Posts Tagged ‘iron maiden’
Nicko McBrain’s Titanium Tart / Velvet Sky / Maximum Friction, Sanford, FL, July 25, 2025
Haven’t posted in a while but this one was important enough to share here…
Let’s flashback to about 1983. I wasn’t playing drums yet but I wanted to learn and a big reason for that was hearing Piece Of Mind and Nicko McBrain. They were becoming and still are my favorite band of all time, not matter that I generally haven’t cared about anything they’ve put out since No Prayer.
Flash forward to early 1988. I’m 17, a senior with terribly poofy hair and acne and local music store Abbey Music announces that Nicko, my favorite drummer ever, was doing a drum clinic and of course I had to go.
There were only about 30 people there as Whitesnake was in town touring for the ’87 LP. I was one of 2 people who actually got to get up on stage and play his drums with him standing right there. It was awesome. I still have the pair of his signature sticks! During one of his rambles, he mentioned the size of the crowd being small due to Whitesnake being in town. Under my breath from the front row I said “Fuck Tommy Aldridge.” Nicko stopped his speech and said, “Steve, give that man a beer!” So his tech handed me an ice cold Heineken which I had Nicko autograph after the show as we were getting a photo taken. I still have that bottle, unopened and it’s all chunky inside. I didn’t drink at the time so there was no reason to open it. It was an incredible night.
Flash forward to just a few weeks ago and I see a post online about Nicko’s Titanium Tart playing 4 Florida shows and offering a meet and greet. I had to do it. I sent the info to Kelz and we got on a long phone call to discuss logistics. Just based on price point, I decided to fly into Raleigh where he is and we’d drive down to Sanford, FL. BUT…we wanted to make sure we were able to purchase the meet and greet which was to go on sale a couple of days later. We got the tix dnd I booked my trip and that was that.
Thursday July 24
Kelz picks me up mid afternoon at the airport, we chill at his place a bit then run out for dinner at a coney dog place called Cloos’. It was excellent. Back to his place to chill for a bit and watch a movie. We planned to leave at 7AM on Friday.
Friday July 25
We did leave at 7AM and because of some traffic issues along that way, we got to our crash pad right at 5PM. Luckily we were just a couple of blocks away. We dropped our stuff, freshened up and walked over to The Barn. That humidity was no joke. Once there we checked in and got our meet and greet swag and do our obligatory pre-show shot. Mine was just Coke.
First band, Maximum Friction, opened up the evening. They’re all young high school kids and play as a 3pc with the bassist handling vocal duties. They played all classic metal covers by Ozzy, Megadeth, Sabbath, Pantera etc and one original. They were pretty solid and reminded me of School of Rock type kids. Good on em.
Another 3pc called Velvet Sky played next. Both bands played a side room and I didn’t watch any of Velvet Sky.
Nicko’s band started just before 8PM on the main stage and we grabbed a spot near the front stage right in the VIP section. You couldn’t really see Nicko because of his kit size but we could hear him fine. In general I’d call the song selection meh but I’m sure they’re doing the songs that best fit his physical condition. He did as well as I’d expected, especially after seeing three shows from that last tour. I was stoked to hear Infinite Dreams. Partially disabled by his stroke or not, the man’s right foot is still devastating as he proved throughout the night.
He’d come out from behind the kit every few songs and talk, tell jokes, introduced the band etc. I stayed up in that area for about the first third of the show and moved to the back of the room. Knees were stiffening up and I needed to loosen em up and walk around a bit. Kelz left the VIP shortly after and we watched the remainder of the show back by the soundboard. Looked like about 200-250 folks.
Immediately after their set, the meet and greet folks were told to wait by the stairs to the upper level. They sold 50 of those packages at $75 a pop. We were in the last 10 or so to cycle thru.
It was billed as getting “one on one time with Nicko” and only one item to get signed. Uh yeah. I was gonna try and work some mojo and get two items signed: The Book and the photo of us from 1988 for framing purposes. Nicko would engage with the folks almost as much as anyone wished to. Some folks opted for a quick sig and a photo and some engaged with him more. It was nice to see altho it slowed things down a bit. We had nowhere to be, right?
Kelz is up first and I filmed their interaction. He got his main two things signed: a cool old Sonor ad from Modern Drummer and his Powerslave cd which already had sigs by Bruce, Adrian and Steve. Pretty sweet.
