HELLOWEEN - Metro Theatre 28/02/08

A blast from the past this one; 20-odd years ago I was enjoying Helloween's rousing Power Metal on albums such as 'Walls Of Jericho' and the two 'Keeper Of The Seven Keys' albums. Admittedly, they had fallen off my radar in recent years, though it must be said that this band has influenced countless others and have maintained a solid output over the course of their career.

Opening tonight with their seminal "Halloween" from the first 'Keeper...' album was a terrific way to begin the show, its 13 minutes of pure unadulterated twin guitar lead and operatic vocal metal got the crowd fired up and suitably in the mood. The band too seemed to be enjoying themselves on this their first visit to our shores and were hamming it up for all they were worth. Whilst obviously serious about their songcraft and playing, Helloween have never been afraid to laugh with and at themselves as the occasional odd diversion albums such as 'Pink Bubbles Go Ape' and 'Rabbit Don't Come Easy' (don't the titles just say it all?!) can attest.

Singer Andi Deris was in fine voice, both on his recorded material and the earlier tracks, with one of the latter, the anthemic "March Of Time", being a firm favourite for me and, it seemed, most of the crowd.

After an extremely enjoyable 45 mins, however, things unfortunately turned sour as yours truly was felled by a headache out of the blue of the kind of jackhammer-in-the-skull variety that renders one practically incapable of remaining upright. I certainly don't suggest that the music was the culprit as I have never in my life had music of any kind cause a headache, but much as I tried to shake it off and enjoy the remainder of the show, it was too strong and I had to take my leave. So much as the gig was for me, at this point this review becomes truncated. Let me say though, on an "up" note, that even after only 45 mins I felt I had got my money's worth and I hope to have the opportunity to catch this enjoyable outfit the next time they grace us with their presence.

(Bad quality phone camera photos, I know, but better than nothing.)

IRON MAIDEN (+ Behind Crimson Eyes + Lauren Harris) - Acer Arena, 09/02/08

The last time Iron Maiden were here was on the back of the 'Fear Of The Dark' album in the early '90's and they played the 5,500 capacity Hordern Pavilion; all these years later and they are playing two nights at the 21,000 capacity Acer Arena - testament to the staying power of one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music (heavy or otherwise) and to the loyalty of their fanbase, many of whom had brought their young children along tonight.

Opening the show was Lauren Harris, daughter of Maiden bassist Steve. Far from earning her place on this tour through daddy's blind nepotism, Lauren proved her worth with an upbeat and rocking performance. She has a strong voice and stage presence; showing plenty of spunk she projected well, even in such a large venue, with her band backing up ably. By the end of the set it appeared as though most of the early crowd had been won over. The songs were enjoyable if not yet entirely unique, however what is unique is a young woman breaking into music with a hard rock sound as opposed to the more common pop/r'n'b/urban style favoured by most; more power to her.

There was another support act tonight, however I took the opportunity during their set to enjoy a drink in the bar area. Unfortunately this didn't stop me hearing a fair portion of their awful set including the worst version of Motörhead's "Ace Of Spades" that I think I've ever had the misfortune of hearing. Their tragic emocore name Behind Crimson Eyes pretty much sums up their sorry state of affairs and just as they were booed from the stage last night, they'll receive no link here from me. (I mention their name only so you know what to avoid.)

After an impatient wait the house lights finally dimmed and the most deafening roar I have heard from a crowd in a long time threatened to lift the roof clean off the venue. The video screens treated us to a short video montage of the band's journey and arrival on their own specially commissioned Boeing 757 'Ed Force One' which is carrying band, crew and gear on this tour and being piloted by vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Then the familiar voice of Winston Churchill rang out intoning his famous "We will fight them on the beaches..." speech and in a flash the band were amongst us launching into "Aces High". The youthful energy displayed by these six - let's face it - middle-aged men put bands half their age to shame. Dickinson bounded back and forth between the drum riser and the front-of-stage monitors, Harris bounced around, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith threw shapes and Janick Gers danced, twirled and flung his guitar around while up the back Nicko McBrain pounded his kit relentlessly whilst appearing relaxed and making it all look so easy.

