Iron Maiden.

Nynex Arena, Manchester

Thursday 14 December 2006

Another group for whom this is the “second time round”: I went to see Iron Maiden on 9/12/03, which seems like only a few weeks ago, but may as well be half a lifetime ago now.

Nothing new needs to be said about Iron Maiden which wasn’t said in the review for the afore mentioned concert. They are by no means the most original of heavy rock bands and are certainly perennially in the “Blokes Only” adventure story category, but since the waning of Deep Purple and the disappearance and extinction of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, they have bravely carried the banner of traditional British hard rock virtually single handedly for what seems like decades. The tragedy now that The Darkness seem to have broken up is that Iron Maiden will just have to continue to plough their lonely furrow as seriously as ever.

Since the earlier concert I have embarked on a project of getting most of their stuff on CD (as opposed to vinyl, which I already had) and consolidating on it – thus especially over the last summer I have had many a happy Iron Maiden listen. I think a result of this is that I am even more convinced and appreciative of their importance in rock history than ever. Lo and behold, in the last few months they have released a new album called “A Matter Of Life And Death”, and this event, little did I realise it, was to have an ominous bearing on tonight’s concert. It is a serious work full of epic, grandiose pieces which belies Iron Maiden's growing fascination with prog rock, with vast sweeping panoramas telling of the senseless and futility of war, interspersed with some ruminations on religion and the meaning of life. They certainly still fit into the "Blokes Only" category, but this is serious stuff for blokes who like to think and ponder heavy "meaning of life" questions, not for blokes who want to have a few quick beers before getting back for Match Of The Day. To put it another way, this album is something that Rush, Jethro Tull or early Genesis could have attempted, rather than Saxon or Judas Priest.

It is hard, as a life long rock fan, to go against what Iron Maiden have achieved, and one certainly can’t gripe at the value for money and pleasure that they have given over the years. I have bought the new album and have been very impressed with it up to now and I have no doubt that I might start to think of it as one of their best efforts. What I didn’t expect was for the whole thing to be unceremoniously shoved down my throat, without so much as a bye you or leave me. Yes, it’s a good album, with good production, some fantastic riffs and solos, and doubtless some epic and noble themes – but I’m sorry, all of it in one sitting was just too much. It was like going into your favourite restaurant, being given everything on the menu and happily tucking in – only to end up feeling dreadfully sick and bloated at the end of it. The crowd seemed to enjoy the fare that they were being served up, but it only took the first classic to be played after the new album stuff to show exactly what they really did want. It put me in mind of Robert Plant’s concert, when he had the arrogance to force feed us a load of tired sounding blues tracks from his latest album, rather than a good diet of the Led Zeppelin classics that the crowd had paid for. My regret is that because of having to leave ten minutes early to catch public transport (due to my car being off the road) I probably missed the best bit of the night. They had played “ Fear Of The Dark” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name” which were brilliant and put the new album stuff in the shade, and were probably about to start off on “Run To The Hills”, but sadly I had to pay a high price for that ten minute start.  To put another slant on it: in June next year I am going to see Roger Waters and he is due to play the whole of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” – it could be argued that Iron Maiden are only doing what he is planning to do- but “Dark Side…” was released 33 years ago and even I’ve known it for 25 years or more – but “A Matter Of Life And Death”, released only two or three months ago really needs a good deal more acclimatisation time before being given such reverential treatment.

Anyway, enough moaning and negativity. I’m sure that the group look on the album as a “concept album” and thus deserving of such treatment. I’m sure that their motives were genuine, and, with slight reservations, they certainly put in a heck of a performance. I sometimes get the feeling that concerts like this must start to feel a bit like “another day in the office” after a while though, and I just felt there was a whiff of this tonight. It was as polished and professional as you could expect, but maybe there was just a little something missing. The sound was nice and loud as expected, but it couldn’t compete with the standards that Rush had set. I enjoyed the full scale tank on stage at the end, and not the least because Bruce Dickinson brought in the self deprecating remark about the 17inch high Stonehenge in “Spinal Tap”.  I’m still not sure what Janick Gers is doing in the group though, because his only activity seemed to be to strike outrageous rock guitar poses – I couldn’t see that he was actually playing most of the time. Also, good as “Doctor Doctor” is, and however well meant as a tribute to UFO, I think that after three years they could think of some different intro music.

I’m sorry if this review looks like a  hatchet job. Believe me, it isn’t. Iron Maiden generally put in an excellent performance, but the whole of the new album was just too much to swallow in one go. Maybe in years to come this tour will take on a legendary status, but at the moment I just thought it was a bit too much of a good thing.