9 posts tagged “live music”
Holy fucking shit. I have never been to one of those enormodome kinda shows where EVERYONE stood up the ENTIRE time. The whole place, from the front row to the nose bleeds, was on it's feet from the moment the band hit the stage.
Iron Maiden haven't been to our shores in 15 years, since the 'Fear of the Dark' tour, and this probably expains why the vibe was as intense as it was. A few songs in, between songs, Bruce came and sat down on the foldback up the front of the stage. The crowd went nuts, and we didn't stop screaming for a whole minute or more. At the end of the show he commented that it was one of the warmest welcomes they've had "in any city" apparently. Aww shucks, you probably say that to all the boys (blush).
The excitement was intense though, and I think I had more fun than I've had at any concert. I was with a bunch of guys and I don't think any of us stopped movin' and groovin' to the triple lead guitar onslaught for the entire show. I certainly didn't.
The stage set was kick-arse, with three stone-looking walls with heiroglyphics on them surrounding the band for that Powerslave vibe. Big curtains/sheets with various representations of their artwork were drawn across the rear of the stage during the appropriate song, with the default being one with Powerslave, Somewhere In Time & Seventh Son artwork on it. The only downside was that Nicko's drumkit sat in a little enclave in the wall, completely surrounding him on three sides, and blocking the view for all but those directly in front. Ahh well, he is credited as being the ugliest drummer in rock.
The set list busted out all the songs you'd expect, and fuck they sound amazing live. 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' especially sounded heavy and beefy, with eerie dry ice smoke covering the stage in the middle section, washed in blue light for effect. If I'm to get picky, I'd complain that they picked the wrong songs off 'Somewhere In Time' ('Heaven Can Wait', 'Wasted Years') but they've always had a preference for playing those two off that album, so it was no surprise. 'Fear of the Dark' was another highlight, as it seemed the crowd were all singing it as one. I found myself looking around at other people singing it, rather than the band. It was a 'moment'.
Before the show, one of my friends emailed around the setlist from the Mumbai show (a few days before ours) and I knew I shouldn't have looked because, as I'd feared, they played exactly the same set. Not that it affected my enjoyment, because I've never seen them play <em>any</em> song before, but I just don't understand how a band can want to play the exact same set, night after night, for a whole tour. Seems to me they're missing the point of live music. I guess there are a couple of types of band -- those who put on the huge 'show' with pyrotechnics/visuals and it's all planned out to come off perfectly (Maiden, Roger Waters, Kiss) and those who are free to take it as it comes and slot any song in at any time (Pearl Jam). Fundamentally I prefer the latter but I wasn't complaining on Saturday night.
UPDATE BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO POST THIS EARLIER: It's been a week since the show and I have still listened to nothing but Maiden, for 2 weeks straight now. Last.fm shows about 600 Maiden tracks in that time. I have no desire to put anything else on yet, and I'm singing their songs in my sleep. I've never been as obsessed with them, even in the 'old days'. I guess that's another mark of a fantastic show.
I'm very excited about this weekend, as I'm off to see Iron Maiden on their 'Somewhere Back In Time' world tour. I've been listening to all their albums non-stop over the past week, and watching live DVDs -- basically I'm building this thing up to be a major fucking event. Based on their 2004ish 'Death On The Road' DVD that I watched the other day, however, I don't think I'll be disappointed. They seem to be at the top of their game -- check out Hallowed Be Thy Name from this DVD, which FULLY blew me away:
Watching this DVD also made me appreciate their 'Dance of Death' album from 2003, which sits between two of my favourites (Brave New World from 2000, and A Matter Of Life And Death from 2006) and which I had previously thought was shit. There are some real gems on there though, and whilst not as good as the other two abovementioned albums from this reunion period, it's certainly not the pile of horseshit that I previously thought it to be.
I've been reading about the cover, too, which I must say I never liked much. There's a bit of controversy behind it, as I've discovered is standard with Maiden's covers. The artist, Dave Patchett, who is responsible for the amazing Cathedral album covers, was hired to do the artwork for Dance of Death. What he submitted to them first was not quite what they were after, so they asked him to add some ideas to enhance it, which he did by way of very rough computer generated sketches. However, they like this dodgy rough version so much, they just released it as is (with the addition of some masks by a different artist) and didn't want Patchett to finish it. He was so unhappy with it that he subsequently asked to have his name removed from the credits.
Check out the original vs the unfinished-yet-final version and you'll see the problem. The figures aren't even anatomically finished, and check out that 'baby' kinda hovering above the dog. I can see the final version is more in keeping with his other work, but why didn't they just ask him to finish it off??
I've also read that their original and most popular artist, Derek Riggs, responsible for their best covers from the 80s, has now refused to work with them anymore, as they're too difficult. He had concepts for 'Fear of The Dark' and 'Brave New World' rejected, and decided enough was enough. Of course, they took bits of his Brave New World illustration (the sky) and used it in the final. You'd be pissed off I think.
Anyway, none of this detracts from the amazing live feast that awaits us on Saturday night. Up the Irons!! Scream for me Sydney!!!
