SK “Olimpiyski”, Moscow, Russia
11th February 2011
Iron Maiden, Rise to Remain
Is not that hard to find the words that haven’t yet been said or written about the legendary metal band ever? Be it any English, Russian, German, Italian, French, Japanese or more straightforward f-word in any language or dialect. The universe goes crazy every time IRON MAIDEN announces a new world tour, millions of people round the globe start their preparation for the show beforehand, which means not weeks, but months before the gig.
Two days before the official start of the 1st European leg of the tour, Ed Force One landed on Moscow - Domodedovo airport carrying enough sound equipment to perform the loudest of the shows the Earth’s ever known. By way of rehearsal, the next day IRON MAIDEN played a full-length trial gig for the empty venue, a kind of private stag party to tease their fans and excite the interest of those who still have been idly thinking off and on about attending the performance. http://www.ironmaiden.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/ironmaiden
Music & Performance
The day X arrived and loads of IM fans gathered at the venue about 3 hours before the show. Growing in geometric progression their number soon exceeded any reasonable idea of the show-scale. An endless flow of people streamed down to the “Olimpiyski” chanting “Up the Irons!” The seemingly all-ages crowd consisted of sophisticated metal-heads, family-fans with their children, kids, seniors, young people and all those in between. It is unbelievable how the IRON MAIDEN passion passes all through from generation to generation. To keep the tradition alive, Ed Force Cap and the band’s front man, Bruce Dickinson brought along with his band young British metal-core unit RISE TO REMAIN with Austin Dickinson on vocals. And although the air was rather cool for them, I do believe that the unit has a potential in their own stream, of course. They were to do the 30 minutes warming-up and were pretty nice about that: a very energetic and ambitious cheeky greener on a metal stage, I must say.
Soon after the final piece of the warming act was done, the first notes of ‘Doctor, Doctor’ were heard and the crowd was ready to fall from grace. The Star Wars stage design with a backdrop of twinkling stars was drowning in the sinister air of its own mystery, the spotlights flashed out and ‘The Final Frontier’ went off as a greeting from the mighty band on stage. Even though there are people who would never-ever believe it, but Bruce Dickinson is a demigod of the metal stage. Being 52 years old, this guy (a vocalist, pilot, fencer, presenter, writer and what not) is Bruce of all trades and their Master, hands down. Dashing around the stage, keeping the spirits high, blowing out with his famous air raid siren vocal, he uses the entire stage to perform his tricks. It is hard to avoid mentioning that Bruce has a very special manner to address the crowd, to communicate to each and everyone who came to the show regardless of their place in the venue, be it a standing area or upper tiers. Be sure, Dickinson is undoubtedly a focus for awe for all young metal-heads.
Steve Harris, the bassist, whose tireless enthusiastic style always makes me admire this great man, kept shooting the fans with his bass, giving out his energy to share it with all those present. The three guitarists of the line-up, Dave Murray, Janick Gers and Adrian Smith, were simply amazing. Plenty of solos to choose from and a famous Janick’s dancing mania while performing ‘Dance of Death’ are totally irresistible. Everyone is in top form and ready to set it all on fire simply by running the fingers down the frets. The invisible but very perceptible Nicko Mcbrain kept the rhythm of the show pulsing and beating. Talking about the set-list, it was completed by new tunes mainly, with a brief excursus to the history of the times of ‘Brave New World’, ‘Fear of the Dark’ and ‘Seventh Son of the Seventh Son’. Not to mention the good old ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Iron Maiden’, the song at which the celebrated mascot Eddie comes out to fight the band members and to make the audience scream with excitement.
Although IRON MAIDEN tossed out their most long-waited and long-played things like ‘Run to the Hills’, ‘Aces High’, none of the fans felt any dissatisfaction with both the show and the atmosphere it provided. If you have never been to an IRON MAIDEN show, you do not even imagine what that means and you missed a lot actually. Go and see them, while they are still on tour or catch them up in Germany in May. The experience is utterly magic!
Setlist
00. Doctor, Doctor (intro)
01. Satellite 15… The Final Frontier
02. El Dorado
03. Two Minutes to Midnight
04. Coming Home
05. Dance of Death
06. The Trooper
07. The Wicker Man
08. Blood Brothers
09. Where the Wild Wind Blows
10. The Evil That Men Do
11. The Talisman
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
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14. The Number of the Beast
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
16. Running Free
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 10
Light: 10
Total: 10 / 10
All pics by Rimma Bobkina
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