding the hotel, Monday 1st. December:
The bus stopped somewhere in central Dublin, so Frester, Maniac618, the_metallian and I jumped out and the last thing we saw before leaving was of course Steve who was in the front of the bus saying goodbye to us
We had absolutely no idea where out hotels were, but luckily we had our very own personal guide
Nason was his name and a great bloke he was He helped us to find our hotels and we got to see some of Dublin. It was pretty cold and rainy, but it seemed like a very nice city. After we found the hotel Maniac618 and the_metallian were staying at, we parted with them but arranged to meet them there later so we could all go together. Nason helped me and Frester to find our hotel as well, and after we had sorted ourselves out we went to meet the others. But the cheeky bastards had gone without us LOL So we decided to have a bite to eat before the gig at Burger King. Luckily we saw oozily, Maniac618 and the_metallian there, so we all hooked up again and decided to go to Jury's for the meet-up with everybody else before the gig.
Part four - Jury's and the gig, Monday 1st. December:
When we got to Jury's the place was PACKED!!! There was really no point in staying there, so after saying hello to some fellow BB'ers we started walking to the venue. It was a shame that we went so quickly, because I wanted to find Frodo. I knew he was gonna be there, but like I said, the place was so packed that it would have been hard to find him.
When we got to the venue the doors were open, so the first thing I did was to buy the tour book and a t-shirt. oozily had to meet somebody so the rest of us went to find our seats. There were pretty good seats...very near the stage. The only problem I had was a huge speaker in front of us that was in the way of the stage. But for now we sat down and watched FFAF. They sucked! That's all I have to say about that
The sound was horrible, the singer was screaming and shouting all the time so I couldn't hear what he was singing and it looked like he had some spasm going on Think it was his way of "dancing" and being "cool". Well it didn't work At one point it looked like something was stuck up his ass and he was jumping around like a...I dunno...it just looked silly. Couple of minutes before Maiden went on, we moved to the front seats as nobody was sitting there, so the view got much much better then. We could see the whole stage and all
There's really no point for me to go on about the gig. I'm sure you all have read reviews from others about this, but I must say, DoD, Paschendale and Journeyman live...WOW!!!! I absolutely LOVED it! Bruce's outfits for DoD and Paschendale were terrific and his "dance" was really cool
The stage set for Paschendale was just unbelievable, so I took lots of pictures of that. All in all it was a FANTASTIC gig! The crowd was great, the band was superb and I couldn't have asked for a better night out :metal:
After the gig we slowly made our way out, but it took a little while before we all found each other. Maniac618, the_metallian tried to find out where the after-party was by asking the BBC people, but they wouldn't tell us, the bastard! They first asked us if we had passes, and I think it was Maniac618 that said no, so they were like "oh then we don't know where the party is *grin*". I can't help thinking that if we had said "yes" they would have told us where the party was
Thanks Maniac618...thanks a lot! ) We also got interviewed by the BBC people again, and the silly interviewer almost believed me when I said we are gonna hijack the plane and take Bruce with us :err:
After we hooked up with the rest of the gang we went to Jury's for a while where we chatted to some people, but everybody were tired so we got a cab back to our hotels for a good nights sleep
Part five - Flight back to London, Tuesday 2nd. December:
After a very nice breakfast, me and Frester hooked up with Maniac618, the_metallian, oozily and Lord SUMMERISLE at their hotel, and decided that we should take a bus back to the airport and pay for it ourselves. We had asked people the night before if there was organized a bus for the passengers back to the airport, but nobody knew. Anyways, it was only 5 Euros for the bus so we didn't mind.
Back at the airport we met with others from the flight and after some small-talk we checked in, with the same seats as before
We were pretty early so we just sat at the bar in the departure hall till our flight was called. It was really nice to just sit back, chill and think about the previous night After we had boarded the plane Bruce came out again and told everybody that after we were up he would sign all of our stuff, so we shouldn't worry about anything. I quickly took out just about everything I had and was ready to go
Before Bruce came out, Frester, oozily and I had a nice chat with the cabin crew (Sharon and Que). They really enjoyed the gig :metal: Sharon had apparently screamed so much that she had little voice left, so giving the safety instructions were pretty hard and we didn't make it easier for her by joking around
Bruce AND Nicko finally came out to sign the stuff for us, but they seemed to be in a hurry and had little time for talking, so I didn't get everything signed (really sorry about that sultoooon). But still, I got to take a picture with Nicko again, I just hope it turns out good. Have a feeling the last roll of film didn't turn out properly :sniff:
After everything was signed, Bruce and Nicko went back into the cockpit and we got ready for landing. Sharon went through the normal procedure of thanking us etc. and also added a "...and up the irons...", which was followed by a great cheer from the passengers. Gotta love that!
After we landed I thanked Rod, Bruce and Nicko for everything and went out with Frester and oozily.
The End!
Part six - Epilogue, Tuesday 2nd. December:
I couldn't have asked for a better trip. It was so unreal to meet the lads and see that they were so nice and down to earth. I especially enjoyed talking to Rod. That was one of the highlights for me.
Despite the length of this thread, it is still somewhat incoherent and I probably forgot some details, and I apologise for that, but so much happened to me these three days that it's almost impossible to give an accurate account of everything. Besides, like I said before it's very very hard to put your feelings into words, so just trust me when I say this was the best time in my life!
Finally I would like to say it was a great pleasure to meet the BB'ers on the flight! Maniac618, the_metallian, oozily, Lord SUMMERISLE, Nerik-Iron, MIKEDEAN and a special salute goes to Frester!!! It was a true pleasure to get to know you and thank you for everything! I don't know how or when I can repay you for everything you did, but some day I will! I hope to see you all again at Earl's Court :metal:
If I have forgotten to mention anybody, I am very sorry!
PS. I took LOADS of pictures. As soon as they are developed I will post them on the BB
PPS. Sorry it took so long to write this, but I was so tired after I came back and I also got ill, so I didn't have much strength to write it all in one go.
