Maiden England Tour 2012/2013!

As I said, I was at the Albuquerque show. I'll be mentioning individual songs throughout the rest of the post so to make it easy I'll just put the whole thing in spoilers

In the early evening, it was fairly windy and it rained periodically. Coheed and Cambria started 30 minutes late and played a 30 minute set. I was not familiar with them at all, but I thought that their performance was quite good. The crowd was mostly uninterested in first but they gained momentum throughout their set. I thought they were good enough that I might consider checking out their studio albums in the future.


It was less windy but still raining off and on as they set up Maiden's set. Finally, Doctor Doctor played over the PA and Maiden's set began. Bruce, I thought, was on fire, his performance was perfect. In fact, the whole band was on fire, but especially Bruce and Davey.

Some little tidbits:

Bruce ad-libbed on Afraid to Shoot Strangers ("God - which god? - let us go now...")

During Phantom of the Opera, Bruce referred to the weather conditions by saying "We've had the wind, we've had the rain, now for the fire" before the fire effects began.

Bruce poked some light fun at Adrian on the last Wasted Years chorus by miming a muscular man, I assume referring to H's deeper voice. I also assume that the Almighty H took mercy on him for this transgression.

It seemed to me like the band dragged out the suspense on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son by extending the middle section.

When introducing the band, Bruce made several age jokes about Nicko ("they discovered his birth certificate in a pyramid"), and also had a brief conversation with Dave which I did not understand due to the combination of the PA system and the fact that I am not used to British accents.

All in all, it was a great show and a great experience for my first Maiden show. I do wish they had played Hallowed, but there will be other tours, and it will surely be on those. Still, if any live staple should have been cut, I think it should have been Fear of the Dark. Still, I'm not complaining.
 
Bruce got about the stage with as much or more thrust than ever.

He's remarkable, isn't he? My wife, who was only a casual Maiden fan in the mid-80s, came with me to the show in Edmonton and I think was expecting a fun "nostalgia" type of show. She was in absolute awe of Bruce's athleticism and voice, and even moreso when I told her that he was almost 54 years old. She also felt those 2 hours fly right by like it was only 30 minutes, or something. It has been over 2 weeks since we saw them, and she still talks about that show, and is already planning a road trip to see them in 2 other cities if they come tour through Western Canada again. Ha ha!
 
It's easy to see why this band has such a good reputation as a live act. They put a lot of love into every show and play their asses off, no matter what their set list is.
 
Maiden is certainly very consistant. Certainly some shows are better than others, but the gap between the best show and the worst show is pretty minimal. There are other bands that I would see one time and they would be great, then sound like crap the next time around .. which what ticket prices are going for now is very disappointing. Next to Maiden, I would say Cheap Trick is right up there with putting on good show after good show.
 
MaidenCanada, Funny coincidence. My wife was in my group at Maiden for her first time as well. Twenty seconds into the show she leaned over and screamed into my ear, "How old is Bruce again?" I was crackin' up royally. She too figured The guys to not be so filled with vigor. Bruce is a fricken' rock star. He still commands that stage and drags twenty thousand souls on his back for two + hours every night he's out there. I met some friends in the lot before the show who had been to Phoenix three nights before. They were amazed at how Bruce had fought the 110 F heat and finally showed a bit of sweat and wear during the encore. Younger bands melt in Phoenix and other dessert city shows here in the U.S Southwest. Older bands skip these venues all together. Maiden fires through. I'm telling you all this show has impressed me like never before. Better with age?...You bet!
 
i have seen 40 or 50 concerts in my lifetime, and seen Maiden 3 times.........acdc, queensryche, metallica, ozzy, 38 special, cheap trick, kiss, ted nugent, the list goes on............none of the acts i have seen have ever compared to Maiden ever!........its not just Bruce either........they take what they do serious but with an element of fun..........their energy level has always been several steps above any act i have ever seen! like so many others have stated here, my wife was not a fan what so ever, but after the Charlotte show, she was completely shocked at how entertaining they were...........i hope they go for at least a couple of more tours before retiring.................
 
i have seen 40 or 50 concerts in my lifetime, and seen Maiden 3 times.........acdc, queensryche, metallica, ozzy, 38 special, cheap trick, kiss, ted nugent, the list goes on............none of the acts i have seen have ever compared to Maiden ever!........its not just Bruce either........they take what they do serious but with an element of fun..........their energy level has always been several steps above any act i have ever seen! like so many others have stated here, my wife was not a fan what so ever, but after the Charlotte show, she was completely shocked at how entertaining they were...........i hope they go for at least a couple of more tours before retiring.................
I'm sure they will do at least two more tours before the end! At least one more album and it's respective tour then presumably a huge farewell tour.
 
I always hope for more, but I think two or three at most is realistic. I have already told my wife we are taking a trip to Europe when they do the last tour. Seeing them in the UK would be very cool and I would assume would be amongst the last shows they do.
 
My wife is spending more time in the gym since that concert, because she doesn't see why she should be slower than a guy who is almost 15 years older than her. Ha ha.
 
Three Texan dates and it's over. I am very curious if anything Maiden related will happen in the rest of 2012 (besides the Purple tribute album).
 
There is another gig announced on their Facebook page, on Aug 30, at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. The official site does not say anything about that. Funny, back to Canada two weeks after the last show in Texas.
 
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