Famine's Review (8/5/00 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY):
As excited as I am to have the opportunity to stand in for the mighty Abyss (I heard he has shaved his head and joined a monastery), I would rather have had the opportunity to stand by his side at this legendary show - one hand on a beer and the other in the air, horns to the sky.Back in the olden days, it was a common occurence for bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Queensryche to sell out huge venues while on blockbuster tours. But who would have thought that in the year 2000 we would see Iron Maiden, Queensryche and Rob Halford hitting the road together?
As I sat on the train into NYC to catch the opening show on Maiden's Brave New World tour at Madison Square Garden, I couldn't help but reflect on the first metal show I ever attended. It was, in fact, Iron Maiden at this very same venue on the Somewhere In Time tour. This show is what cemented my love for heavy metal. I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of that set and there was no turning back. Iron Maiden were the masters.
"It fucking smoked! Iron Maiden is back and it ain't no oldies show!" Unfortunately, I missed the Ed Hunter tour, so prior to the show I wasn't sure what to expect. Based on the high quality of Brave New World, I was pretty sure that Iron Maiden was back in full force. I hoped that Maiden would come out and tear it up with a set list comprised of all my old favorites taking me on a trip down memory lane. What really happened was even better. Iron Maiden busted out with a set of tunes that was so heavy on recent material that they could barely get a classic in edge-wise. What's good about that, you might ask? I'll tell you. It fucking smoked! Iron Maiden is back and it ain't no oldies show! Maiden made it very clear to me that their recent material is every bit as relevant as the tried and true. Why should it be any other way? Iron Maiden are still the masters.
Highlights of the set included "Ghost of the Navigator", "Sign of the Cross", "Brave New World", "The Wicker Man", "Dream of Mirrors", "Fear of the Dark", "The Trooper", "The Number of the Beast", and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". The only song that was mediocre was "The Clansman" and even that is an epic track that the band should be proud of. I can't even begin to list all the songs I would have liked to see, the Maiden catalog is just too deep.
The energy, talent and stage show at this performance were second to none. The show absolutely buried other shows I saw on the Fear of the Dark and X-Factor tours. I actually went to this show thinking of it as the Iron Maiden/ Queensryche/ Halford show, and I left thinking of it as the Iron Maiden show with two killer openers. Maiden could have easily pulled a Metallica and taken new-school pop acts out with them on the road, but instead they propped up their peers, Queensryche and Halford.
"Queensryche is playing for the metalheads on this tour." Queensryche is an amazing band. I really love everything up to Promised Land. It seems that they have had a hard time deciding who their audience is over the last couple of albums, however. Although I think this is unfortunate, I have a sense that I understand the position they were in. They were a metal band with a mainstream audience. When the mainstream goes one way and metal goes the other, what do you do? Like many bands before them, I think Queensryche continued to try to sell albums to the mainstream. And they failed their metal audience miserably. I can't tell you where their heads are at today, but I can be sure of one thing: Queensryche is playing for the metalheads on this tour. They are doing the opposite of Maiden and digging back into their catalog to dust off the songs that made them great. The execution was spot-on and Tate's voice is still one of the best in the business. Queensryche are great musicians. I hope that one day they will bestow us with another metal classic. Highlights of the set included "Queen of the Reich", "Walk in the Shadows", and "Take Hold of the Flame".
I am very glad that Rob Halford has decided it is OK to be metal. The new album, Resurrection, is less of a new start for Halford as it is a return to his roots. I have to admit that I missed a good half of his set. I busted ass to get to the show on time, but (unless my war-torn ears are mistaken) I heard the band taking the stage from outside the venue. Although the Metal God leaving his mark on Manhattan is a pleasant thought, I wanted to be inside seeing his return to glory. As I made my way through seemingly endless hallways at MSG the sound of metal grew clearer. I made it to my seat in time to catch the very mediocre "Cyberworld". Then Halford moved on to Priest classics "Electric Eye", "Riding On The Wind", "Breaking The Law" and "Tyrant". Halford's pipes are in fine form and his band performed admirably. Like Queensryche, Halford knew who he was playing for that night and took us on a nostalgic journey. I can only wonder what could happen if Halford and the Priest boys would patch things up and make some new music together. After having seen both Judas Priest with Ripper and (new Halford same as the old) Halford solo, I am drawn to the conclusion that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. I think Rob knows this. I hope that Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing get a chance to catch Halford's live set so that they can come to the same conclusion.
