Iron Maiden keeps fans wondering if they'll roll out the classics at Vancouver concert

It's been well over an hour since the band hit the stage and still not one stone-cold Maiden classic has been rolled out.

Speaking of rolled, the metal dude two seats over just lit up again, and just like last time, he's not offering hits to anyone. Not that I wanted any, but would it kill him to ask around?

Oh, I just spotted Gerald Rattlehead coming up the stairs playing air drums; guess he didn't get enough thrash out of Assjack on the weekend.

The show's supposed to be over in 40 minutes, so if I'm gonna get my wish and hear "The Trooper", "Two Minutes to Midnight", and "Wasted Years", something better happen quick. Check out the full review tomorrow morning and find out!

Georgia Straight music writer Steve Newton is posting items of interest from tonight's (June 24) Iron Maiden concert at GM Place in Vancouver. Check out the full review tomorrow at www.straight.com/music.

Comments

7 Comments

Jordan

Jun 25, 2010 at 3:24am

Classics, classics, classics.. why always the classics? Maiden played all the Classics on their last Somewhere BACK in TIME tour.. Their new material is awesome aswell, so why always complaining?

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Joe Schmoe

Jun 25, 2010 at 8:30am

I was one of the 20,000ish peeps at the Maiden show last night and unfortunately I have to say that was one of the most disappointing concerts I have seen in a while.
To start, Bruce...love the guy...but the first pause in the show was him pushing the new album. Then they proceeded to play mainly songs from their new or newer releases. Now, as a die hard Maiden fan, I will take a listen as I did with Live After Death. The odd good tune, but if it is good Maiden tunes fans will buy it...but do not shove the new tunes down our throats. It felt like we were a test audience to see how the newer songs would take. And within the hour they had lost the audience. People were sitting down and looking rather bored.
Next, the sound. Jesus..I am not sure as I know Bruce missed a few cues, especially in Hallowed Be Thy Name, but even the songs I did know...sounded bad. The aforementioned Hallowed Be Thy Name seem to fall off the tracks a few times and that left the audience looking around.
And finally, if you can believe it, there were boo's when Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life" came on. To be honest, playing that song, with a set list really tailored towards what the band wants to play instead of what the fans came to hear, felt like a kick in the ass. "We know you came to hear The Trooper, Run to the Hills, anything on Powerslave, but life’s a piece of shit, when you think of it!"
My first Maiden concert was on the PowerSlave tour. It was one great show. The show last night pales in comparison.

Benjamin Bregg

Jun 25, 2010 at 11:14am

They played only one New song last night.
El Dorado.
Why not talk about their new album?
This is what they do for a living.
Play music, and music that they created. They are as proud of that modern side of their career as they are the old.

and they also always play that tune as their end of the night song. they have for years.

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OzMedia

Jun 26, 2010 at 2:18am

Joe Schmoe- " Now, as a die hard Maiden fan, I will take a listen as I did with Live After Death." You gave Live After Death "a listen?" LOL!

As for boo's, that was because EVERYONE...well, almost everyone, that knows Iron Maiden concerts, knows that they ALWAYS play that song at the end of the show, they boo'd because it was over.

Your first concert was the Powerslave Tour (World Slavery Tour) and yet you gave Live After Death (the double album of the concert you saw) "a listen, lol. I can't get over that one. :D In your efforts to qualify your opinion as a die hard, long time Maiden fan, you simply trip and SPLATSO!

You then offer, "but if it is good Maiden tunes fans will buy it...but do not shove the new tunes down our throats. It felt like we were a test audience to see how the newer songs would take."

You can't be serious! Seeing as Iron Maiden doesn't really get the radio rotation that Lady Gaga does to dig the pop hooks into your brain, they became world famous due to their concerts, They play concerts to sell albums, just as any artist since the dawn of the phonograph has and always will do. I think that playing one song from the new album is not deemed market saturation.

If they don't go to each town and play new music, they don't get heard, then when they DO go play, people have lost touch and complain that their music wasn't all 25 years old. How old does their music have to be before they are allowed to play it live? Keep up or miss out.
Fans stick with bands, the rest are just those bound by dogmatic views from their youth.

As for The Newt, well what's to be expected? You go to review a show you don't even know the setlist for and then complain, writing your initial (rash) opinion an hour into the show. Way to do your homework, as always. This is 2010, setlists are not surprises anymore, or shocks in your case.

As I said elsewhere, everyone complained about Janick not doing anything when they played old songs that were written for two guitars, and now they whine because they are out of touch with the band. Only those that don't know any of the great material they've written for the last 11 years, for 3 guitars, will complain about these being "new" songs. They played ONE less familiar song in my mind, I've only heard El Dorado around a dozen times, and they play it live even better, as always. I'm looking forward to the album now.

Can't stop the ringing of my funeral bell.

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Ted

Jun 26, 2010 at 7:36pm

Thank god Maiden has gone and disappointed another "hipster" Perhaps you are more suited to write Bon Iver or Peter Bjorn and John reviews. It is best to stick to what you know. It will save your feeble career and you will thank me later.

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John Lucas

Jun 28, 2010 at 12:55pm

Well, this might be the first time in the history of the Georgia Straight that anyone has accused Steve Newton of being a hipster. Take a bow, Ted.

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Matt Maiden

Jan 5, 2011 at 2:56pm

This tour was for the new generations of the fans, im one of them, at the concert bruce said that we have been gaing many new fans from the 2000s, iron maiden has been playing the same songs for almost 25 years and ni thinki its great that the played newer stuff. I loved the concert, it was awesome.

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