Iron Maiden
The last few months have been an amazing ride attending classic metal shows with my almost 17 year old son. We saw Mötley Crüe’s final concert in Portland, Oregon in December and AC/DC (with Brian Johnson) in Tacoma, Washington in February. But on this night, it was a chance to see my favorite and the rulers of heavy metal mountain for most people, Iron Maiden at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington on Monday, April 11, 2016.
After waiting in the t-shirt line (all shirts were $40, unless you were XXL or XXXL, they were $45… yes, an extra $5 because you’re old and fat or maybe our 80’s metal heroes know we probably have more cash at this point in our lives), we waited in the security line for what seemed like a lifetime, but at least we knew nobody was going to smuggle in a flare gun… more on that in a moment, and we were entertained by the drunk woman next to us worried that her “titanium p%*$y” may not pass the security wand.
Once inside and with only minutes to spare, we rushed to our seats to catch the opening of Iron Maiden in the Northwest on ‘The Book of Souls’ tour. The new record is killer and their 16th album may be one of their best. The first two songs on this tour are the first two songs on ‘Souls’ and consistent with what they have done on previous tours… remember they opened the ‘World Slavery Tour’ in 1984/85 that was recorded for the ‘Live After Death’ album, with “Aces High” and “2 Minutes To Midnight,” the first two songs on ‘Powerslave.’
Back in their 1980’s hungry days, Maiden played nearly every city, including the Tacoma Dome on February 10, 1987 on the “Somewhere On Tour’ tour, but this was the first time they had played the Dome since the ‘Brave New World Tour’ in 2000. Early in the show, singer Bruce Dickinson mentioned their history playing the Tacoma Dome, referencing a time when a soldier who had brought a flare gun, fired it into the air and that set the ceiling of the building on fire. Funny thing is, this really did happen, but it was during an AC/DC concert there in 1983.
Dickinson told the audience they would be playing a few songs from the new album and a few “legacy tracks,” including for the first time since the ‘Somewhere Back in Time World Tour’ in 2009, their performance of “Children of the Damned.” This was followed by two more songs from ‘Book of Souls,’ “Tears of a Clown” (the band’s take on the life of late comedian Robin Williams) and “The Red and the Black.”
As soon as the stage backdrop changed to the iconic image of Eddie clenching the British flag in his bony hand, the energy of the crowd of 16,000+ in attendance rose dramatically as Maiden launched into “The Trooper.” Considering his age (57) and his recovery from throat cancer last year, Dickinson sounded amazing, and you could really hear him, as the volume on his microphone seemed to be much louder than the guitars and drums. This was my only critical point of the show, in that some of the energy of the songs was lost from the instruments compared to Bruce’s voice.
The only song played from 1984’s “Powerslave” was the title track, but that was fitting with the ancient Mayan temple stage theme. This was followed by two more new songs, “Death or Glory” and “The Book of Souls,” during which a 12-foot tall Eddie (dressed like a Mayan warrior) walked about casually on the stage and chased the band members. Guitarist Janick Gers ran between Eddie’s legs multiple times and then got in a slap.
As great as their new music is, Iron Maiden know their fans will not be satisfied with just that and while skipping some classics that most bands could not get away with (“Flight of Icarus”, “Run to the Hills”, “Revelations”), they ran downhill to their heyday for the final six songs, including “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Fear of the Dark” and “Iron Maiden.”
They returned for encores, “The Number of the Beast”, “Blood Brothers” and “Wasted Years.”
There is nothing quite like an Iron Maiden concert and the next generation agrees… My son and I really enjoyed this one. Until next time, ‘Always look on the bright side of life.’
Ed Force One Lands At Sea-Tac Airport
Launching a new month and Spring Break for me starts now, but the 80’s metal rolls on 24/7 on METAL SHOP.
Here’s a 2-minute readup on this mostly Fool-free Friday, April 1st.
There is nothing to contradict the earlier reports of Axl Rose guest singing for AC/DC on the remaining 10 scheduled tour dates, so we are accepting it as fact. This article lays out the evidence quite nicely.
For Axl’s other band, all signs point to a sneak-peek GUNS N’ ROSES warm-up show tonight at a Los Angeles club. The exact location is also unconfirmed, though several sources point to the Troubadour. This will be the first time Axl appears on stage with both Slash and Duff McKagan since 1993.
