Iron Maiden 08/03 HP Pavillion

[El Dingo]

Hey DM - You working this? I'm going with my English mate.

Weird - I got into Maiden from working RM shows. Their shows were really fun and fans were awesome. Remember the one where GnR were supposed to open and Slash came on to say Axl was too wasted and refunds would be given to those who wanted to leave?

If I recall correctly almost no one left.

And that Maiden show was amazing.

EDIT: Actual show review

So my friend calls me saying we were invited to join a group of people he knows to carpool down to the show. I agree and we hook up with three other 40-somethings looking to collectively bang their nostalgic heads.

The Shoreline is packed with fans. The number and variety of Iron Maiden shirts was mind boggling. Easily 70% of the crowd were wearing band gear (myself and my friend included). The crowd was older (to be expected) and quite a few had brought their kids, from toddlers to teens.

Coheed and Cambria opened. They are a group from New York, heavily influenced by Rush, Maiden and Zeppelin but they did nothing for me. They played from 7:30 to 8:15.

After a lengthy stage setup Iron Maiden came out at 9:00. They played most of their popular songs, "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Run to the Hills", "The Trooper" as well as a spooky, fog-filled epic rendition of "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". They did one encore and left the stage at 10:40.

The show was too short for the library of songs they have at their disposal. Why they didn't do a solo 3-hour gig is a mystery.

The musicianship was stunning. Even at 50+ the guitarists fingers were just a blur on the fretboards. Bruce Dickinson's vocals slid effortlesly into high tenor ranges as he ran around waving British flags and fighting giant Civil-War zombies.

There were pyrotechnics and animatronics but apparently the stage was too small for their bigger props. Bruce egged the audience on to demand the giant flashpots set the place on fire so we can build a 'proper stage'. I'm sure the Shoreline staff loved that.

All in all we had a blast. They left the audience wanting more and supposedly that's a good thing.

Long live Eddie!

[Drunk Monk]

Rm got booted out of the HP with our last directorial change. They realized we didn't really bring much to the table for them.

[thatguy]

You probably all know that Dickinson's a big fencer and owns the Duelist fencing equipment company...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

He used to always stop by AFS when he was in town. We've met him, but rather idiotically, never took a photo.

If he's still in the game, he'll stop by Victory this time, and PPFY will be super cool about it, if he even recognizes him.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

He fenced at the club I fenced at here in LA. But they kept saying it along the lines of "this rock guy" would come in to fence Epee.

Who has seen the debacle of fencing on the "Today" Show promo with Merideth Viera fencing Matt Lauer. Oh, it hurts.

[Drunk Monk]

...but i do remember richard 'john boy' thomas fencing loni anderson for some talk show back in the day (merv griffin maybe?)

it was painfully stupid because loni claimed to be a fencer but couldn't really lunge - too top heavy. way too much target area to defend practically. she looked good in a fencing jacket tho...

[El Dingo]

Are you fucking serious?

Why is there not a movie about this guy? From Wikipedia about his aviation career:

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In mid-2006, Dickinson flew about 200 UK citizens home from Lebanon during the Israel/Hezbollah conflict.[103] On 12 February 2007, Dickinson was given permission to fly Rangers F.C. to Israel for their UEFA Cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv.[104] After the collapse of XL Airways UK in September 2008, he piloted an Iceland Express aeroplane and flew home 180 stranded holiday makers from Egypt,[105] as well as a Boeing 757 with a group of British RAF pilots from Afghanistan.[106] "A lot of them recognised him because they are Maiden fans, but he was there in his professional capacity as a pilot," says an RAF spokesman.[106] Dickinson flew Liverpool F.C. from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to an away European tie with S.S.C. Napoli in Italy on 19 October 2010.[107] Following Hurricane Irene in August 2011, Dickinson was one of the first pilots to be ready to fly out of New York.[1

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OK - If he asks nice I'll sit down for a beer with this man.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I met him a couple times at AFS (as Gene recalls). Nice, normal fencer-guy, really pleasant and smart. I did knock him out of a big SoCal foil tournament back in the day. I hope he drops by the shop.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

It's called "Iron Maiden: Flight 666" It details the adventures of him and his bands as he flied them around the world on a jet to their concerts. If they only fought crime while they did, I think it would have gotten a wider release.