"I can only wonder what could happen if Halford and the Priest boys would patch things up and make some new music together." Overall, this show was one of the best and most important that I've ever seen. Not only did it mark the return of some of heavy metal's greatest heroes, but also the return of the fans. This show reportedly sold out the Garden in less than two hours - faster than any other Maiden MSG show in history. The people that bought those tickets were obviously very, very hungry for true metal and it showed. As I looked around MSG that night I saw thousands of screaming fans from the front row to the nosebleeds with devil horns up and grins ear to ear. The energy was far greater than even that amazing Somewhere in Time show back in 1987. Metal is living large, let's hope it lasts.
Up the Irons!
Famine
Death's Review (8/5/00 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY):
It would have been very difficult to design a show that I would get more psyched for than this one. A Saturday night, in Manhattan, first night of the U.S. tour for Maiden, Queensryche's first gig with the tour, the day after we posted reviews of Halford's Resurrection and a show which carried the promise of hearing lost Priest classics like "Stained Class" live. In short, an unusually high-profle show featuring three of my favorite heavy metal vocalists of all time. It doesn't get much better than this!
I'll admit it: part of me will always be stuck in the 1980's. It was the decade when I learned to love metal. And I don't think true eighties metal has been as hip as it was last Saturday night at the Garden since the passing of New Year's Eve '89. Long hair, metal shirts, and massive beer consumption was the order of the evening. Warbling vocalists, dual guitar leads and epic lyrical scope dominated the night. A feeling of metallic brotherhood hung in the air.
"It would have been very difficult to design a show that I would get more psyched for than this one." While unabashed, reactionary nostalgia reigned, the show still somehow seemed quite relevant to the modern scene. The collective media lens was focused on Maiden, the Garden, and on heavy metal, and that, in and of itself, was something to be proud of. Even wandering the halls gave me the sense of a high-level gathering of the tribes. Amidst the large crowd I encountered random metal luminaries like Overkill's Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, adding to the aura. Yes this was the evening for Madison Square Garden, New York's central pop- cultural showpiece venue, to celebrate heavy metal. This was a big night.
Cynthia was kind enough to let us swill a few and chow pizza at her place before the show. Unfortunately, we lingered too long looking at Milwaukee Metalfest photos and listening to work tapes of Jersey power-metallers Cyrcle IX's new material while I hyped myself up for the show by polling everyone on their favorite of the three vocalists we were to see that night. My only excuse: Famine was making a rare NYC appearance, so some quality time spent drinking beers and talking metal was almost required. Of course, I admittedly dicked around out front while others went inside, and yes, I was late to the show.
A piece of advice: do NOT be late for this tour. My ticket said 7:30. I walked in at 7:55(ish) and I was listening to "Tyrant". Have you ever shown up late for a show at one of these big arenas and hear the band playing as you run through the halls of the venue looking for your section, and it's just killing you that you are not in your seat watching the show? If so, then you know how I felt. I finally got there, and I sat down and watched the last half of god-damn-motherfucking "Tyrant". One of my favorite songs. Musashi tells me Halford also did "Riding on the Wind" (another personal favorite), but no "Stained Class," and no other real surprises (I guess he wasted precious set space on the excrutiatingly overplayed "Breaking the Law" as well). So it was not the perfect set by any stretch, but I am still horrified that I missed it. Anyway, I had to move on.
"Looking out across a sold-out 15,000 -plus audience with lighters lit throughout, and the sea of people shouting back 'Take Hold!' on cue each chorus, I felt like all was right with the world." So I grabbed a beer and waited around for Queensryche. They came on quickly, it seemed, and began a brief set which was infinitely more satisfying than the questionable song selection displayed on the east coast leg of the Q2K tour. This night we heard "Walk in the Shadows," "Queen of the Reich" (when was the last time they played that live?), "Take Hold of the Flame" and "Eyes of a Stranger" back-to-back-to-back-to-back to end the show! "Queen of the Reich" took me back to the very roots of fist-banging power metal and prog. The Garden audience loved it better than almost anything else in the set. I was in Rychean heaven.
Then came the absolutely brilliant "Take Hold". I love that fucking song, and looking out across a sold-out 15,000 -plus audience with lighters lit throughout, and the sea of people shouting back "Take Hold!" on cue each chorus, I felt like all was right with the world for a change. For me, this was one of the night's most classic moments.
