Hi Oi, Hola, Salut, and Здравствуй once again, most AMAZING followers, members, Hopefuls, and Suicide Girls! Are you ready to ROCK??
I know you are!!!🤘🎸🎼🎶🎶
Well, as I promised, I have a lot of fun things to share, so grab a drink, because this will be long!
So:
When I was in high school, I had a band in which I played guitar and the other regular member was (and still is) one of my closest friends in So. Cal, a wonderful Asian gentleman who could play the keyboards and piano like Ray Manzerek of the Doors - and that was way back then! He is really smart and talented, and I liked him so much that I worked odd jobs (washing windows, mostly, lol) to buy him a bass guitar for his birthday at one point, which he taught himself to play, since I had given him some rudimentary guitar lessons. Anyway, that amazing friend recommended The Iron Maidens, the world’s most awesome and only all-female tribute band to Iron Maiden, to me last year, and I jumped at the chance to see them based on his recommendation and the videos I saw on YouTube. Sadly, my go-to Metal girlfriends were both unavailable to go with me, and my local guy-friends are as Metal as Elton John, so I went alone, and I went determined to have a great time anyway and to ROCK!! And I DID; I arrived early and went immediately to the front of the mosh pit dead center where I stayed throughout the entire 3 band-4 hour show!
As my former band mate likes to joke, the Doors opened at 7pm, so I got there early to see them, since all these years I thought Jim Morrison was dead. Dammit, I missed them again! 😄
Before the show:
Seriously though, the opening band was Elephant Gun Riot, and they were great! When I saw the Hell’s Belles back in January, Elephant Gun Riot opened for them, too, but as you may recall from my blog about that show, I was late, and only got to hear them play their last song, which was ironically, “Run to the Hills”by Iron Maiden. Why ironically? Because the last song that the Iron Maidens played as an encore to their set this past Friday was the very same song! EGR played all original material which I hadn’t heard before, but I enjoyed all of it. Their lead vocalist, Caitlin Rose, is their strongest member, but the band as whole is very tight! And...as I just learned as I was typing this, they are local to my home town of Spokane! Sweet! I’ll definitely be seeing them again and checking out their self-titled new album!
Once EGR got us properly warmed up, there was a brief lull while the next local band, Dogtown, set up. Now, by now you all know that I have a strong preference for female energy, and Dogtown was exactly the opposite of that. I have many all-male bands that I really enjoy: Pink Floyd, Rush, AFI, Yes, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden (of course), Dream Theater, Godsmack, Primus, and many more, and I’ve seen lots of them live. The gentlemen of Dream Theater, in particular, have very prominent masculine energy due to their extreme focus on virtuoso instrumentalism, but the vibe at their shows is always positive and a great time. Dogtown, on the other hand, projected a very powerful negative energy that felt like it was directed at the audience rather than being part of the songs. As a result, even though their musicianship was quite good and their vocalist didn’t miss a note, the harsh, aggressive, profanity-laden nature of their music started distancing the crowd, and in spite of being hammered by 70+ decibel waves of sound at close range, I had to focus not to start feeling sleepy (it had already been a long day). It wasn’t just me; I discovered that others were feeling the same way when I spoke with people after the show. The members of Dogtown took very few pains with their physical appearance, (think unshaven grunge dudes) so I won’t hurt your eyes with pictures of them. HOWEVER: one of their guitarists threw a guitar pick my way, which some guy reached in front of me to try to grab (and knocked to the floor and did not catch it as a result), so it landed at my feet where I picked it up after Dogtown’s set. Their music isn’t my cup of tea, but the guitar pick is solid and awesome to look at, so Dogtown wasn’t all bad, and my evening continued to get better from there. 🖤💀
The mosh pit started filling up more as the roadies got the stage ready for the Iron Maidens, and a very pleasant tall, older gentleman joined me at center stage and advised he had just arrived from Seattle (a four hour drive), and he was curious who was on next. He was VERY happy to learn he hadn’t missed the Maidens, and he brought an AWESOME Iron Maiden flag based on the Washington state flag which the Maidens’ lead vocalist, Kirsten Rosenburg, actually waved along with the flags of the UK and the US when the girls played “The Trooper.” The sheer love that the IMs have for their fans was made very apparent from multiple actions just like that one. The only thing that disappointed me about the evening (other than Dogtown’s negativity) was the fact that the show wasn’t sold out. I guess the Knitting Factory dropped the ball in promoting the show, because I know this town, and there are a LOT of Metal fans here that would not have wanted to miss the PHENOMENAL performance that the IMs put on. Still, the crowd that was there fully came alive when the girls took the stage, and I found myself singing along and screaming on cue, which is something I try not to do, because my voice is very weak due to my medical condition. As a result, my voice is just now coming back almost 48 hours later, and the first of my language videos, for which I have been practicing so my American accent isn’t so bad, will be delayed a couple more days. I think you’ll enjoy it; here’s a clue as to which language I’ll be speaking: I’ll be talking very briefly about the history of modern fashion. 😉
From the very first moment they took the stage, the Iron Maidens flawlessly executed every song as if they had written them themselves, and they were quintessential performers, reminding the crowd by their very presence, appearance, and body language that they were beautiful women playing this glorious cacophonous music, and that the music was their gift to the audience, and what a gift it was!! I thought I didn’t remember the entire set list, but I think I do! For those die-hard Metal fans that follow me, here it is:
Aces High
Flight of Icarus
Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra) (instrumental)
Wasted Years
The Trooper
Infinite Dreams
Killers
The Clansman
The Number of the Beast
The Evil that Men Do
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Still Life
Run To The Hills
Three times Kirsten (the lead vocalist) yelled, “Scream for me, Spokane!!” Did I?
