- Aug 5, 2006
- 211
- 1
- 18
Oh man....where to start? I will do my best to be as brief as possible here!
Last week I finally had a chance to see Maiden on their home turf in London, on two consecutive nights! I've wanted this since almost as far back as I can remember...and it was nothing short of amazing!
Not only that, but I got to go with my brother, meet 150 or so diehard Maiden fans from the official forums, and be one off the rail first night...and ON THE RAIL in front of Davey on the second night...on his birthday! I even tossed a birthday card up on stage for him...hehe...which A roadie took backstage and I'm assured he would have given it to Dave.
Anyway, first night was a bit rough as the push was not really super strong, but it was constant and went left to right all over the place. The band were playing wonderful...and then...the sound went out...LOL. Seems that the main power line for most circuits running into the building, had caught fire...LOL! So...for the better part of 30 minutes, we were treated to the boys kicking a soccer/footy ball around stage, Adrian juggling, and Bruce on a megaphone. I'm proud to say that I started the first round of the Happy Birthday song to Dave...even though the next night was his birthday. We actually were kept quite entertained through it all.
Unfortunately, the push got even WORSE while the band wasn't even playing....WTF?!?! That took it's toll on me. I have asthma and it was so packed that I could not lower my arms to get my inhaler out of my pocket. So, I pushed back to about the 5th row of people or so, and used my inhaler. This was around the middle of Benjamin Breeg. Of course, this put me right next to the friggin mosh pit. Now, they can do whatever they want to each other and I don't care..but I wanted nothing to do with it, and couldn't get away from it. Even worse is, I was standing next to several small women, and they were getting thrashed by these idiots. I got so pissed off at this, that I just started punching them in the kidneys. It worked some, as some of them started intentionally avoiding my immediate area...LOL. A few first turned around to fight me, but upon seeing me, decided to apologize instead...LOL...classic! I'm quite sure a few of them were peeing blood after the show...and they fucking deserved it...LOL. So anyway, a few annoyances aside...it was a vey different and special night! Again...the band were terrific!
Now...night two...was fucking PERFECT I was ON THE RAIL directly in front of Dave, and in between two friends from the fan club. We spent the night taking care of each other. Jo on my left...she gave me a Dave guitar pic...and Daniel on my right, I gave him a Dave wristband I caught, since I already had one from Irvine. I have to say that I have NEVER seen the band more on fire, than this night. Steve was sweating already in the middle of the second song in the set. It was an unbelievably special night...and being on the barrier, made it much easier to deal with the push. I do not think I have ever had a better time at any concert ever, as this night.
Near the end of it, I almost teared up a bit because I realised that this was the last night of the tour...the best tour ever, I had just spent it with a ton of friends and my brother, I had done 4 shows in the USA and now these 2 in London, I received 5 Dave guitar picks (3 of which I gave away) and 2 Dave wristbands (1 of which I gave away), I am one of only two people I know that can say they saw the FIRST show where Maiden played an entire album...and the LAST show in which they did this. It was all coming to an end...and I got pretty emotional.
PLUS...some of you might remember that I allowed the airline to bump me from two flights coming back from the east coast part of the USA tour, and that gave me most of the money to fly to London for these shows. Well, on the way home this time...I let them bump me again in NY, and I now have a $400 flight voucher for the NEXT big trip to see Maiden somewhere!
After all the lofty goals I had for this tour...the only one I did not fulfill, was to come home with a Steve Harris wristband from one of the shows I attended. I'm a little sad about that, because my chances are getting more and more slim as the years go by....but that does not put the slightest damper on this amazing experience I just had, which started back in October in Hartford, and ended in London!
Thanks Iron Maiden...for being the greatest fucking band the world has ever seen, and being a part of a majority of the best memories in my life!
Last week I finally had a chance to see Maiden on their home turf in London, on two consecutive nights! I've wanted this since almost as far back as I can remember...and it was nothing short of amazing!
Not only that, but I got to go with my brother, meet 150 or so diehard Maiden fans from the official forums, and be one off the rail first night...and ON THE RAIL in front of Davey on the second night...on his birthday! I even tossed a birthday card up on stage for him...hehe...which A roadie took backstage and I'm assured he would have given it to Dave.
Anyway, first night was a bit rough as the push was not really super strong, but it was constant and went left to right all over the place. The band were playing wonderful...and then...the sound went out...LOL. Seems that the main power line for most circuits running into the building, had caught fire...LOL! So...for the better part of 30 minutes, we were treated to the boys kicking a soccer/footy ball around stage, Adrian juggling, and Bruce on a megaphone. I'm proud to say that I started the first round of the Happy Birthday song to Dave...even though the next night was his birthday. We actually were kept quite entertained through it all.
Unfortunately, the push got even WORSE while the band wasn't even playing....WTF?!?! That took it's toll on me. I have asthma and it was so packed that I could not lower my arms to get my inhaler out of my pocket. So, I pushed back to about the 5th row of people or so, and used my inhaler. This was around the middle of Benjamin Breeg. Of course, this put me right next to the friggin mosh pit. Now, they can do whatever they want to each other and I don't care..but I wanted nothing to do with it, and couldn't get away from it. Even worse is, I was standing next to several small women, and they were getting thrashed by these idiots. I got so pissed off at this, that I just started punching them in the kidneys. It worked some, as some of them started intentionally avoiding my immediate area...LOL. A few first turned around to fight me, but upon seeing me, decided to apologize instead...LOL...classic! I'm quite sure a few of them were peeing blood after the show...and they fucking deserved it...LOL. So anyway, a few annoyances aside...it was a vey different and special night! Again...the band were terrific!
Now...night two...was fucking PERFECT I was ON THE RAIL directly in front of Dave, and in between two friends from the fan club. We spent the night taking care of each other. Jo on my left...she gave me a Dave guitar pic...and Daniel on my right, I gave him a Dave wristband I caught, since I already had one from Irvine. I have to say that I have NEVER seen the band more on fire, than this night. Steve was sweating already in the middle of the second song in the set. It was an unbelievably special night...and being on the barrier, made it much easier to deal with the push. I do not think I have ever had a better time at any concert ever, as this night.
Near the end of it, I almost teared up a bit because I realised that this was the last night of the tour...the best tour ever, I had just spent it with a ton of friends and my brother, I had done 4 shows in the USA and now these 2 in London, I received 5 Dave guitar picks (3 of which I gave away) and 2 Dave wristbands (1 of which I gave away), I am one of only two people I know that can say they saw the FIRST show where Maiden played an entire album...and the LAST show in which they did this. It was all coming to an end...and I got pretty emotional.
PLUS...some of you might remember that I allowed the airline to bump me from two flights coming back from the east coast part of the USA tour, and that gave me most of the money to fly to London for these shows. Well, on the way home this time...I let them bump me again in NY, and I now have a $400 flight voucher for the NEXT big trip to see Maiden somewhere!
After all the lofty goals I had for this tour...the only one I did not fulfill, was to come home with a Steve Harris wristband from one of the shows I attended. I'm a little sad about that, because my chances are getting more and more slim as the years go by....but that does not put the slightest damper on this amazing experience I just had, which started back in October in Hartford, and ended in London!
Thanks Iron Maiden...for being the greatest fucking band the world has ever seen, and being a part of a majority of the best memories in my life!