Alice and I went to see Iron Maiden on Thursday at Manchester Arena, her sister and her husband also went although they didnt go with us and we werent sat near eachother which in a way i was pleased about as i thought Alice's sister would complain about the concert, she always finds a reason to complain.
anyway we got a little bit lost on the way to Manchester, but we had left in plenty of time and still got their in time to see Lauren Harris, who was the first support act and is also the daughter of Maidens bass player Steve Harris, i thought she gave a pretty good performance.
Trivium came on as the second support act and gave a good performance although i will agree with a comment Alice made that some of the songs did seem to blend in to oneanother. the singer announced that one of their fans had cancer and his dying wish was to meet the band, they had arranged to go and see him at the hospital that day, they couldnt go before as they werent in the country, but very sadly 2 days before the lad died so they dedicated that nights set to him.
when Maiden came on the crowd went mad as i expected. the stage set was made to look like a war bunker, they had two large spotlights, one either side of the stage which during the show Bruce Dickinson used to light up the crowd. there was a dummy of a man hanging from a parachute on one side of the stage and the rest was made to look like a bunker with sandbags etc. they came out with their first song off their new album and continued to play more songs from their new album, bruce announced they would be playing the whole of the album back to back, which the crowd cheered at. the album worked very wel live, it is kind of unusual for them to play a whole new album, but then they always play a lot of their new album when touring, and their newest album "A Matter Of Life And Death" is in a way a concept album, with every song being something to do with war, one song is about the atom bomb, and all others are about the effects of war and world war battles etc, so in a way they tell a story. the band themselves seemed full of energy and gave a fantastic performance. towards the end of the show they played their song Iron Maiden, which they always play and during which they normally bring out their mascot Eddie in one form or another, this time the had a huge model of a tank rise above the drum kit and then out of the tank rose a figure of eddie with binoculars, it look spectacular and extremely impressive. they also brought out a huge robotic Eddie during their song The Evil That Men Do, he was dressed as an army sargeant and again looked impressive.
all in all i thoroughly enjoyed the show and enjoyed it more by having Alice with me, it was the 3rd time i have seen them live although in the past i have wanted to go and see them many times, but as a young boy i was never allowed to, my mother is a huge control freak and always got her own way, even though at the age of 17 my eldest brother had been allowed to go and see them. when i got older my respective partners didnt like the same music as me and would argue with me when i said i wanted to go and see them so i always backed down. Alice is very different and encouraged me to get tickets and said she would go with me, so i am glad i have found such a great person who is prepared to share my interests and join in with me as well, she enjoyed the evening too, not a smuch as i did but then i am a huge fan of the boys.
i bouthg some cool merchandise too although i really do feel guilty about doing so, we are very skint and i dont think i deserve to spend money on me i think any money should go on Alice, she has a much tougher life than i do and deserves spoiling more than me.
anyway at the end of the show i got pissed off with her sister, as soon as we got to the exit we needed to go out of Al's sister rang her to say she had lost her husband, well the crowds trying to exit the concert were fucking huge, we had to go back in to the arena and work our way through the crowds to find her sister, who said her hubby had gone to the toilet and hadnt come back, i wasnt fucking surprised looking at the crowd, he was probably trying to find his way back and yes a few minutes later he appeared. while waiting for him Al's sister said she was dissapointed by the show and seemed surprised when i said i wasnt, she moaned that they didnt play a couple of their classic songs, despite the fact they announced they plan to tour in 6 months and play older songs in that tour, she still complained, she even sent Alice a text during the show saying "New songs Grrrrr" i fucking hated her attitude, she always brings the attention round to her and is never happy. yes i dare say there were some people dissapointed in a way but they general opinion of the show seemd to be good and people seemed to ebjoy it. Im sure she would have complained as well if they didnt play any new songs and just did all old ones. her opinions will not change the way i feel about the band i have been a fan of since the age of 10, i am now 34, so i have liked them for the majority of their career through thick and thin, even when they changed singers and when the original singer came back.
anyway enough of my ramblings
hi to all my little friends on here
anyway we got a little bit lost on the way to Manchester, but we had left in plenty of time and still got their in time to see Lauren Harris, who was the first support act and is also the daughter of Maidens bass player Steve Harris, i thought she gave a pretty good performance.
