Iron Maiden Concert Review, Denver, CO, April 13, 2016

What a week this has been. So many shows. I’m worn out but invigorated, especially after seeing my favorite band of all time, Iron Maiden.

When Maiden announced their North American tour some months back, no Texas dates were listed. Bummer. The closest show was Tulsa, but who wants to go to Tulsa? ha. Honestly I looked into the Tulsa show long after tickets had gone on sale, but nothing was available in a spot I’d want to see the show. So I looked into Denver. Oddly they still had plenty of GA floor tickets available as well as some decent seats on the side at the Pepsi Center. I chose the seats, booked an insanely super cheap flight/car/hotel and the plan was set. Maiden in Denver 2016.

As mentioned in a previous post, Night Demon and Visigoth had been staying with me and after their show in Austin on Tuesday night, I just stayed awake through the night as my flight out to Denver was scheduled to take off at 6AM. I hadn’t had much sleep all week and I was certainly starting to feel it by the time I boarded the plane. I couldn’t really fall asleep so I watched Charles Bronson’s Deathwish. Upon arrival at the Denver airport and getting my car, I headed into town. It was still really early so I found a cool little breakfast spot and chilled there for a little while. I went to the hotel around 10AM and my room wasn’t ready yet, so I just asked them to wake me up when it was ready. I dozed off on the lobby couch until 11 and they woke me up and got me checked in. I went straight to bed and got about 4 hours more. I really needed it.

After showering and getting dressed, I called for a Lyft ride to a restaurant near the Pepsi Center and had a good meal prior to walking to the venue. Austin pals Mike and Erik who came on the same flight had pit tickets and got in line early to be near the front. Once in the venue I went to the merch booth and got a tour shirt. Maiden’s shirts aren’t that great and they didn’t have a Denver specific shirt like they normally do in Vegas, LA, NYC and Texas.

Raven Age was the opener. The band features Steve Harris’ son, George, on guitar. I didn’t like their music at all but his son is a fine guitarist and the drummer was a bad ass. Musically it was uninspired hard rock that would sell well to the Hot Topic crowd. Several in the crowd seemed to like it but I found it hard to stay awake. After their set, I went back out to the outer hallway to just get some air and to people watch for a bit before Maiden took the stage.

Then through the PA comes UFO’s Doctor Doctor. My energy level instantly shot up and I made it back to my seat. The show wasn’t sold out and I had a spare seat on either side of me, so no one was crowded in our row.

Then the lights go down and a short video runs, then there’s Bruce standing in a white robe at the back of the stage and started singing, “Here is the soul of man, here in this place for the taking…”. He sang the whole intro to If Eternity Should Fail and the band kicked in with flames rising high from the stage. They sounded great! Bruce’s voice was on. They followed up with Speed of Light which Adrian seemed to have forgotten his intro part, so the band started without him and he just caught up. They were all smiles on stage and it was great seeing them be human. After the song Bruce teased him a little bit and H just laughed it off. Next up was Children of the Damned. Bruce introduced it with something like, “This one came out before most of you were born.” The crowd went crazy since it was the first of the classics to be played that night. Their setlist hasn’t varied a bit on this tour, so I know what to expect next which was Tears of a Clown, a tribute to Robin Williams. The Red and the Black followed and it along with the other songs from the new album all sounded great live.

Then came…The Trooper. I really can’t stand that song anymore but since they named their beer the same, it will never leave the setlist. Unfortunate. I sat through it.

Up next was Powerslave. Yes! Very glad to see that on the list again. So many memories from that album and flashes of listening to Live After Death as a kid ran through my head the whole time. It was awesome.

Two more new songs and then Hallowed Be Thy Name was up. Sweet. So good. Unfortunately Fear of the Dark was up next. I saw through that one as well and was subjected to the crowd singing along. So painful. That song sucks. Iron Maiden rounded out their main set and they blazed through it.

For the encore, they did Number of the Beast, Blood Brothers and Wasted Years. It was a sweet finale and I wish there was more.

Being in Denver, I expected Bruce to make a few statements and he did. “How many people here aren’t high tonight?” “What made the Mayan civilization disappear? Maybe they smoked too much weed?”

Overall the show was awesome. I wish they could have had a drum cam vid showing Nicko the whole show. Adrian and Dave’s solos were great and they still seem to enjoy what they do. Steve and Bruce did their thing, running around the stage full of energy. But I will still continue to bitch about Jannick Gers. What a fucking buffoon. He’s not even playing half the time, just running around the stage doing stupid fucking guitar tricks. When he did do a solo, it sounded the same as his others. No substance. Fuck that guy.

After the show I took a ride to 3 Kings Tavern for a couple of beers. I didn’t drink at the show. I ran into a fellow Austinite there and hung out for a bit, After that I went back to the hotel where the bar had about 15 folks from all over who came in from the show…Wisconsin, San Francisco, Virginia, LA, Jamaica. One of the guys caught a pick from Adrian and it said “Chapter One” which leads me to believe that there may be second US leg later this year. It was fun hanging out with them for a bit but the over the top Maiden nerdness started wearing thin and I needed sleep.

My flight out wasn’t until 9PM so I had the day to do some stuff around Denver. I had lunch with Gwen, a former coworker, they went up into the hills to the Buffalo Bill museum. Even the altitude there started to get to me a little. The grave site and museum were cool, though, and the scenery around lookout mountain was gorgeous. From there I popped into a record store. Didn’t find anything I needed. I then headed out east passed the Denver airport just to see the plains a bit. Pretty out there.

Finally turned my rental car in, shuttled to the airport, ate a nice dinner and had a couple of beers. It was a great trip. I watched Rumble Fish on the way home and got back to my house finally around midnight Central Time. I was wiped out.

UP THE IRONS!