Then came Iron Maiden. "Wickerman" led things off, and an incredible energy was apparent from the opening riff. Of course, Maiden were in full form, and they attacked the stage from note one with Bruce tumbling around like an Olympic gymnast half the night, albeit a gymnast wearing a cut-off-sleeved denim jacket just like the one in the "Wickerman" video (does VH1 play this video on every Rock Show? Just curious.) Everything was, once again, larger than life, although I suppose nothing can compare to the quasi-religious experience of last summer at Hammerstein on the Ed Hunter tour, when I had no idea whether the band was even still good or not. Sure, I suspected, but when Maiden burst out with "Aces High" (last summer at Hammerstein, not last weekend at MSG), I experienced magic on a level that, frankly, I did not expect. At the Garden, I expected it.
And Maiden delivered. "Ghost of the Navigator" ruled, solidifying its position as best overall track on the new record. "Brave New World" was majestic, as was "Dream of Mirrors," which came across as an "Infinite Dreams" or "Still Life" for the new millennium. After three killer opening numbers from the new album came the barrage of old favorites: "Wrathchild," "2 Minutes to Midnight," "The Trooper," "The Evil That Men Do," the always-better-live "Fear of the Dark," "Iron Maiden," "Sanctuary," "The Number of the Beast," and "Hallowed Be Thy Name." Maiden even busted out with the best of the Blaze records, "The Sign of the Cross" and the very long "The Clansman." I find it curious that they chose to skip the Somewhere in Time record but couldn't miss Virtual XI (to be fair, both Blaze tracks went over well, and are good songs). But I was glad to see that they respected these tracks enough to allow them to live on in the Maiden set post-Blaze's departure.
"Halford, Tate and Dickinson sold out MSG and didn't sing "Living After Midnight," "Silent Lucidity" or "Run to the Hills". In my book that's pretty cool." In fact, song selection was one of the more interesting themes to come out of the evening for us veteran followers of metal history. Think about it: in 2000, Halford, Tate and Dickinson sold out MSG and didn't sing "Living After Midnight," "Silent Lucidity" or "Run to the Hills". In my book that's pretty cool. In the end, this night was everything it was cracked up to be and completely satisfying. The show was billed as one of biggest singular occasions in U.S. metal history of recent years and it lived up to the hype. And just think, middle America: now we're all jealous of you because you'll be seeing Maiden in the coming weeks while we just enjoy the memories. Let me be the first to call for a second U.S. leg in the Spring.
Hel's Review (8/5/00 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY):
I apparently have issues when it comes to getting to shows on time to see the opening acts. I fucked it up again this time. I walked in during the last song of Halford's set "Tyrant". And the worst part some crazy old usher was yelling at us for not all sitting in the EXACT seat our ticket said. Sheesh. What I did manage to see was great, but it was not nearly enough. Damn, damn, damn!
I had no choice but to just get over it and look forward to the rest of the evening. Queensryche came out with a rousing set. The truly good news of the night was that since they are touring behind their greatest hits album, they're doing that material. This translates into more old favorites than new shit - the perfect ratio! I have to be honest their older heavier stuff is their best. Hopefully the band will realize this, and give us a heavier album next time. For now, be happy this is a great set, performed with a lot of energy.
"Queensryche came out with a rousing set." But nothing compared to Iron Maiden this night. There was no question who this night was about. Their stage set was enormous, with even the stage itself covered with artwork. They pulled out all the stops, everywhere imaginable. First of all, they were all running around the stage like teenagers. If you saw them back in "the day" you can be assured each and every one of those antics is still in place.
As I said, the staging was huge. On each side, Bruce could slide down to the front of the stage by hanging onto a wire. Not only did they have the Brave New World backdrop, they also had no less than two others. They brought Eddie down on a cross, he came out "in the flesh" and battled with the band a bit, and showed up in wicker form to be "burned". This is an all out production.
The set list is pretty all-out too. Heavy on the new material but that's why they're touring now, isnt it? Plenty of old favorites too, and quite a bit different than on the Ed Hunter tour. They sounded fantastic, and displayed tons of energy for the first American appearance of the tour. And we got a big speech from Bruce about our role in Metal. Extremely moving, but inappropriately followed up by the mellow "Blood Brothers".
"Iron Maiden sounded fantastic, and displayed tons of energy for the first American appearance of the tour." They pulled out a couple of Blaze-era tunes as well, and it was very cool to see and hear Bruce do them the Bruce way. They pulled out a couple of true epics in full length, and that was very cool, too. All in all, I don't have a damn thing to complain about that isn't my own damn fault. This is a tour worth seeing.
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