Trivium came on as the second support act and gave a good performance although i will agree with a comment Alice made that some of the songs did seem to blend in to oneanother. the singer announced that one of their fans had cancer and his dying wish was to meet the band, they had arranged to go and see him at the hospital that day, they couldnt go before as they werent in the country, but very sadly 2 days before the lad died so they dedicated that nights set to him.
when Maiden came on the crowd went mad as i expected. the stage set was made to look like a war bunker, they had two large spotlights, one either side of the stage which during the show Bruce Dickinson used to light up the crowd. there was a dummy of a man hanging from a parachute on one side of the stage and the rest was made to look like a bunker with sandbags etc. they came out with their first song off their new album and continued to play more songs from their new album, bruce announced they would be playing the whole of the album back to back, which the crowd cheered at. the album worked very wel live, it is kind of unusual for them to play a whole new album, but then they always play a lot of their new album when touring, and their newest album "A Matter Of Life And Death" is in a way a concept album, with every song being something to do with war, one song is about the atom bomb, and all others are about the effects of war and world war battles etc, so in a way they tell a story. the band themselves seemed full of energy and gave a fantastic performance. towards the end of the show they played their song Iron Maiden, which they always play and during which they normally bring out their mascot Eddie in one form or another, this time the had a huge model of a tank rise above the drum kit and then out of the tank rose a figure of eddie with binoculars, it look spectacular and extremely impressive. they also brought out a huge robotic Eddie during their song The Evil That Men Do, he was dressed as an army sargeant and again looked impressive.
all in all i thoroughly enjoyed the show and enjoyed it more by having Alice with me, it was the 3rd time i have seen them live although in the past i have wanted to go and see them many times, but as a young boy i was never allowed to, my mother is a huge control freak and always got her own way, even though at the age of 17 my eldest brother had been allowed to go and see them. when i got older my respective partners didnt like the same music as me and would argue with me when i said i wanted to go and see them so i always backed down. Alice is very different and encouraged me to get tickets and said she would go with me, so i am glad i have found such a great person who is prepared to share my interests and join in with me as well, she enjoyed the evening too, not a smuch as i did but then i am a huge fan of the boys.
i bouthg some cool merchandise too although i really do feel guilty about doing so, we are very skint and i dont think i deserve to spend money on me i think any money should go on Alice, she has a much tougher life than i do and deserves spoiling more than me.
anyway at the end of the show i got pissed off with her sister, as soon as we got to the exit we needed to go out of Al's sister rang her to say she had lost her husband, well the crowds trying to exit the concert were fucking huge, we had to go back in to the arena and work our way through the crowds to find her sister, who said her hubby had gone to the toilet and hadnt come back, i wasnt fucking surprised looking at the crowd, he was probably trying to find his way back and yes a few minutes later he appeared. while waiting for him Al's sister said she was dissapointed by the show and seemed surprised when i said i wasnt, she moaned that they didnt play a couple of their classic songs, despite the fact they announced they plan to tour in 6 months and play older songs in that tour, she still complained, she even sent Alice a text during the show saying "New songs Grrrrr" i fucking hated her attitude, she always brings the attention round to her and is never happy. yes i dare say there were some people dissapointed in a way but they general opinion of the show seemd to be good and people seemed to ebjoy it. Im sure she would have complained as well if they didnt play any new songs and just did all old ones. her opinions will not change the way i feel about the band i have been a fan of since the age of 10, i am now 34, so i have liked them for the majority of their career through thick and thin, even when they changed singers and when the original singer came back.
anyway enough of my ramblings
hi to all my little friends on here
VIEW 20 of 20 COMMENTS
sweet_evil:
electric blankets are the shit. and they make them so much nicer than they used to back in the day!
tex13:
Hope you enjoyed eating the bacon sarnie and listening to my new Iron Maiden CD when you made my house nice and tidy