History tells us David Lee Roth quit VAN HALEN on April 1, 1985, but history is wrong. Roth left the band in 1985 and the idea of him springing this news on April Fools’ Day makes for a great story, but the truth is Eddie delivered the bad news in the pages of Rolling Stone in August, “The band as you know it is over,” he said. “Dave left to be a movie star. He even had the balls to ask if I’d write the score for him.” Eddie then made clear that he’d moved on. “I’m looking for a new lead singer … it’s weird that it’s over. Twelve years of my life putting up with his bulls–.”
AC/DC Guitarist Angus Young celebrated his 61st birthday yesterday (3/31). Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach turns 48 on Sunday (4/3).
Of course it’s “All Fools’ Day,” an Elizabethan smart-mouthed play on “All Saints’ Day” and if you’re a fool for classic metal, you may have bought this headline today, ‘Metallica to stage Master Of Puppets… on ice!’ courtesy of teamrock.com… hopefully only for a second. This April Fool’s prank was definitely better the headline posted on Loudwire ‘James Hetfield Quits Metallica to Join the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’
That’s a wrap. Updates during my Spring Vacation will have to come between beers, but rest assured, I’m on top of it 🙂 Upon my return, the IRON MAIDEN tour will be in my neighborhood… can’t wait! In the meantime, I’m enjoying this great footage from Wednesday night’s New York City stop – Click Here
Rock on kids!
Welcome to WTF Thursday. Rumors persist that Axl Rose will perform with AC/DC as a guest vocalist for their 10 remaining shows, but this sounds like a done deal with Malcolm Young’s son claiming ‘It’s True.’ Another source says Brian Johnson was “supposed to retire after the last tour.” Official word should be coming any day or minute now.
40 years ago this summer, KISS’ Gene Simmons discovered VAN HALEN and recorded several demos with them, including Eddie and Alex playing KISS’ “Christine Sixteen.” Those recordings have never seen the light of day. Simmons says “It’s a lot of cool stuff, but the band just doesn’t want it to come out — you know, the back and forth with [David Lee] Roth complicated matters.” While there is no official release, you can hear the demos online at this location – http://www.vhnd.com/2016/03/22/gene-simmons-talks-lost-seventies-van-halen-demos/
METALLICA’s “Master Of Puppets” is among the albums that have been selected for induction into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, which annually selects 25 recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old. The selections for the 2015 registry bring the total number of recordings on the registry to 450, only a minuscule portion of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of more than 3 million items.
On considering the possible end of IRON MAIDEN when Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with cancer, bassist Steve Harris said “At this stage of our career, I really don’t think we would have looked to another singer. We didn’t even consider it. There’s no point. We can’t really replace Bruce anyway, so we wouldn’t try at this stage in our career. I don’t think so. But, thank God we didn’t need to and he’s fine.” Harris went on to say “If Maiden ended tomorrow, it’s been amazing and I can live with that.”
This sounds like an Onion article, but this headline was seen on a metal website yesterday – “MÖTLEY CRÜE Reunites As ‘Motley Crew’ To Avoid Retirement Contract”
Today in 1979, MOTÖRHEAD paved the way for thrash with their second album ‘Overkill’
Happy Birthday to Exodus singer Steve Souza. He turns 52 today.
The 80’s metal runs loud and proud on METAL SHOP 24/7. Thanks for listening!
No more Mr. Nice Guy dogs. It’s coming down fast and it’s coming down hard. Thanks for listening to METAL SHOP.
The major metal news outlets have not confirmed, but this site posted yesterday that a ‘source close to AC/DC confirms singer Brian Johnson was fired.’ Comedian Jim Breuer feels ‘really bad’ about invading AC/DC’s privacy last week when he said Brian Johnson was “kicked to the curb” by the band, but the report from United Media Publishing claims “everything Mr. Breuer originally said is basically the truth, in a roundabout way.”
The informant, speaking out only under the condition of anonymity, says it’s his loyalty to Brian Johnson as to why he’s risking his job by speaking out. He says Brian is a “fab guy and has been treated like shit. He does have hearing issues but not as serious as they’re saying. This was just an excuse to fire the guy, basically.” The insider also denied claims that KROKUS singer Marc Storace was contacted by the band’s record label to possibly replace Johnson.
The source said lead guitarist (and sole remaining original member) Angus Young has narrowed the search down to two or three guys, all relative unknowns outside of their respective countries, putting to rest rumors of a possible mashup of classic rock royalty. “They’re not well known names. The band never considered any big name vocalists to replace Brian. I think they wanted to find a fresh new talent. The plan is to decide on the singer within the next couple of weeks, maybe sooner, reschedule the tour and get back out on the road as if nothing’s happened.”
