Iron Maiden/Trivium

O2 Arena, London

Gigs don’t really get much better than this, Iron Maiden playing at home, in London at the impressive O2 Arena on the last night of their 95 date ‘Final Frontier’ tour in support of their latest album of the same name . The band have travelled all the world with Bruce Dickinson piloting the plane known as ‘Ed Force One’ bringing their legendary ground breaking music to millions of fanatic fans. The atmosphere tonight is certainly something worth savouring, the venue is full of metal fans from many generations excitedly waiting for possibly one of the best bands in the world to take to the stage.

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Tonight’s support is Florida based band Trivium, as they take to the huge stage they get a very loud warm welcome from the Maiden fans. They have supported Maiden many times before, and know exactly what is expected of them. They kick off with the title track ‘In Waves’ from the bands latest album, their sound has developed from their earlier albums into something that really works well in arenas such as this. Lead vocalist Matt Heafy does his best to warm up the crowd with plenty of encouragement, running about the stage using the various microphones placed around to give the band the best exposure to the large crowd. The 30 minute set goes by very quickly with further examples of new songs from ‘In Waves’ along with more familiar numbers from previous albums. Although the Iron Maiden fan base is not exactly Trivium’s real target audience, they seemed to have warmed to them and embraced their music. The band leave the stage with lots of appreciation from those fans present who were not out on the concourse sampling the over-priced liquid refreshments available at the many bars and restaurants.

The amazing atmosphere began to build and the official Iron Maiden intro song, UFO’s ‘Doctor Doctor’, indicated the boys imminent arrival on stage, two huge video screens either side of the stage projected the space age intro video of ‘Satellite 15’, the curtain dropped to the floor and there were the Metal Kings of the World, Iron Maiden, belting out ‘The Final Frontier’ to 20,000 excited fanatical fans. The elaborate stage set by Iron Maiden standards is now the norm and is almost expected and this one is no different, created to give the band the best opportunity to perform and give each member of audience the best view of the performance. The physically fit Bruce Dickinson runs all over the stage like a man on a mission delivering pitch perfect vocals.

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The best audience reactions of the night comes from the Iron Maiden classics such as ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’, ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Fear Of The Dark’ where the audience join the band in singing every word to every song in almost perfect harmony. Bruce offers a heart-warming speech before ‘Bloodbrothers’ telling everyone “that this is a safe house, this is our house, this is Maiden’s House, everybody’s fucking welcome and we don’t turn anybody away, no matter who they are.” This gets a amazingly positive response from the audience.

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‘Eddie’ the bands mascot made two appearances during the show with a walk on part as a 10 feet tall guitar playing monster who got into a tussle with guitarist Janick Gers during ‘The Evil Men That Do’ and again during the customary ‘Iron Maiden’ where her appeared as a drooling huge head at the back of the stage. This has to be one of the best gigs of the year, the band put in a performance that any other act would find hard to match. They ended there show with more classics, starting “Number of the Beast” which saw a large seated Devil sat to the right of the stage, bathed in plenty of smoke. This was followed “Hallowed Be Thy Name” to yet another tremendous crowd reaction. Finishing with the amazing number ‘Running Free’ made famous by the ground breaking ‘Live After Death’ album ended the show with some dynamic style, as yet a larger Eddie, in the style of the Final Frontier cover, appeared from the back of the stage, starting with giant fingers appearing either side of the stage, and then a massive head rose up ‘Scream for me London!!

Despite the album being called ‘The Final Frontier’ the band vow to return once again……so this is not the end as has been rumoured !!!

As the house lights come on Monty Pythons’ “Always Look on the Brightside of Life” is played as some very tired and happy fans leave…

Set-Lists
Iron Maiden
‘Satellite 15…The Final Frontier’
‘El Dorado’
‘2 Minutes To Midnight’
‘The Talisman’
‘Coming Home’
‘Dance Of Death’
‘The Trooper’
‘The Wicker Man’
‘Blood Brothers’
‘When The Wild Wind Blows’
‘The Evil That Men Do’
‘Fear Of The Dark’
‘Iron Maiden’
‘The Number Of The Beast’
‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’
‘Running Free’

Trivium
Intro:Capsizing The Sea
In Waves
A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation
Black
Like Light To The Flies
Built To Fall
Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr
Down From The Sky
Throes Of Perdition

Videos
Iron Maiden