First of all, I'm not going to post a setlist since you can find that on Metal Setlists. It obviously has been well anticipated since the setlist thread was started yesterday morning about 12 hours before the show. There shouldnt be anything in my description below that should give anything away that most people would already know or expect.
Wow, what a show. I haven't seen Maiden since 1985 in Greenville and had never seen Alice Cooper. I dragged my wife along to this one and she is not a heavy metal fan but enjoyed the show. Very surprised by how well Alice Cooper did. His pitch was great and they actually did a pretty good job mixing it. Needless to say, it had lots of the anticipated weird and creepy props and he played most of his classic hits plus a few that I had not heard. Very good set.
The Maiden show was superb. We had great seats 12th row center. Only a few complaints on the mixing Bruces voice was barely audible the first couple of songs and the drums were a bit loud. They got that straightened out and then it seemed they overcompensated the bass a few songs but finally seemed to settle in. I still think they could have had Bruces mic a little louder because it was hard to hear him singing sometimes. The setlist was, as everyone knows, heavy on the Seventh Son songs. They did a great job with the remaining songs, although 2 of my favorites were left out. One big surprise song for me about halfway through the set that even had my wife clapping and cheering and I think it took the crowd a little off guard (from a positive perspective). They had a fairly simple stage setup and basically a different backdrop for each song played plus a variety of props and pyro. Maiden started right at 9:00 and finished at 10:50. Bruce commented on the fact they had not been to Charlotte since 1988 and he announced the crowd at 14,000+ which is pretty good for Charlotte for a weeknight. These guys all looked like they were having a blast, especially Nicko who never stopped grinning, but Dave seemed wiped out by the end.
So, all in all I was extremely pleased with the set and it was well worth the money.
Okay, one tiny little ***spoiler*** below but I think everyone knows this one will be played. Ill skip a few lines but had to mention it since it was funny.
After we got in the car after the show, my wife wanted to know what the song
Can I Play With Matches? was about.
Wow, what a show. I haven't seen Maiden since 1985 in Greenville and had never seen Alice Cooper. I dragged my wife along to this one and she is not a heavy metal fan but enjoyed the show. Very surprised by how well Alice Cooper did. His pitch was great and they actually did a pretty good job mixing it. Needless to say, it had lots of the anticipated weird and creepy props and he played most of his classic hits plus a few that I had not heard. Very good set.
The Maiden show was superb. We had great seats 12th row center. Only a few complaints on the mixing Bruces voice was barely audible the first couple of songs and the drums were a bit loud. They got that straightened out and then it seemed they overcompensated the bass a few songs but finally seemed to settle in. I still think they could have had Bruces mic a little louder because it was hard to hear him singing sometimes. The setlist was, as everyone knows, heavy on the Seventh Son songs. They did a great job with the remaining songs, although 2 of my favorites were left out. One big surprise song for me about halfway through the set that even had my wife clapping and cheering and I think it took the crowd a little off guard (from a positive perspective). They had a fairly simple stage setup and basically a different backdrop for each song played plus a variety of props and pyro. Maiden started right at 9:00 and finished at 10:50. Bruce commented on the fact they had not been to Charlotte since 1988 and he announced the crowd at 14,000+ which is pretty good for Charlotte for a weeknight. These guys all looked like they were having a blast, especially Nicko who never stopped grinning, but Dave seemed wiped out by the end.
So, all in all I was extremely pleased with the set and it was well worth the money.
Okay, one tiny little ***spoiler*** below but I think everyone knows this one will be played. Ill skip a few lines but had to mention it since it was funny.
After we got in the car after the show, my wife wanted to know what the song
Can I Play With Matches? was about.
But given the noise during intermission, I could see how Zekeyou sounds like Mosquito. It was good to meet you to finally. I ended up running into a few other PP'ers and even managed to hand out some PP business cards as well. Here's hoping!
