Dublin Gig Review In Q Magazine
Dublin gig review by Dan Stubbs (Q Magazine)Bruce Dickinson, lead singer with Iron Maiden on and off since 1981, knows what people think of their stage show. He also knows what fans expect: two hours of heavy metal, excessive guitar soloing and a 20-foot inflatable zombie. More than anything, Iron Maiden give their fans what they want, and it's for that reason that tonight they find themselves in Ireland for the first time in seven years. 'We've been asking to play Ireland for ages,' Dickinson announces from the stage. 'Our agent kept saying there's no rock market here any more. I'd love to be scientific about it, but what a load of bollocks!'
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06/01/2004 Dublin gig review by Dan Stubbs (Q Magazine)
'Too melodramatic by far: Spinal Tap-esque; the lot. All the brickbats that usually get thrown at us - I accept it all gratefully. It's all valid.'
Bruce Dickinson, lead singer with Iron Maiden on and off since 1981, knows what people think of their stage show. He also knows what fans expect: two hours of heavy metal, excessive guitar soloing and a 20-foot inflatable zombie. More than anything, Iron Maiden give their fans what they want, and it's for that reason that tonight they find themselves in Ireland for the first time in seven years. 'We've been asking to play Ireland for ages,' Dickinson announces from the stage. 'Our agent kept saying there's no rock market here any more. I'd love to be scientific about it, but what a load of bollocks!'
Judging by the swarms of fans, it seems the rock market in Ireland is indeed healthy, especially considering many here were still at primary school the last time the band were in town. Following the popularity of nu-metal, it seems the rise of The Darkness may have opened a few new ears to old metal, too. Dickinson disagrees. 'The Darkness are good for the pop world in terms of awareness of heavy metal but, in terms of ticket sales, no value to Iron Maiden whatsoever,' he says. 'They're a good pop metal band, but they'll stand or fall by their last single. If they can become an institution maybe they'll find lasting success.'
An institution like Iron Maiden?
'No, not like us. They're more of a pop thing. You know, Gary Glitter, that sort of thing.'
The Iron Maiden touring machine has been rumbling around the world for the last 25 years, but this tour is to be their last long haul. Fans shouldn't worry - a long tour for Iron Maiden clocks in at anything above nine months. Mostly it's wives, children and outside interests that lure the band away from life on the road. Dickinson, for example, has a second career piloting chartered aircraft, and flew himself to the show today. He did the same last week, flying a jet full of competition winners to Paris. The flight was numbered 666. Dickinson is 45 and, despite wearing a lifetime of rock'n'roll excess like a Savile Row suit, he admits that touring does take its toll.
'You get to my age and after doing a heavy week's worth of gigs, you really feel it,' he says. 'Although when I was 25, 26, we used to feel it for different reasons, cos we'd be out on the lash 'til six o' clock in the morning.'
Down the corridor, hatchet-faced drummer Nicko McBrain has that familiar feeling as he sits behind his practice kit and reels off some drum rolls, careful not to agitate last night's hangover. McBrain spent the previous evening at a star-studded charity gala in London. Holding court backstage, he recalls his surprise when, flitting between tables, he happened upon Norman Wisdom and told him how much he admired his comedy. The diminutive entertainer replied: 'Not bad for a short GREAT MUSICIAN, eh?'
An hour later, the sextet burst onto the stage, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more energetic band half their age. Each member is a dynamo - Janick Gers spends as much time spinning his guitar around his shoulders as he does playing it. Dickinson uses the stage as a big adventure playground, running around the tomb-like set, jumping on the spot and performing wild scissor kicks, all while maintaining perfect pitch.
'It's like doing an aerobics workout every night,' says bassist Steve Harris. 'Well, not that I've ever done an aerobics workout, but I imagine it to be something like that.'
Four songs in, Dickinson produces a huge Union Jack to accompany The Trooper, a song about the Crimean War. As he prances around the stage, flag billowing behind him, the atmosphere becomes uneasy. A dull murmur grows into booing and, by the end of the song, expletives are being hurled at the band from the back of the arena. Dickinson seems blissfully unaware of the inappropriateness of the imagery, but the jarring drums and guitars suggest the band are a little shaken. There's a moment of awkwardness but as they launch into a suite of songs heavy on material from the latest album Dance Of Death, it's done in such a preposterously theatrical way, with Dickinson now clad in a cloak and mask, that it's not long before the mood returns to one of adulation.
'Life is cheap, but death will cost you £43.50 - raise the reaper!' shouts Dickinson after a singalong Fear Of The Dark, and a huge model of their zombie mascot Eddie begins to inflate. With Eddie looming, the final encore ensues, culminating in the superb Run To The Hills, and, once again, all is well in Maiden land.
'Even in the early days in the pubs we used to put on a real show,' says Harris. 'An old kettle for a dry ice machine, a fish pump to pump blood out of Eddie's mouth. It's quite amazing what you can do on the cheap.'
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