Brush with greatness

[CrankYanker]

Since we’re all Iron Maiden fans here, I thought it might be fun to have a thread with any stories about meeting the band, by chance or otherwise.
With all the talented musicians on this messageboard, maybe some have a few good ones. I know that picture of Jeff Milne with Bruce on the website is worth a 1000 (or a few) words. I’m just a regular average fan, but here’s mine (I swear this is all as it happened and not some reflection of my warped mind staring back at me.):

At the time IM had done a few LA club gigs over the last few years, small clubs by IM standards. This was before Bruce rejoined the band, and about a week after they had played in LA. (I had seen them the time previous, but had missed this time around. Racking my brain to try to remember the exact timeframe, maybe May/June of ‘97 or possibly ’98. A SoCal IM historian out there might be able to help me out with the exact dates.) Anyway, a sunny Sunday afternoon in Newport Beach, about 5 o’clock. I was at the laundromat, with my clothes in the washer. Looked outside and saw 3 people on the sidewalk chatting as they walked past the door. A woman in a sundress and a taller man in jeans & t-shirt were on either side of a dark long-haired guy wearing a blue tanktop and blue soccer shorts. Tattoos on this guy’s arms were instantly recognizable from all the photos. No way! It couldn’t be! I hurried outside to get a closer look. Now about 5 feet away, I was sure it was him. Now 10 feet away… I have to say something! So (not too loud, still just in case it wasn’t) “Hey Steve!” All 3 people stopped and turned around looking at me- some beach dude that interrupted their stroll. It was Steve Harris! Now he’s looking at me. (Oh no, mind is racing, all kinds of thoughts: been a fan for years, know every word to every song you’ve written, seen so many shows, what the hell are you doing here? can I have an autograph?-no pen, and a dorky request from a 30 year old anyway) He’s waiting for me to say something else, but what? Instinctively, I just flash him the 2 fingers of the metal sign and say “Rock on!” All 3 of them chuckle, Steve gives a smile and says “Thanks.” They turn and continue their stroll, and I went back and put my clothes in the dryer in utter disbelief.
Happy Birthday Steve!

 

[Bruce Chickinson]

That's a great story Crank...and I love your avatar...great show.

Mel...tell your "meeting Bruce" story...

 

[Jeff Milne]

Except for Adrian Smith, I've met every member of the current line up of Iron Maiden. Although no one seemed to notice it, the shirt I wore to the first Eddie's Girlfriends event is autographed by everyone [besides Adrian Smith] who played on the Somewhere in Time CD. Mostly I met them before and/or after small shows. For those of you who haven't met him, I can tell you that Nicko is even uglier up close. I also got Bruce to sign my copy of "Lord Iffy Boatrace" the novel he wrote.

 

[Keyser Soze]

you lucky sod...
I have an autographed copy of Iffy... but I never met the man...

 

[CrankYanker]

That's a great story Crank...and I love your avatar...great show.

Thanks Chickinson, it was one of those brief moments of life, about 5-6 seconds, that is never forgotten.

My TV must be broken cuz Comedy Central is the only channel that seems to tune in. I'll have to fix it so as to catch Livin' Large this weekend.
Knock 'em dead out there Maidens!

 

[CrankYanker]

Except for Adrian Smith, I've met every member of the current line up of Iron Maiden. Although no one seemed to notice it, the shirt I wore to the first Eddie's Girlfriends event is autographed by everyone [besides Adrian Smith] who played on the Somewhere in Time CD. Mostly I met them before and/or after small shows. For those of you who haven't met him, I can tell you that Nicko is even uglier up close. I also got Bruce to sign my copy of "Lord Iffy Boatrace" the novel he wrote.

Very cool! and funny comment about nicko!

How is Bruce's book? Does he have any talent as a novelist?

 

[Jeff Milne]

It's been years since I read it, but I seem to recall the book being reasonably good.

 

[BraveNewWorld]

I had met all of the members of Iron Maiden on the Piece OF Mind Tour at The Philadelphia Spectrum in 1983. They headlined with Fastway and Bon Jovi (you read that right) opening for them. After the show me and my friend Mark thought we would cap off the evening by indulging in smoking a bit of..well.. you know..(those glorious days of missspent youth) before catching the train home and then proceeded over to the loading area of the arena. There were about 30 or 40 people hanging out and we were just checking out he tour buses and rigs. I remember the one bus saying "Nobody You Know" Anyway,we were getting ready to split and Maiden comes strolling up the driveway from the rear of the arena. All of them and a few roadies. I couldn't believe it!! People were dumbfounded and didn't know what to do (myself included) and the band were shaking hands and signing autographs an so on. I shook all their hands and really couldn't speak. I said to Dave Murray'' Mr. Murray I think you are a great guitarist'' and he said''Thank you very much" I asked him if he had a guitar pick I could have and he reached in his pocket and gave me one. I was speechless. He said '' See you next year"" I said every year!! One of the coolest days of my life.
I had also met Bruce by chance at Tower Records in Philadelphia while he was promoting his Balls To Rembrant or ummmm Balls To Skunkworks
no Balls To Picasso! No ...I was just kiddin. I go in to buy a CD and he was just standing there talking to a few guys. Nobody even showed up for him. I went to shake his hand and he held out his left hand, which I had only seen done by an old martial arts instructor, and I stood back a little because I know he did it to keep his right hand free in case he might have a bad encounter with someone. He looked me right in the eye on that one and said ''How you doing mate. I said good. He asked if I wanted an autograph and I said no thanks. We talked about his upcoming tour and Roy Z his new guitarist at that time. I was buying a Marillion cd at the time and he said how much he liked that band. He was actually the only person I had met at that time who had heard of them! He mentioned he was going to see The Eagles play in Texas and that was more of his speed. We actually talked for about 20 minutes or so. He asked me questions about the some of the historical sites in the city and I gave him some info. He is very educated and articulate. And actually not very tall either!! None of them are. Nicko was actually the tallest out of them. Anyway that is my brush Maiden greatness.

 

[Bruce Chickinson]

Awesome...that's what I've always loved about the way they've carried themselves...intelligent....classy guys!

 

[Red Shirt]

I created a "What's your best maiden moment" thread a looong time ago on the bb. Seems to have been purged now. Anyways, there were some really cool stories on that too. I think it was both Linda and Mel that had great stories. Linda's was something like hearing Clive Burr's name paged at an airport and she walked over there and presto, there he was. I've not personally met any of them (damn!) yet. But, I was lucky enough to have been in one of their pictures in an IM biography (the first one that I know of - from about 1990). The picture is from the Powerslave tour - Irvine Meadows (last show of that tour). I'm in the front row, can't miss me. Not as cool as meeting them, but still cool.