This being the "Somewhere Back In Time" tour, focusing on the '80's Dickinson albums, the stage set was designed to match and was very impressive. Mainly based around the original 'Powerslave' set and featuring amps hidden by walls bearing hieroglyph designs, Egyptian sarcophagi (with glowing red eyes, no less!) and runways around the back and both sides (which Dickinson made great use of), the design also incorporated artwork from 'Somewhere In Time' and 'Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son' on an impressive array of interchangeable backdrops. Dickinson also treated us to several costume changes: a red jacket and flag for "The Trooper", a tattered shawl for "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" and an African mask for "Powerslave" and in addition picked up a fan-made "Eddie" mask thrown onto the stage, put it on backwards and proceeded to dance about strangely. However, even with all the movement (which rarely let up) his voice lost none of its power and he hit all his notes. Eddie himself (a towering cyborg version) made an appearance - as traditionally - during the band's eponymous track, lurching across the stage pointing his raygun and "fighting" with the guitarists.

I got the sense that the band were somewhat awed by the reception afforded them tonight - at one point where Bruce appeared to be intending to speak between songs, he was unable as he was met with a deafening roar which didn't let up for several minutes. And of course every time he called "Scream for me Sydney!" the response was thunderous. In fact, we were told that we had provided the warmest welcome of any crowd in any city in the world at any time and unlike such comments often made by bands, this sounded genuine. This is a band of incredible musicians who were all in fine form and who appeared to be truly enjoying themselves; when you consider the number of times they must have played these songs by now, I'd say that's something rare and special.

We've been promised that we won't have to wait another decade and a half to see Maiden again and I look forward to the opportunity to witness some material from other eras of their long and distinguished career as even though they appear to be affording themselves some greater comfort on the road at this stage of the game, they don't appear to be ready to hang it up yet by a long shot.

Setlist (correct me in the Comments if any are out of order):

01. Intro - Churchill's Speech / Aces High
02. 2 Minutes To Midnight
03. Revelations
04. The Trooper
05. Wasted Years
06. The Number Of The Beast
07. Run To The Hills
08. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
09. Powerslave
10. Heaven Can Wait
11. Can I Play With Madness?
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Iron Maiden
-----------------------------------------
14. Moonchild
15. The Clairvoyant
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name

Edit: See Jason's comment below regarding "Run To The Hills" & "Can I Play With Madness?"

This show was well worth the wait and I recommend that anyone looking for a truly enjoyable, world-class performance check them out upon their return, especially if for one reason or another you were unable to see them this time around.

Up the Irons!

(Atilla has some pictures from the show here.)

SHIHAD - Factory Theatre, 08/02/08

Shihad have always been one of my favourite live bands, their energy and passion for "the rock" being infectious like a virus. Born frontman Jon Toogood tonight is the wiry ball of energy he's always been and he makes the comment that he's missed playing live whilst the band have been away recording their soon-to-be-released new album 'Beautiful Machine'. The rest of the boys also appear in great spirits, Karl Kippenberger in particular grinning and grooving around his basslines all night.

Firing out of the blocks with their traditional opener, the title track of their watershed album 'The General Electric', has the crowd involved from the get-go and Toogood encourages the continuation of that involvement for the several new songs that are aired, with commendable success. The new material sees the band bringing some of the, dare-I-say, "pop" elements to the forefront of their sound without sacrificing their unique edge. It is, of course, the 'General Electric' material that receives the biggest response with the crowd arm-waving ("Pacifier"), bouncing ("Wait And See") and shouting along ("My Mind's Sedate") with great abandon.

It is brought to our attention that the band are celebrating their 20th year together ("who'd have thunk it") and so as a special treat we were given an incendiary version of "Screwtop" from the band's debut 'Churn'. This was a special moment for me having been turned onto the band with that very album and missing that material as it has been left out of the band's live set for some years.

Live favourite "Home Again" and first encore "Run" are highlights and with a performance that saw both Toogood and guitarist Phil Knight climbing on their monitors and Toogood diving into the appreciative crowd their really was not a dull moment. It's good to have them back.