Any Iron Maiden Fans Here

[James]

Was wondering if there are any Iron maiden fans here? Their new album comes out today and I can't wait to get off work to pick it up at the record store here.

[IanB]

I saw them a few times back in the 80's, even before the first album, but I don't have anything after Number of the Beast.....I'm sure it'll be up to their usual high standard though!

Ian

[James]

Dude, you saw them back then? That is freaking awesome! I bet those were some great shows? The Number of The Beast tour back in 1982 was the first time I saw them. I was 15 years old.

[IanB]

The first time I saw Maiden was as a support band to Judas Priest on their British Steel tour, in London in 1980. That was a few months before the debut album was released. I tried to get hold of the Soundhouse Tapes EP but could only get the Praying Mantis one, the Maiden edition sold out too quickly! I do have a Japanese EP from 1980 called Iron Maiden Live +1 with Sanctuary, Phantom of the Opera, Drifter and Women in Uniform recorded at the Marquee Club in London, sadly no longer in business as it was a great venue for rock bands.....that first gig was just a few months after my first live concert, also in London....AC/DC on their Highway to Hell tour, with Def Leppard as support...I saw Leppard about 5 times before their first album, all in places with no more than a couple of hundred people, standing only, and we used to hang out and chat with them after the gigs! Joe Elliot sent us a postcard from their first US tour in the summer of 1980! I still have a signed poster from back then.....

Ian

[ALBATROS1234]

i saw powerslave tour, which is my favorite album.my second fav is number of the beast though but when i was younger i had all the early stuff from the first album with paul dianno up to somewhere in time. i lost interest after that but still to this day consider them to be the top 80s heavy metal group. some guys lumped them and judas priest together both being twin guitar groups with the high pitch vocals but even though i am also a priest fan iron maiden was much more intelligent in their approach imho. hell a teenage boy could learn things listening to them. lyrics were about mythology,literature,history, philosophy etc. a far cry from the garbage kids listen to today which actually diminishes their intelligence.

[James]

ALBATROS1234, on the new Maiden album there is an 18 minute song called Empire of the Clouds about the British Airship R101. I had never heard of the R101 before and when it went down in 1930, more people were lost that were lost on the Hindenburg 8 years later. Also on the new album a song called Death or Glory about the Red Baron/WW I Aerial combat. On their 2003 album, Dance of Death, Paschendale, another Maiden masterpiece. You are right, you can learn so much. I had never heard of Rime of the Ancient Mariner before I heard the song on Powerslave.

Ian, cool story about Def Leppard. I only liked their first two albums. Did you ever see Tygers of Pan Tang, Satan, Angel Witch, or Venom? My wife Christy and I saw Satan here for the first time last October. One of the best shows we've seen in quite a while.

[ALBATROS1234]

agreed "on thru the night" and "high and dry" are def leppards best, "pyromania" was "ok" but after that they became corporate puppets. i am interested in checking out the new maiden it just seemed that after powerslave they went for more catchy commercial angle like "can i play with madness" and "wasted years" not terrible stuff but definately not as progressive as powerslave,number of the beast etc. the reason i like powerslave is the way they played with scale modes phrygian and harmonic minor to get that egytian sound as well as the classical influence in "losfer words" and "the duellists". i think their playing was top of their game on that album.

[ALBATROS1234]

point is ,how have the albums since that time stacked up. was it a desperate attempt to make money or did they go back to their roots and play music for musics sake?

[IanB]

I never saw any of those as far as I remember. Witchfynde and Sledgehammer supported Leppard on one of their early tours, and I saw Weapon supporting Motorhead. A II Z was another of the early Brit metal bands that never made it but their singles were very powerful! The Tygers album "The Cage" is still one of my all time favourites.

Ian

[Cimmerian]

The first time I saw Maiden was as a support band to Judas Priest on their British Steel tour, in London in 1980.
Ian

I was there as well.  Seen them three times in all.

[ALBATROS1234]

thats great so 2 of our forum members were at the 1980 london priest/maiden show. you guys may have walked past and nodded to each other.

[Cimmerian]

thats great so 2 of our forum members were at the 1980 london priest/maiden show. you guys may have walked past and nodded to each other.

Quite possible. It was a good night, it was the second time I saw Maiden and the third time I saw Priest. Good times.