I’m up next and lay The Book out in front of him and he signed it. He was pretty indifferent about it but was digging our photo. I started recounting the events of that night and mentioned his former drum tech (RIP) and the Heineken. That affected him a little and he said he missed that guy. He said, “this must’ve been from 89” and I showed him the announcement flyer and explained it was Feb 1, 1988 pre-Seventh Son and that night was the first time I’d heard the title of the upcoming album. I asked if he’d sign the photo and he obliged. They had someone taking pics using our cameras and Kelz filmed most of my interaction with the man. We did the one main photo and he shook my hand and I asked him for a hug. He obliged and I told him in his ear how much I loved him and thanked him for a lifetime of music. He thanked me back and that was that. I was hoping to recreate our original photo as much as we could’ve but it just didn’t play out that way and I’m good with that.
My San Antonio buddy Ruben and his lovely wife Jasmin were right behind us and get their stuff signed. He also had Nicko sign his leg which hopefully got tattooed in today.
We collected ourselves after the surreal moments with Nicko and Ruben gave us a ride back. Our adrenaline was still up and we ordered in a couple of sammiches, talked about the evening a bit more and crashed out. It was a perfect night.
We drove back Saturday the 26th, it was a little over 9 hours coming back and traffic was light for the most part. We got back here at 6PMish and just chilled out for the evening with a couple of movies.
The expense and time of this trip was worth every minute and dollar spent. Getting Nicko in The Book was a pinnacle moment and I’m considering retiring it. As I’m writing this eating breakfast tacos Sunday morning here in Raleigh with Kelz, we’re still quite a bit in awe of meeting Nicko. Glad we got to share the experience together as Iron Maiden has been a major part of our friendship for over 40 years.
All hail Nicko and always Up The Irons! Forever.
Video of Nicko and me:
Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/titanium-tart/2025/the-barn-in-sanford-sanford-fl-4b4283ae.html
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!
The Who and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Concert Review, Austin, TX, April 27, 2015
My brother, Robert (RIP), had one favorite band and that was The Who. While he was the one who got me in to KISS, Alice Cooper, RUSH etc in the 70s, The Who was always top of his list. Through the constant record spinning in the 70s and 80s, I became and remained a fan. Anytime I hear one of their songs, it just punches me in the gut with his memory more so than any of the other bands that he influenced me with. He absolutely loved them and I am pretty sure he never got to see them. I had never seen them before last night either.
Typically when a ticketed show comes to town, I’ll buy 2 as seeing a show with a friend is typically a fun thing to do, but for this show, I wanted to see it alone.
In 10th grade we had to do a book report, written and oral presentation, and I had chosen Full Moon: The Amazing Rock and Roll Life of Keith Moon as a I was a big fan of his frenetic drumming. During the oral presentation, I hung my brother’s Live at Leeds poster behind me and had the tape of that show playing in the background. At the end of the report I quoted one of the last lines in the book which said (paraphrased), “To sum up Keith’s life, he basically upped and fucking died.” Take into consideration that this was a Catholic high school. Ms. Collins, who only lasted on year there, was pretty mousey and was appalled that I had “used such language” and sent me to the principal’s office. I didn’t go. I went to the library and listened to a cassette until the bell rang. The next day I ran into the principal, Sister Ethelreda, in the hall and she immediately had me follow her to her office. I took a pretty good tongue lashing from her about foul language in the classroom etc. I didn’t care. I hated that place and Ms. Collins, who pretty much only spoke to me when she had to for the rest of that year. haha. I ran into her at a mall a few years after high school and spoke to her for a few minutes. I think she was terrified of me.
I’m a pretty big Who fan and prefer their 70s and 80s material more than the 60s stuff. Face Dances, Who’s Next, By Numbers and It’s Hard are my faves.
So here we are at show day. After work I get a ride downtown, grab a happy hour beer then make my way to the venue. I had a pretty decent seat with a side view of the stage, which was perfect as I really wanted to watch their drummer, Zak Starkey. Zak is the son of Ringo Starr, but I couldn’t care less about that and I’m not a Beatles fan at all. BUT…Zak played drums on ASAP’s Silver and Gold album. ASAP stands for Adrian Smith and Project. Yes, THAT Adrian Smith. This is the album he released after leaving Iron Maiden and I think it’s an amazing record from front to back. Great rock album with Adrian on vocals and Zak’s incredible drum work. I highly recommend it.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were the openers and while I’m not much of a fan, she put on a really good show and opened with my favorite song of hers, Bad Reputation. She pretty much played everything you’d expect to hear plus a couple of new songs. Her voice sounded great and her band was solid. And before last night, I never noticed how gorgeous her eyes are. Looking at the closeups on the big screen monitors just had me captivated for a bit.