Videos are starting to emerge on YouTube from the Led Zep reunion show from the other night. I've only had a chance to watch one of them (Kashmir), but it is amazing (and reasonably good quality too). Most surprising is the fact that Plant's voice sounds as good as it used to -- on recent albums it seemed to me that he didn't have the range he used to, but watching this has blown me away. How young and buffed does JPJ look, and how much like a wizard does Page look? I see he's abandoned the hair dye finally...
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It comes down to swindling their fans once more, and while this anti-establishment, angry, nihilistic attitude may have been a valid reaction to the times in 1977, it doesn't come off the same when the perpetrator is a middle-aged pot bellied rich bloke. It's really just theatre now, like an Alice Cooper show, which completely muddies their legacy and undercuts everything they once stood for.
Fuck I love the album, though. Nothing they do can take away from the raw expression that is 'Never Mind The Bollocks'.
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The 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME' World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20 selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia, opening in Perth on Feb 4 and continuing through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:
To tie in with forthcoming 2008 releases on DVD of the classic 'LIVE AFTER DEATH' and 'MAIDEN ENGLAND' concert videos (more details coming soon) this tour, aptly entitled 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME', will revisit the band's history by focusing almost entirely on the 80's in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which will be based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 'Powerslave Tour'. This will arguably be the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie.
Which band or artist which is no longer performing or alive would you have loved to have seen?
Submitted by Rev Stan.
Too easy, no questions in my mind. Led Zeppelin all the way.
I know that their shows would've been the best thing on the planet. If watching their career-spanning live DVD (titled 'DVD' - clever titles not needed for Zeppelin) gives even a suggestion of what they were like on a good night, then being there in the flesh would have blown my tiny mind. And in theory, I'd say that I would want to be at a show in around '75 when they were at the peak of their powers with 'Physical Graffiti', but the DVD shows that even on their last tour in 1980 they were absolutely mind-blowing. The versions of later material like 'In The Evening' and 'Achilles Last Stand' are out of this world.
I did see Page & Plant live in 1996 on their 'No Quarter' album tour, and it is still the best show I've ever seen (although The Who got close a few years ago).
Makes me want a time machine like Uncle Rico in Napolean Dynamite.
Cruised back into town on Saturday night after spending the week in Melbourne. Apart from catching up with family etc the main reason we were there was to see Snow Patrol and Howling Bells.
Let's get the unpleasant business out of the way upfront - the venue was a frigging dive. The Beatles played festival Hall back in '65 and my guess is it looks exactly the same today as it did then. My first comment as I approached was that it looked like an abbatoir - but when we got in it became clear that they couldn't possibly keep fresh meat in such shitty conditions. It was a hot day outside and absolutely stifling inside - before things had really even got going.
Then there was the 'leave your cameras at the cloak room' policy without the 'leave your mobile phones with increasingly high resolution cameras at the cloak room' policy to back it up, making the ban a complete waste of time and purely another example of the time-honoured power play that seems to occur between the venue owner/bouncer minority and the paying public majority. There's always some fucking stupid rule, especially at festivals if teenagers are the main audience.
BUT we were really close to the stage - much closer than we could've got at a better venue. And it was the music we were there for, which didn't disappoint.
The Howling Bells overcame the obligatory 'support band must sound worse than the headliners' mixing policy to deliver their fabulous songs to a surprisingly receptive audience. They got a fair cheer considering Snow Patrol's popularity is such that there would have been a high percentage of punters who were there for one thing and one thing only. Perhaps that should read one song only... The highlight for me was an absolutely rocking 'Low Happening' which closed their very short set. Their drum sound was earth shattering.
Snow Patrol kicked off with a few of the rockin' songs off Final Straw (Spitting Games, Gleaming Auction), which was a powerful way to open. The big 3 popular songs (Chasing Cars, Run, Chocolate) of course saw couples hugging and staring into each other's eyes as they sang to each other, something that would've seen me walk the hell out of there in my less tolerant younger days. But out of these 3, I really enjoyed 'Run' because the instrumental closing sounded intense. The singer was great with his between song banter, picking on one bloke from the crowd on several separate occasions like it was a stand-up comedy routine. Apparently he was giving him the greasy stare all night so Gary asked him why he'd bothered coming but commented that it was a wise move if he'd come with his girlfriend only to keep her from going backstage with the band... The musical highlights were 'You 're All I Have' due to the spine-tingling heart-vibrating power of the performance, and a haunting 'Set Fire To The Third Bar' which they rarely play but this night they used a local Melbourne performer to sing Martha Wainwright's part.
And our camera was returned to us by the dodgy 'cloak room' as we left, so a good night all round.
We're packing the family off to Melbourne next week to see Snow Patrol and Howling Bells at Festival Hall. Can't wait... I thought I would be most excited about Howling Bells, because I love them so, but I'm finding myself looking forward to seeing the Patrol more I think. It's because I haven't seen them live before, and because I reckon their songs are going to sound bigger and beefier live. Their songs hit me in the emotional sense due to their lyrics and melody, but I think we're gonna see a new element creep in that you don't get on the albums.
I'm hoping the Howling Bells set works in an enormodome, considering you wouldn't call their music 'stadium rock'. Last time we saw them was in a small bar with about 100 people tops and it was magic.
We're also braving the floor section, rather than seating. This is the sacrifice we're making to get closer, but we'll see how it works considering my wife is 5'2" and considering we don't enjoy being coated in the sweat of others...