METALLICA released audio of ‘The Four Horseman’ from the remastered edition of ‘Kill ‘Em All,’ coming out April 15th. The quality is excellent, but probably too clean. Maybe new fans will appreciate this, but I still get most excited hearing the energy and raw sound of the original that got me hooked in the first place. Have a listen – Click Here.
After a major runway accident in Chile, IRON MAIDEN’s Ed Force One has been repaired and will rejoin the tour today in Brasilia. While Maiden had continued touring South America without it, it’s good news if you hoped to get a glimpse of the plane when they come to your town.
Maiden’s third album and first with singer Bruce Dickinson, “The Number of the Beast,” was released today in 1982. The album cover was originally created for the song “Purgatory”, but was deemed too high a calibre of artwork for a single release and it was saved for The Number of the Beast album instead. The original 1982 artwork includes a blue sky in the background; this was a mistake by the printers of the album cover, and was later rectified and became black when the album was remastered for compact disc in 1998.
ANTHRAX released their big breakthrough album “Among the Living” today in 1987. It features the singles, “I Am the Law” and “Indians” and was dedicated to the memory of METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton.
SCORPIONS were forced to cut short their concert in Hamburg last night because of a “viral infection” affecting the voice of the band’s lead singer, Klaus Meine. The band reportedly performed for about thirty minutes before calling off the rest of the gig. It is not clear if Meine will be well enough to take part in the next performance scheduled for Wednesday in Leipzig.
An official announcement is expected today, but there is speculation that former GUNS N’ ROSES drummer Steven Adler will join the big reunion. Stay tuned.
‘How’s the lad?’ and welcome to the wearing-o’-something-green edition of ‘How’s it going there’ in 80’s metal.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day, so below is a video performance of ‘Whiskey In The Jar’. THIN LIZZY’s version came out in 1972 and METALLICA’s cover of Thin Lizzy’s version was released in 1998. Since neither came out in the 80’s, I flipped a coin and Thin Lizzy won, so “whack for my daddy-o, there’s whiskey in the jar-o” to light up your day.
Seems everyday there is something new in the AC/DC guest singer saga. Now comes word that vocalist, Rob Liotti, who was chosen by filmmakers to portray the late Bon Scott in a biopic, has apparently had contact with the band about replacing lead singer, Brian Johnson. Liotti says “yes, I will confirm that I have had contact with the band – both directly and through third parties close to the AC/DC camp, but that’s really all I can say.”
Last week, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist KK Downing said he would only consider a return to Priest if they embarked on a “greatest metal tour” with other giants of the genre, IRON MAIDEN and BLACK SABBATH sharing the bill. Well, Priest frontman Rob Halford says he loves the idea, saying “I think that’s the dream of a lot of people, to imagine Maiden and Sabbath and Priest and Led Zeppelin. Can you imagine what that would be like at Wembley? Oh my God! It would just be mad. It would be like multiple nights. Forget about 50 shows that Michael Jackson didn’t do. It would be 100 shows at Wembley. So, yeah, it’s great to hear that there’s that passion still in KK’s voice for Priest.”
A petition has been launched to erect a statue of RONNIE JAMES DIO in his birthtown of Portsmouth, New York.
On this date in 1984, VAN HALEN’s ‘Jump’ peaked at No. 1 in the U.S. Over the years David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics, but most often says they are about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building.
Happy Birthday to Bob Bohtelo listening to METAL SHOP in California.
That’s a wrap. Make a little time to party today or a lot 😉 and thanks for checking in here, made even better by your comments and updates! “Have a drink on me” Metal Dogs! And have a Sham-ROCKIN’ St. Patrick’s Day!
Happy Friday! The 80’s metal is non-stop on METAL SHOP because you deserve a good ass kicking, and you know it.
On this date in 1983, QUIET RIOT released their third album “Metal Health,” the first heavy metal album to reach the top spot on the Billboard 200. QR went on a tour the same year, opening for BLACK SABBATH. The title track is known by a number of slightly different names. It was simply called “Metal Health” on the original vinyl release, but most subsequent reissues of the album on other formats call it “Bang Your Head”, with the phrase ‘Metal Health’ in parentheses, either before or after the “main” title.
Today in 1983, HELIX also released their third studio album “No Rest for the Wicked,” featuring the single “Heavy Metal Love.” After a long run as a standard bar band, they changed their image to a more image-conscious metal band and were finally signed to Capitol Records after being rejected by them three times.
