IRON MAIDEN TO BRING THE STUNNING MAIDEN ENGLAND WORLD TOUR TO EUROPE IN 2013

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What type of sacrifices must you make to be in the front 10 rows at the download festival to see Maiden? They're headliners so you just can't be in the back resting or looking at the smaller stages. There's no reserve seating, you can't go to the rest room. You have to be standing because sitting down waiting for them, the people around you will trample you. So you have to be there God knows how many hours before the event. Someone has any experience with this?
 
A lot of big blokes came down the hill from the back of the crowd just before Maiden's set started, shoving through the crowds. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up near the front.
 
I've done it before at Download for Sabbath, and at Leeds festival for Maiden.

Bruised ribs was my sacrifice. Crowd's are getting more aggressive in recent years too, more pits, a lot more pushing. The worst part though I would say is that you have to stay there pretty much all day, need to start working forward at least 2 bands before (in my case this meant being at the railing throughout Marilyn Manson >.<)

Also, from my experience of being dead front it's not as good as you'd think - you want to be about 10 people back ideally. The stage is pretty high so up front you will see Bruce well... but won't see too much of Dave/Adrian except for when they venture into the center.
 
The show at Download was ok I suppose! :P

On Saturday Crimson Idol mentioned to me that there's a difference between actually seeing a band perform and being at the front getting crushed. Point taken. :P
 
So, were you at Download Black Wizard? What was it like? Were you so close you genuinely couldn't see much? What was the sound like, the crowd, the atmosphere, etc etc?
 
I'm too short to see much in a crowd, but I like the atmosphere and the movement near the front. It was a bit too rough on Saturday though, particularly when 'The Trooper' was played! Two of my friends had to get out apparently because it was too much.

The sound was good near the front, but apparently behind the mixing desk it was awful.
 
Ahh, the perils of Donington, & outdoor gigs generally I suppose. Yeh, I hear you, in regard to The Trooper; those three-part guitar harmonies can be just too much sometimes! :p
 
I was just behind the sound desk at Download positioned in front of one of the speaker stands, so the sound was great for most of the show. No problems with wind from where I was standing. On the first three songs Bruce's voice sounded a bit toppy, but other than that it was great.

I'm going to mention some of the songs they performed - not sure whether this needs spoiler tags, but just in case:

The highlights for me were 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Seventh Son'. I couldn't see much of the band during 'Phantom' because of relentless headbanging and floods of (manly) tears. I was a gibbering wreck by the end of that one. 'Seventh Son' was the type of performance that the word 'epic' was invented for. I just wish they'd done 'Hallowed', and, more to the point, 'Infinite Dreams'. I would love to see them play that one live.

Dave was having a seriously good night. Normally, Adrian is my favourite of the three to listen to, but Dave won it this time. Every time he took a solo, he melted our heads effortlessly. In the crowd, complete strangers were turning to each other saying: "What the F******************?"

Something strange happened during 'Wasted Years': the main riff was played slower than usual, but the rest of the song seemed to go back up to the usual tempo. Adrian didn't repeat the riff the usual number of times during the lead up to his solo, instead he played a series of harmonics. Bruce's repeated plugging of the Maiden ale had its best example in one chorus where he told us not to waste our time thinking about "those wasted Trooper beers".

This was my first Maiden gig after years of missed opportunities. Definitely up there with the best I've ever seen, and I have got to see them at the o2 in August, and every UK gig after that!
 
czgibson said:
Something strange happened during 'Wasted Years': the main riff was played slower than usual, but the rest of the song seemed to go back up to the usual tempo. Adrian didn't repeat the riff the usual number of times during the lead up to his solo, instead he played a series of harmonics. Bruce's repeated plugging of the Maiden ale had its best example in one chorus where he told us not to waste our time thinking about "those wasted Trooper beers".
Click to expand...
He did that at my show too. I suppose it's his way of playing the song at the speed he wants before the rest of the band comes in.[/quote]
 
People were moving around a lot down near the front. A few people further back where I was were trying to record bits and take pictures, but it was difficult to focus from that distance, and the crowd was still pretty lively back there!
 
Did you have a good time Brigantium? Did your first Maiden show (this was your first show right?) live up to your expectations? I remember it was weird seeing them for the first time when you are just used to watching concert DVDs :)
 
It was amazing, thanks. :) It was a strange feeling, because it felt like I'd seen them so many times before (although I did see Steve earlier this year, of course). Nothing compares to the atmosphere seeing them in person, though. I want to go again!
 
No, I'm very badly out of money now, so no chance. If it was later in the year then maybe.

Roberto - there's a few videos on Youtube now. The first is the clearest.


 
Yeah, people have been posting stuff but not as good of quality as the one Download posted. You have to take what you can get and hope for an official release of some kind.
 
Apparently the Sky Arts channel is going to be showing some highlights of Download from June 29. I don't know if that's just highlights of Slipknot's set, or highlights of the whole festival.
 
I was behind a relay tower, in line with the mixer desk at Donington, and the sound for Maiden was appalling, even worse than at Twickenham; I could hear every accent on the hi-hat, Bruce was fairly clear and 'Arry's bass runs were clear as a bell, but everything elses apart from the solos were totally muffled. I made my way forward so I could see better but the sound got worse, so I had to go back to my original position. The crowd around me were catatonic, mainly because they couldn't hear very well, and it was the worst experience of my 25 years watching Maiden. I'm sure the wind was an issue for those further back, (although it was not windy at all during Maiden), but I can't see how I could be ten yards away from a speaker and get such a bad mix?

It was also very, very quiet, especially compared to Alice in Chains and Mastodon earlier in the day, and Rammstein's set the following night was VERY loud and VERY clear despite being windier!

As far as the show being filmed, a friend pointed out a camera on a very high pole that was only there for Maiden's set, and there was a helicopter circling around for the entire of Maiden too, (which didn't help for people suffering from the bad sound), so I'm fairly sure they filmed it for release. Sky Arts did about 4 hours of footage for last year's Download so I'm sure they'll do similar again, I think Sky just took the feed from the video screens for that.
 
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