Iron Maiden
Wednesday evening I went down to Chicago with Robbie to see Maiden. His car wasn’t working the day before the show, and he said it would need a fuel pump, so instead of canceling on me and giving back my $65, he decided to go and buy a new car. (I told you this guy is nuts.) Then he shows up and doesn’t have directions or a clue where the venue is. I knew this would happen so I brought a map, but he decided not to follow the route I planned on MapQuest. I’m surprised he even got as far as he did, since I met up with him in the town next to his, since I was more familiar with it. During most of the ride, I was afraid we were going in the opposite direction and would end up somewhere in the middle of Illinois because he had no idea if we were even headed in the right direction. By some stroke of luck, we ended up at the tollbooth we were supposed to be at. The only problem was that he pulled up to an automatic one that only took change, and neither of us had any. I’m assuming the machine took a picture of his license plate, so now he’ll have a ticket for that. (He got one last week for a rolling stop.) Surprisingly, the rest of the trip went well and we arrived in time and at the cheapest parking lot across the street from the venue. Other than the fact we didn’t know where we were going, it was fun throwing that awful Sheila E cassette out the window and onto the sidewalk somewhere in McHenry and blasting Megadeth.
Since we actually got there early, we ended up getting snacks and walking around the venue several times. At first when they were searching me, I was horrified when the security guard found my camera in my purse. I’ve never had them find the hidden pocket inside, and when she did, I told her she could have my batteries so I couldn’t take any photos, but it turned out cameras were allowed! Other than the father who brought his two children sitting two rows in front of us, we were the youngest ones there. When we finally decided to go back to our seats to witness the horror that was Lauren Harris, this guy comes up the stairs behind us, totally drunk, going, “Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!” At first I thought he was confused and thought this was a Judas Priest concert. Instead, he told us that we looked like we came out of a Priest video because we were wearing so much leather (and pleather). Even though we were out of place as far as our age went, at least we genuinely looked the part! And even though Robbie got us tickets a few weeks before the show, we still ended up between the center and right-hand corner of the balcony in the fifth row.
I don’t know who decided this, but Steve Harris’s daughter, Lauren Harris, opened for Maiden. I know her dad’s the bassist and all, but she was so out of place and it was obvious that her “career” only exists from riding on her father’s coattails like a drowning rat. She was probably worse than Ashlee Simpson. At least she wears shoes. Lauren came onstage wearing leather pants, a glittery flower halter top, and had bare feet. Her backup band consisted of a bunch of washed up ‘80s hair metal guys. Harris even plugged her MySpace page onstage. How pathetic is that? Luckily she didn’t play long, and when she announced it was her last song, she got the most applause.
Iron Maiden was even more amazing as expected. Some of the older fans even commented that this was their best show since ’83. I guess I picked a good time to see them. In fact, I just feel fortunate that I got to see them in my lifetime. They proved age really doesn’t matter and moved around that stage like anyone twice their age, if not even more. Especially Bruce! He was insane, and his voice is absolutely killer. The set list was also brilliant. The only song they didn’t play that I wanted to hear was “Flight of Icarus”. I also really liked that the stage imagery they used was circa the Powerslave era and a lot of it had hidden meaning, especially the backdrop with the Anubis statues. As expected, the pyrotechnics and the whole set-up in general were amazing. This was by far the best live performance I’ve seen from any band so far. I took hundreds of photos, but very few of those turned out due to how far I had to zoom in my camera. I’ll let the pictures speak for the rest of the concert details.
Set List:
Intro - Churchill’s Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number of the Beast
Run to the Hills
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Can I Play With Madness?
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Encore:
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Since we actually got there early, we ended up getting snacks and walking around the venue several times. At first when they were searching me, I was horrified when the security guard found my camera in my purse. I’ve never had them find the hidden pocket inside, and when she did, I told her she could have my batteries so I couldn’t take any photos, but it turned out cameras were allowed! Other than the father who brought his two children sitting two rows in front of us, we were the youngest ones there. When we finally decided to go back to our seats to witness the horror that was Lauren Harris, this guy comes up the stairs behind us, totally drunk, going, “Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law! Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law!” At first I thought he was confused and thought this was a Judas Priest concert. Instead, he told us that we looked like we came out of a Priest video because we were wearing so much leather (and pleather). Even though we were out of place as far as our age went, at least we genuinely looked the part! And even though Robbie got us tickets a few weeks before the show, we still ended up between the center and right-hand corner of the balcony in the fifth row.
I don’t know who decided this, but Steve Harris’s daughter, Lauren Harris, opened for Maiden. I know her dad’s the bassist and all, but she was so out of place and it was obvious that her “career” only exists from riding on her father’s coattails like a drowning rat. She was probably worse than Ashlee Simpson. At least she wears shoes. Lauren came onstage wearing leather pants, a glittery flower halter top, and had bare feet. Her backup band consisted of a bunch of washed up ‘80s hair metal guys. Harris even plugged her MySpace page onstage. How pathetic is that? Luckily she didn’t play long, and when she announced it was her last song, she got the most applause.
Iron Maiden was even more amazing as expected. Some of the older fans even commented that this was their best show since ’83. I guess I picked a good time to see them. In fact, I just feel fortunate that I got to see them in my lifetime. They proved age really doesn’t matter and moved around that stage like anyone twice their age, if not even more. Especially Bruce! He was insane, and his voice is absolutely killer. The set list was also brilliant. The only song they didn’t play that I wanted to hear was “Flight of Icarus”. I also really liked that the stage imagery they used was circa the Powerslave era and a lot of it had hidden meaning, especially the backdrop with the Anubis statues. As expected, the pyrotechnics and the whole set-up in general were amazing. This was by far the best live performance I’ve seen from any band so far. I took hundreds of photos, but very few of those turned out due to how far I had to zoom in my camera. I’ll let the pictures speak for the rest of the concert details.
Set List:
Intro - Churchill’s Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number of the Beast
Run to the Hills
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Can I Play With Madness?
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Encore:
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name