METALLICA is working on a new album and it may be done this year as Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone, “We’ve gotta finish the new record now. But thankfully we’re quite far along. Hopefully we should be able to knock that on the head this spring, I would guess. So we will be gearing up and playing shows and doing all that fun stuff again soon.”
JUDAS PRIEST is releasing a new concert DVD from last year’s “Redeemer Of Souls” tour later this month. Checkout a performance clip of ‘The Hellion/Electric Eye’ from that disc posted yesterday at this location – Click Here
Happy Birthday to former PANTERA Drummer “Vinnie Paul” Abbott, who turns 52 today and Happy Birthday to IRON MAIDEN Bassist Steve Harris, who turns 60 tomorrow (3/11).
For most of us in the U.S.A. and some parts of the world, we have the inexplicable duty this weekend of making sure that every single timepiece in our realm is changed, by force or by programming, to Daylight Saving Time. This is a highly unpopular and pointless mandate. The government wants us to eat our broccoli, but they have no problem with depriving us of that precious and vital thing called sleep?
Thanks for checking in! Look forward to reading your interesting updates and comments. Enjoy your abbreviated wknd!
Well, most of us figured this was AC/DC’s final tour this year anyway, but yesterday’s news that they have postponed the rest of their U.S. tour as singer Brian Johnson faces “total hearing loss,” was a shock and felt like another rock star death.
Johnson has revealed that he burst his eardrum racing cars without earplugs. “I heard my eardrum burst because I forgot to put my plugs in under my helmet,” he said, “Music had nothing to do with it … I was dizzy, my middle ear had gone, and I took my helmet off and there was blood coming out and I’d burst my eardrum.”
This story was on my local news channel this morning with the headline ‘Brian Johnson will never sing again.’ I don’t know why, but reality really sunk in for me right there that this is the end for the legends from down under.
I saw AC/DC on the current tour last month and I am glad I did, but it’s a bummer that Johnson and the band couldn’t go out on their own terms. Take care of yourself, Brian.
Happy Posthumous Birthday to former IRON MAIDEN Drummer Clive Burr. He would have been 59 today. Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Maiden in 1979 (coincidentally at about the same time Bruce Dickinson joined Samson). He played on their first three records: Iron Maiden, Killers and The Number of the Beast, and co-wrote the songs “Gangland” and “Total Eclipse.” Burr died in 2013 due to complications related to MS. R.I.P.
Happy Birthday to Adejola Olivera listening to METAL SHOP in São Paulo, Brazil.
For Those About To Rock, We Salute You!
Welcome to a Monday. We’re those old fuckers that play those old heavy metal songs. METAL SHOP rolls out kick ass 80’s metal and hard rock 24/7.
All your favorites are always in the mix, including IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, METALLICA, DIO, MÖTLEY CRÜE, MEGADETH, QUEENSRŸCHE, SCORPIONS, RATT, SLAYER, and more.
Listen also for the new ANTHRAX… ‘Evil Twin’ is coming up soon. The new album ‘For All Kings’ is excellent and cracked the U.S. Top 10 in its first week of release to land at position No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart.
In a recent interview with vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS, he said “we’re not considered one of the [so-called] “Big Four” [of 1980s thrash metal, which consists of METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX], and I hate that phrase. METALLICA is by far the biggest band in the world, so to put the other three in that category? No disrespect to MEGADETH, ANTHRAX or SLAYER; I love all of those bands, but I lived in the Bay Area when metal was being born, and everybody wanted to be like EXODUS. That goes from POSSESSED, LEGACY, DEATH ANGEL. It was not necessarily METALLICA, it was EXODUS. So, to me, that was the band that innovated and started it out.”
Checkout this video an IRON MAIDEN fan uploaded of the official and bootleg merchandise stands at the band’s March 3rd concert at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City. METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel noted that in Las Vegas, the official merchandise booth was out of control. In Mexico though, not a soul is buying a t-shirt inside the venue but if you go outside it’s a whole different story.
Former ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider is currently on tour where he is performing ACCEPT songs one last time before he closes the chapter for good, saying “I wanna close, like a book, and say, ‘Okay, that’s it. I read it.’ Sometimes you have to come to an end with something. I wanna close up everything with ACCEPT. Click Here to read more and see video footage from Friday’s show in Jyväskylä, Finland.
Happy Birthday to Linda Jarota listening to METAL SHOP in Pennsylvania, Chris Hiles listening in Washington State, Tony Nicholl listening in the U.K., and Jorge Zorrilla Diaz listening in Peru.