After about a 40 minute set change, The Who come on stage and open with I Can’t Explain and The Seeker. Either before or after the next song, Who Are You, they have to change out one of Pete’s amps. While they’re doing that, he mentions that Jeff Beck was in attendance. He quipped that there was at least one guitar player at the show better than him. It was pretty funny and his delivery was right on. They carried on with their playing through mostly familiar hits sprinkling in a few deeper ones like I’m One, Amazing Journey and Sparks. Eminence Front is one of my fave songs by them and they played it. It was great.
The whole show was great in general. Roger’s and Pete’s voices are still very clear and full of range and I was pleasantly surprised by that. They rolled through 22 songs in about 2 hours and no encore. Impressive for a band of their age. Pino Palladino was on bass. He’s a monster player overall but didn’t do all of The Ox’s runs which I thought was odd. Zak’s drumming was solid. Beastly even. He did a lot of cool stuff but I was surprised and maybe a little let down that he didn’t really do any of Moon’s signature licks. It was most noticeable to me in My Generation. Moon plays a mean shuffle on the ride cymbal in that song but it was nowhere to be found last night. But just getting to finally watch him play was a treat. He did do a few buzz rolls reminiscent of that ASAP album that were awesome.
I’ll admit to getting emotional a few times during the set thinking about my brother. I probably missed him more last night than I have since he died.
Click photos to enlarge.
Blaze Bayley Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 20, 2014
I found out last minute that former Iron Maiden singer, Blaze Bayley, was coming back to Austin again to play a couple of shows at the Anderson Mill Tavern. I’m still confused as to why he plays that far away from downtown, but I believe this was the third year in a row that he’s played there. I saw him last year at another strange place on the outskirts of town. With even a little bit of minor promotion they could easily have had a crowd at a downtown bar.
My lifelong friend, Kelz, got to town that night for a week long MitchFest and he was down for going to see it. We left straight from the airport to the bar. When we got there, the lady at the door said, “You came late but it’s still $20.” Ouch. There were maybe 20 people there. We walked in as he was talking to the audience and they went right in to Man On The Edge followed by The Trooper…and that was it. Wait. What? After a few short minutes, they came back out and played an obviously unrehearsed version of Wasted Years and that was that. It was similar to the version that they played last year, which was to say that it wasn’t good. Sorry. It was horrible. I’ll give Blaze credit that he works the crowd pretty good, like he’s playing in front of a huge amount of people.
The only real bright spot to the show was that AJ Pero from Twisted Sister was playing drums for these few USA shows. So of course I had The Book with me as well as the first 3 Twisted Sister CDs. We got to speak with him after the show and was in good spirits. We talked about the Sister 2004 show in Richmond, VA at an open air venue when a violent storm came up and they cleared the place. Sister came back out to about 1/3 of the original crowd and just killed it. He signed out stuff, took some pics with us and Kelz and I headed downtown for a beer at Jackalope before finally heading home. We had a busy week ahead.
I doubt I’ll see Blaze again if he comes to town unless he brings someone else that’s in The Book with him.
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- Blaze Bayley
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- Monkey Boy and AJ Pero
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- Mitch (aka Kelz) with AJ Pero
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- And so ends the first night of this Mitchfest at Jackalope. These pints were way better than the show.
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- AJ Pero is now in The Book
On this day in 1985…Scream for me, Long Beach!
I remember going to the Music Man at Military Circle Mall in 1985 to buy this. It was a rare trip in that I was out with both of my older brothers who were 21 and 23 (I was 15). Neither of them were living at home at the time and I don’t even really remember why we all went out together, but glad we did. The Music Man was a great locally owned shop in a mall in Norfolk, VA. I bought lots of stuff there over the years and even worked there 1991-1992. That was pretty special. RIP.
When Powerslave came out, it quickly became and still remains my favorite album of all time. Interviews from the tour kept saying that there would be a subsequent live album and that made me happy. What a live album it was!
Aside from hearing many of my favorite Maiden tracks, the liner notes were jammed packed with tour stats…all of the dates, drumsticks used, guitar strings used, etc.
Tonight I’ll watch the DVD…again. UP THE IRONS!
The Metal Files 
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