Concert Review - Iron Maiden @ Irvine Meadows Amphitheater

The mighty Iron Maiden stormed back into Southern California on Thursday, August 9th, for a pair of back-to-back performances at Verizon Wireless (née Irvine Meadows) Amphitheater. It had been just over two years since they last played So Cal, this time bringing the Maiden England tour on the road. It was a hot night behind the Orange Curtain; with high temperatures and massive flames both on stage and in the audience.

Whenever Iron Maiden plays any venue in Southern California, it is always a wild time. From the mosh pit on the floor of the Fabulous Forum in '08, to the chest baring lady fans in the orchestra section of Irvine Meadows during the '08 Somewhere Back in Time performance to Rod Smallwood coming on stage to address the massive crowd of the San Manuel Amphitheater in '10 that there were too many Maiden fans stuck in traffic and at the gate and to please be patient while the band waited for everyone to get in, an Iron Maiden concert is always entertaining, beyond the epic performance on stage.

The near-capacity crowd filled the arena early, impressive for a Thursday night in The OC, and was primed by a set from Coheed and Cambria, which featured spot on cover of Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell". And then The Beast took the stage and all hell broke loose.

The Maiden England tour recreates the staging and most of the set list from the legendary Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 1988 world tour and featured several rarities which haven't been played live in So Cal in many a year. The band let off a sharp burst of an opening salvo with "Moon Child", "Can I Play With Madness" and, much to many fans delight (including mine) "The Prisoner". The voices of Number Two and Patrick McGoohan echoed across the hills as scenes from the legendary British programme filled the big screens just before the band erupted into a monster version of the song.

"...I am not a number, I am a free man!"

It wasn't until after the fourth song played, "Two Minutes to Midnight", that the band took a moment to address the assembled masses. Bruce Dickinson then set up the next piece, telling the story of a soldier in a desert war long ago, a common man with a family, and his misgivings at having to shoot the next soldier to come over the dunes at him, who again is just a common man that he had no quarrel with. It was a poignant moment in '12 and a perfect set up for "Afraid To Shoot Strangers".

"...so when you're waiting for the next attack, you better stand there's no turning back..."

The theme of war continued as Bruce donned his signature Red Coat, waving the Union Jack from all points of the stage as the band tore through "The Trooper" like musket fire across the Crimean Peninsula. Then the flames ignited.

Eddie!

It was about this time that the group I was with pointed my attention up towards the general admission grass seating area atop the amphitheater; a place where I've witnessed many a concert from over the years.

"...hell and fire was born to be released..."

There, about fifty yards from the top most point of the arena, a fire had erupted. Lit by fans, it appeared they were burning their own shirts as they whipped them around in great circles. As the flames grew higher, it illuminated a massive mosh circle going around the pyre. Every so often you could see a particularly brave (read: foolhardy) individuals leaping over or at least close to the flames. The off-and-on-again blaze raged in the  grass section as Maiden ignited their own massive flame pots on the stage during "The Number of the Beast", and continued throughout the rest of the concert.



During a break between songs, I asked the guy behind me if he's seen anything like this here before. His reply was a nonchalant, "oh this happens at nearly every concert here for the past five or so years". That will teach me to only watch the stage, apparently.



Next came the other very welcome addition to the current Iron Maiden live set list, "The Phantom of The Opera" which was an absolute show stopper. Signature hit "Run to the Hills" and "Wasted Years" followed in quick succession, before a truly epic center piece performance of "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", complete with flames, a massive Eddie puppet emerging behind drummer Nicko McBrain and some of the best musicianship of the evening yet.

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"

"The Clairvoyant" was followed by the gentle beginning of "Fear of the Dark", which always explodes into a furious performance from Iron Maiden. The eponymous track "Iron Maiden", "Aces High" and "The Evil That Men Do" wound down the performance, which finished on the traditional end piece, "Running Free".

Killer photo of Janick Gers- doh! iPhone photo bomb!

Of the four most recent tours I've seen Iron Maiden perform, this did seem to be the best and tightest yet. Mixing up the set list and resurrecting older numbers (even ones not featured on the retrospective Somewhere Back In Time Tour) has injected new stage life into a band which really does need such a thing. If there was one song I would have liked to have heard it would have been "When The Wild Wind Blows" from their most recent album, The Final Frontier, only because it wasn't in the set list yet in the early dates of their '10 tour in support of that excellent album.

"Scream for me Irvine!"

It was a slightly bittersweet evening though. This marks the fourth time I've seen Iron Maiden perform at Irvine Meadows and it could very likely be the last. For more than three decades, Orange County's largest outdoor arena has played host to countless bands, from annual stops by the Grateful Dead and festival performances by local radio stations to being the filming location of Ozzy Osbourne's 1982 Speak of the Devil live performance. Live Nation's lease is up in 2017, with plans for the venerable venue to be torn down and replaced by housing. Though from the already encroaching condo development at the north end of the parking lot, it may come even sooner. Here is hoping Iron Maiden and other bands fill the Amphitheater to capacity, and their fans ears, as much as possible over the next five years before an important monument to the legacy of music in Southern California closes for good.

And since Iron Maiden always end their concerts with a recording of Monty Python's Eric Idle singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" as fans head to the exits, lets end this on a lighter note, with a fun example of Rock & LOL...

Throw me the ball! I'm open!

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