Have a good one all and stay dry out there.
Hello again 80’s Metal lovin’ friends. Today is a big-time landmark day because today in 1986, METALLICA released what many consider the greatest metal record of the 80’s and maybe of all-time, ‘Master of Puppets.’
Rolling Stone notes the album still sounds as powerful today as it does fearless. It was also written in only eight weeks. The first song Metallica wrote for the LP was “Battery,” followed by “Disposable Heroes.” The only songs that weren’t complete by the time they got to the studio were “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “Orion.” Originally, they’d hoped Rush singer Geddy Lee would produce the LP, but he was unavailable due to time constraints.
The title track is so popular it surprises Lars Ulrich, saying “when I listen to ‘Master of Puppets’ now, I just sit there and go, ‘What the fuck? How do you do that?’ It’s very gutsy music.” Former bassist Cliff Burton said in 1986 that it was Metallica’s “best song yet.”
Did you know Lars used another band’s drum on ‘Master of Puppets’? Def Leppard’s Rick Allen had been in an accident that resulted in him losing his left arm and wasn’t using his snare at the time, so Lars asked, “Can you send it over? They just overnighted it.”
Ex-JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing says he would be open to reuniting with his former bandmates on the occasion of a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. Even better he said “is to schedule a massive tour featuring of BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN and PRIEST. I think we would all love to see that. “It would be something I would have to be part of,” Downing said. “Only because I’d like to see the greatest heavy-metal tour happen because it’s never happened. And it’s never gonna happen. Unfortunately, that chapter of history won’t be there forever, which is kind of sad.”
SLAYER guitarist Kerry King may have temporarily lost his mind or may be a little delusional when he said in a recent interview that Iron Maiden and Metallica are ‘living on past success’. Although he did admit that Slayer is, to some degree, resting on its laurels. Not sure what to make of this.
SAVATAGE Guitarist CHRIS CAFFERY is joining METAL CHURCH for their upcoming tour.
That’s it for now. Find out the latest by visiting the METAL SHOP website or follow on Facebook or Twitter.
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Oh, it’s good to be back from the dead. Less than 24 hours ago, a major Internet outage knocked thousands of radio stations off the air, including METAL SHOP and HAIR BAND RADIO. All are back now, so your days and nights can again be filled with 80’s metal and hard rock.
It appears the outage may have effected everything else as well because it’s been a slow news day. However, I did come across this interesting interview from last month with SLAYER and EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt, who was asked about how he previously admitted he was a fan of RATT with thrash and glam metal being enemies in the ’80s. When asked why Ratt in particular stood out as opposed to other bands from the genre, Holt said: “The talent! Warren DeMartini is one of the best guitar players on Earth, with some of the best riffs. His solos are incredible. So I mean, I think that’s where it starts. A guy like me, who was raised since the birth of thrash metal and hair bands were like our common mutual enemies, we all secretly coveted all of George Lynch and Warren’s licks! They’re both phenomenal guitar players. And the bands are great because they had those guys writing such awesome stuff and they had the chops to play it. And you know, the guitar tone…everything like that was just killer. it was some super good stuff that I didn’t appreciate till later in life. I always appreciated the soloing aspect. But you know, now, you listen to the opening riff of ‘Lay It Down’, and it’s just brilliant.”
Regarding his current gig with Slayer, Holt says, “I Still Come Out On Stage Trying To Make Jeff Hanneman Proud; It’s Still His Band Now”.
Happy Birthday to Anvil singer and guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow. He turns 60 today. The band’s documentary film ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ revealed “Lips” often had other jobs during Anvil’s career due to the band’s continual lack of success since the late eighties and the lack of income it had produced. He has worked as a truck driver for a catering business and despite it being often physically demanding and ‘backbreaking’ work, he has spoken positively of his job and lifestyle, saying “I’ve raised a family, I own a home, I’ve lead a great, “normal” life, which is something that you just can’t do if you’re a monster star your entire life. Working the other jobs allowed me to go out and play across the world and do whatever I like, but when I come home, I get to be normal again.”
Former AC/DC Bassist Mark Evans is also turning 60 today. He quit the band in 1977 after becoming tired of touring.
On this date in 1981, IRON MAIDEN released the single “Twilight Zone” from the album “Killers” and today in 1984, the classic mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” was released. Probably no surprise that much of the dialouge in that film was ad libbed.
That’s all for now. The metal is flowing on a Wednesday, so it’s off to a good start. Rock on brothers and sisters.