You know it!🤘
After seeing this show, the Maidens’ performance of each song will forever be attached to my memories of them - especially those on which the girls did a better job - because Kirsten could easily hit notes that Bruce Dickinson stretches to reach. The last two songs on the list were the encore, for which we all chanted for about 3 minutes. The order might be off, but “Run to the Hills” was definitely last.
I encourage you to check out “The Snippet of Icarus,” the video that goes with this blog, to get a good feel of my experience; but to give you a proper introduction to this band, or a more intimate one if you are familiar with them, here are some of the best pictures I have had the privilege to take at a concert:
The Iron Maidens, from left to right, are: Nikki Stringfield (guitars), Linda McDonald (drums), Kirsten Rosenberg (lead vocals), Wanda Ortiz (bass), and Courtney Cox (guitars).
Now, if you’ve read my concert blogs before, you know it doesn’t end here; my experience after the show was also interesting and rewarding. After the show, I was happy to discover I could still speak without sounding like I had sandpaper for vocal chords (I was literally unable to speak at all the following morning, though 😝), so I went to buy my mandatory concert t-shirt, and learned that they were sold out of all the girls’s tanks in my size, with only one medium one left. Well, I’m not plus-size, but I’m not a little girl, either, so I settled for the only other option, the generic ‘unisex’ large t-shirt, which has a fabulous image on it, but it was too big for me, so I was slightly disappointed...for the moment. I purchased a band photo to be signed for $5, too, leaving me $10 left from the $40 I allocated for the purpose (I’m down to savings right now thanks to my California trip, so I made sure to spend as little as possible.
Next, I hopped into line where I struck up a conversation with an lovely young blonde girl and the older gentleman accompanying her, who I discovered was not her boyfriend, but just a frequent companion. We shared tales of past other concerts and I learned that Ms. Cutie had recently seen In This Moment and Halestorm, like me! I also learned that she didn’t have enough money for one of the awesome ladies’ tank tops, but had spent $5 for a band photo to get the girls’ signatures. Here’s where fate inserts your friend, Dhyani: a few moments later, the guy from the merch counter started hawking the last of the t-shirts and came by saying that the last one was reduced to $25 - the very same last medium ladies’ tank that I didn’t buy because it was too small for me. Well, my blonde acquaintance told her companion that was the one she wanted, but all he had was a $20, and the merch guy was firm at $25...so I pulled $5 out of my purse and made up the difference. Oh my, I had no idea that I would make her night by doing so, she was almost reduced to tears! I was hugged multiple times, and I didn’t even know her name. Now, I’m a very observant person, so by now I had picked up subtle things she had said that clued me in that she was either a lesbian or bi, so after she put the new IMs tank on over the one she wore to the show, the naughty girl in me hinted that she should ask the band to sign her shirt with it on her....and she did, and they did!
That’s Wanda Ortiz, the bassist, signing her boob, right there.
As you all know by now, I live only about a mile from the concert venue, and although I could have driven to the show, I didn’t want to spend $10 for parking, so I walked home cautiously, as it was now midnight. I was exhausted when I got home, and I realized that I had been on my feet for 6 hours straight on top of working all day. Still, I couldn’t help thinking of YOU wonderful people and sharing this experience with you, so I started sorting through my photos and videos for the best ones and fell asleep on my couch...on top of my phone, lol. Fortunately, they are a lot tougher than they used to be!
I came away from this concert especially inspired to work on my own music with my own band. When I went to get my photo signed, I asked Wanda about their solo projects, and apparently NIkki has an album coming out soon, which I will definitely get!
At this point you have seen part of what I did to ameliorate my dissatisfaction with such a blah t-shirt; Saturday morning I viewed numerous YouTube videos of “top x number of t-shirt hacks every girl should know,” and I discovered that once again I had serendipitously come across an opportunity for fun. So, after memorizing several simple techniques and keeping the video open of the most advanced one, I grabbed my scissors and steeled myself to the possibility that $30 was about to go down the drain. But that wasn’t the case; I discovered I have another hidden crafty talent: I can create awesome t-shirt variations to turn blasé tops into “OMG, how did you do that?” outfits! While my first effort was slightly less than exactly what I wanted to achieve, I’m still pleased with the result. For the back of the shirt, I took a technique designed to be a single downward triangle shape and created an hourglass instead, because the cut of this shirt already made my shoulders look like they belonged on a football player, and a downward triangle in that spot would only make that worse. I’m excited to do this with my High Priestess t-shirt; it’s the right size, but it’s the most boring thing in the world! If any of you girls would like to learn these techniques, DM me, and I’ll send you some YouTube video links; or if you lack confidence in your skills with scissors, I’d be glad to cut one up for you, lol!
I especially like the braiding on the back of the shirt; it almost looks like an exoskeletal spine! 😁...I didn’t realize that I’d be ending this blog by mooning everyone until I posted this last pic, I guess I’d better keep my panties on this time! 😂
Anyway, thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I did sharing my experience with you!
Infinite Love to EVERYONE!! 🤘❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️🎸🎼🎶🎶🎶
♾💗!!!
- Dhyani
