MAIN

ORDER

INTERVIEWS

LINKS

Score: 3 out of 5 Battle-Axes (more about rating system)

You may not like Mondays, but if you're Iron Maiden you probably like beer and copy machines even less. Maiden's four-night stand at New York's Hammerstein ballroom started out uneventfully, creating a small buzz over their recently-released album Dance of Death. Until show no.2, that is, which had to be cut short when some idiot in the balcony spilled his beer all over the soundboard. At Monday night's show Bruce talked about the event and made note of the tent that now protected the equipment from all things liquid. He also mentioned how Tuesday's upcoming show was in jeopardy because of a Xerox event that was planned for the same night. Guess who won and guess who had to cancel their concert? So, Monday wasn't such a bad night to see a Maiden show after all!

Sweden's Arch Enemy started the show with their blistering, brutal, and somewhat melodic brand of self-described "Pure F**king Metal." Angela Gossow sounded like a death metal veteran, growling out the unintelligible lyrics with a fury that would make any womens-lib group proud. Concentrating primarily on their latest album Anthems of Rebellion, the band played about an hour's worth of songs that, for the most part, went right over the head of the aging Maiden crowd. Pity, since Arch Enemy is one of the few extreme bands that a traditional metal fan might be able to get into. The Amott brothers' guitar riffs and solos were crisp and clear, while Daniel Erlandsson's drumming was at the same time precise and pummeling. Energetic tracks like "Silent Wars" and "Dead Eyes See No Future" from Anthems and "The First Deadly Sin" from Wages of Sin whipped the front of the crowd into a fury, but unfortunately registered a "these guys suck, where's Maiden?" from the beer-bellied set in the back. While their musicianship and sound quality was unquestionable, their lack of strong stage presence was probably what failed to generate widespread crowd interest. They were about five songs into their set before Angela finally greeted the crowd, and other than Angela's headbanging, bassist Sharlee D'Angelo created the only movement onstage. Also, they chose to focus on some of their more extreme songs, even though they have plenty of great songs with a lot of melody. Set-closer "Ravenous" was probably the best example of an Arch Enemy song that encompasses what they do best, and garnered the most interest from this "Madien-only" crowd.

After a brief interlude, Maiden hit the stage with "Wildest Dreams" from Dance of Death, with the energetic Bruce Dickinson running around in front of an eerie castle backdrop. This was probably one of the best Maiden stage sets ever, and Bruce incorporated plenty of Broadway theatrics into his presentation. More on that later. In the meantime, older fans were busy cheering when they next launched into "Wrathchild," a song many have never heard live, followed by the sappy-yet-nostalgic "Can I Play with Madness" and crowd favorite "The Trooper,' where Bruce cajoled the crowd with his overindulgent waving of a tattered Union Jack. As each new song was played, the massive backdrop between the two pillars of the castle displayed a new version of mascot Eddie that coincided with the song being played. As silly as it was, there was something exciting watching Bruce whip that flag around in front of the huge display of Eddie doing the same.

And then came the new stuff. Those of you that have been to any of Maiden's shows in recent years are probably familiar with their penchant for playing a lot of long songs. Really long songs. Well, the new album has a few of 'em, such as the title track "Dance of Death." This song was Act I of Bruce's 'Broadway audition,' and hopefully some Broadway producers were watching. For this song, he donned a Phantom of the Opera mask and black cape and pranced around the stage like it was Halloween. A few songs later came "Paschendale," also from the new album, which was Act II of Bruce's Broadway audition. For this gritty war ditty, he donned what looked like a WWI trenchcoat and helmet and sang behind a set piece of barbed wire and sandbags. A potentially cool idea, but the oversized coat and helmet that kept slipping over his eyes added a bit of unintended levity. At the very least, it was very entertaining!

"Rainmaker" and "No More Lies," also from Dance of Death, were some of the better newer songs, but 'long-song no. 3,' "Brave New World," was actually 'long-song one too many.' When "Hallowed be Thy Name" took the crowd by surprise, they were understandably a bit drained, and Bruce had to fight to get the crowd to really cheer during the 'scream for me Long Beach' part. "Fear of the Dark," much to my dismay, turned out to really get the crowd going, as did the over-played "Iron Maiden," during which Eddie, dressed up like the grim reaper, stomped around and tried to make a snack out of birthday boy Janick Gers.

Bruce's between-song banter was actually more entertaining than some of the songs. He certainly has a knack for connecting with the crowd, as when he discussed the beer spilling and Xerox issues. And his English accent was charming when he informed the crowd about the birthday of, in his words, "that sly ol' dog, Janick. Emphasis on the word old."

Then came the encore. So many encore-calibre songs left to play. Which ones would they choose? How about the acoustic "Journeyman," also from Dance of Death. A buzz-kill if ever there was one. "Number of the Beast and "Run to the Hills" were played as well as ever, but a bit anti-climactic. Still, it beats no encore at all (Saturday's show, thanks to the beer spiller) or worse, no show at all (Tuesday's non-show, thanks to Xerox).  (Steve Gottlieb)

www.ironmaiden.com

www.archenemy.com