That show in Zagreb just didn't feel right at all and left me a sour aftertaste.
Why open with a dull piece of music (not really a song) that works basically as a background for too many ok-ish but not brilliant guitar solos, and with zero singalong potential? Nothing dramatic about it live. I took a quick glance around the arena - can you remember last time you saw Maiden and people remained in their seats during the opening song? Likewise, Bruce says TWOTW is a great singalong song, but when actually performed live we're talking Journeyman sort of "greatness". Folky mid section with 2 amazing solos is all nice but cannot really save it live. By the time Revelations kicks in, excitement levels are zero, and then straight we go into another slow hand-clapper, Blood brothers. Other than that, classics like TNOTB and FOTD are played at such slow tempos they feel alien and unfamiliar. I instinctively as always started to sing along to those but gave up because I couldn't follow and it just felt wrong. And then the only real fists-in-the-air pumpers in the set (Trooper and Clansman) are played as encores. Whail Oil Beef Hooked, right?
The entire show never really takes off and the ballsier stuff towards the end feels like belated tries of making-up for never really delivering the goods. And on top of all that, when one thinks this mistake has finally come to an end, we get a "surprise" 2nd encore in the form of sped-up ZZ-top boogie tune served as Aces High. People around us in the front, likewise senior lifelong fans, were jokingly bouncing and dancing to it. When Bruce went into "Bandits at 8 o'clock" line, sounding like severely constipated grand-grandmother, after already butchering Hallowed and Icarus and just about every other non-Blaze and non-Di'Anno song played, my wife and I just looked at each other and I think for a moment we felt like that elderly couple from WTWWB. Sadly and unintentionally, never has the Monty Python song at the end felt more appropriate.
Too bad really because not all is wrong. The 3 amigos are each on top of their game. Dave really shines on SOTC, TWOTW (a bit overshadowed by H in that song but still a killer solo) and Blood Brothers is pure Maiden Magic. Jan is on fire, his best performance I've seen, he even did Hallowed solo with class. If they played exactly the same tunes but in a proper running order (even the slowest of the slow can realize Aces High is useless as a show closer without actually having to try and see) it could have been great, and had they played Rainmaker or SITSL or Hell on Earth instead of Icarus or TNOTB or Senjutsu, it could be magical.
One more thing, tempos were dreadfully slow on TBOS tour already, and "hitting the notes" in classic songs has been painful for a looong time, but all was forgiven because it was Maiden, it ain't all too serious and has not to be perfect, and camaraderie was felt between Dickinson and the boys and the relationship with the audience was strong. This time I haven't seen goofing with Janick, removing the mic stand from Adrian, joking with Nicko and the usual Bruce stuff on stage. It was an act and it felt exactly like one, very fake and you could tell straight away that he's not into it. The super-short speech prior to Blood Brothers was just plain dumb and even the trademark scream-for-mes were few and unconvincing. Just drop the ego thing already and sing those classics in the lower octave, stop butchering those songs night after night FFS. I applaud Steve for refusing to tune down for him, those songs are best sounding in their original keys and Bruce is the one who should adapt to HIS age, not the other 4. He might be The Voice of Maiden, but the soul of it is stage right, in the hands of Davey and H.
The writing's really on the wall, sadly. Don't believe me and go witness it yourself.
666.ironmaiden.com
so this was no synonym for anything in my original post. well, it could be water or tea or coffee as well, but I don't do any kinds of drugs or alcohol (any longer). (I'm now completely straight for some years since I was overdoing beer and pot smoke before, and I only found my way out with some professional help. however, giving up drinking was one of the hardest working pieces in my life, if not the hardest at all. so it's gonna be a bit unusual to attend my personal Maiden gig #37 later this summer as my first Maiden gig without a beer in my hand, but I'll keep doing it good and resistant
)
