Gig #51 - 26/06/23 - The Hydro, Glasgow
I set off for the bus station at 9am and within five minutes of leaving the house have already seen a guy in an Iron Maiden shirt getting into his car, then Aberdeen bus station is heaving with other folk going down to the gig. Having negotiated Aberdeen's shambolic Megabus queuing system, the bus finally leaves a mere ten minutes late. I have plans for the day which involve meeting up with all my invisible internet friends at specific times and places but all that is promptly thrown into chaos when ten minutes into the journey the legendary Irish adventurer Mr Garold Born As A Dubliner Manning texts me asking if I want to be his travelling companion Yuma Murata's +1 for his Fan Club First to the Barrier pass - which of course I fecking do! Indeed, I should offer my profuse thanks to Yuma, whom I hadn't seen for 15 years since we were both in the crowd of Exodus's live DVD from Wacken '08. Anyway this changes the plan for the day a little bit as the First to the Barrier folk have to meet up early and go into the venue a bit before general admission opens.
When we finally get into Glasgow I am met at the bus station by the mighty Dougie. Dougie is one of those guys who always just seems completely unphaseable - we have been gig buddies quite a lot in recent years, particularly in London, so it is brilliant to see him. We go and find Gary, Jenn and Yuma in a local pancake place. Amazingly, as with Dougie, it's somehow been almost 5 years since I last saw Gary and Jenn, which seems mental. A combination of the pandemic and getting a bit older has really screwed up my perception of time. As with most of our crew, I have been going to gigs with Gary since 2005 and we have seen Maiden in various places across the UK and Europe. It is really fantastic to see him and Jenn again and both seeming so happy.
We all make our way to their Airbnb near the Hydro and rail our way through a hip flask full of ouzo. Great chat with Yuma talking about his experiences of being in bands - it's amazing to catch up with him 15 years later. Really feels like no time has passed, yet somehow we're all much older. Then we head down to the venue. I am half-cut from the ouzo. I dump my bag at a nearby hotel and we go and find the queue for the First to the Barrier. Glasgow weather is a mix of torrential showers and blazing sunshine which is obviously the perfect combo for when you're a baldie stuck outside without a jacket or a hat. Somehow we avoid the worst of the downpours through a combination of smoking shelters and huddling under venue canopies. At the queue we bump into a few people we know, the lovely Plina/Queen of Hearts from the forum, Craig who got there at 4:30am (fuck that) and has ended up coordinating the First to the Barrier queue by virtue of being there first (also fuck that), and I meet Svartsyn for the first time, a Bulgarian guy who I traded bootlegs with 20 years ago. We are interviewed on camera by a girl doing a project on international metal fans and we chat to the folk around us. Everyone is in a great mood. After being delayed by some car trouble, Willum shows up, which is brilliant - despite the fact he lives in Mintlaw which is only about half an hour away from me, I only ever see him when Iron Maiden play. After a while him and Dougie go to meet Reaper, who couldn't get the afternoon off work so has just arrived, and leave us to queue with the barrier folk.
Pretty soon they let us in. Security are telling people they aren't allowed flags, which seems weird and which they then roll back on a few minutes later. Some random guy manages to get in with the Barrier folk despite not having been assigned a number or a wristband. He has one of those commemorative credit card type Maiden tickets which is apparently somehow enough to convince security to let him through. Anyway, after the various phases of security etc. they lead us in and we manage to grab a spot directly on the barrier over on the very right of the stage. After an hour the support band come on, who are Germany's last-placed Eurovision entrants from a few weeks ago, Lords of the Lost. Essentially they are diet Rammstein, although a bit poppier and if they had forgotten to have any good songs. Still, I have seen worse bands supporting Maiden I suppose. At least there's only one support act this time around too.
I pass the half hour after they finish mostly by chatting with Yuma, then Doctor Doctor comes on the PA and we all know shit is about to get real. Once the final riff is over the Bladerunner theme kicks in over the PA and I near line ma breeks as I know this means that after 50 gigs and 25 years following them around, I am finally going to get to see Iron Maiden play Caught Somewhere in Time. Gary is grinning like bastard and hugging me. His crew have already seen the show in Dublin a couple of days before. He knows exactly what they're playing and just how much it means to me to finally be experiencing choice cuts from this album live.
Sure enough, after an atmospheric crash the intro to Caught Somewhere in Time comes over the PA then bang! the main riff kicks in and they all burst out and we are in full swing. With its lush textures and guitar tones, careful harmonies and futuristic vibe, Somewhere in Time has always been my favourite album and has been famously underrepresented in their setlists for the best part of 35 years, so I believe it is perfectly reasonable to scream like an absolute girl throughout proceedings, which I absolutely do. Bruce arrives on stage in ridiculous steampunk clothes and a Doc from Back to the Future glasses and jacket combo, yet somehow makes it look awesome. Everyone else looks like they always do, Steve especially somehow defying the years that pass. Anyway, the song sounds magic, Dave and Adrian stay true to the original ballbusting solos and Bruce hits all the notes way better than he ever did in 1986 (I have listened to exactly one million bootlegs from that tour and his voice was fried for the entire time). Nicko has simplified a couple of the drum parts, but fair fucks to him, it still zips along and he is 71 years old.
After that we get Stranger in a Strange Land, another favourite of mine that I have never seen them play, and it is honestly so good that I could cry. The awesome Adrian solo and beautiful melodic bass parts are as good as you could wish. We are down right in front of Janick and Steve and we get plenty of Bruce too through the first few songs. Next up is The Writing on the Wall, which I saw them play last year and has another absolutely majestic Adrian solo, then another double whammy of new ones with The Days of Future Past (which feels noticeably slower than the album version) and a resplendent version of The Time Machine, neither of which I had been particularly expecting them to play. Then they hit us with another nice surprise with 1982's The Prisoner getting a rendition for the first time in a decade. Only the second tour I have seen it on too, so it's great to hear again.
After that it is time for the biggest treat of the evening (and sadly the one spoiler that has leaked into my consciousness). Iron Maiden are not a band who have ever (EVER) debuted a song after its respective album tour, which for an outfit with so many awesome deep cuts is quite a shame. Nevertheless, fans have been asking them to play Alexander the Great ever since Somewhere in Time came out in 1986, and finally they have actually done it and given us what we want. Having seen they are going to play it, I am both excited and nervous - it's pretty high for Bruce and I honestly thought the old boy might be struggling, especially given how he's sounded on certain numbers since the throat cancer. Nae worries - him and Nicko both do a blinding job. All night, actually. In fact the whole song is absolutely top other than the normally untouchable Adrian wrestling a bit with the solo over the odd-timing section in the middle (to be fair their given reason for not playing it ever was supposedly that "Adrian can't remember the solo" when it more accurately appears to be the case that "Adrian can't even play the solo" which is a bit of a surprise). Anyway it's a minor gripe for what is a pretty spectacular rendition of my favourite ever song by anyone in the whole world ever ever ever so don't think I'm complaining - my only complaint is that they miss the opportunity to troll us all with an all-action Alexander Graham Bell Eddie complete with working telephone in hand. Honestly though, I am fucking euphoric for pretty much the entire gig.
After that they of course close out the main set with Fear of the Dark and Iron Maiden, which both sound fine but I have seen them play a billion times (in fact I worked out earlier that I have spent a solid 5.8 hours of my life watching them play Fear of the Dark). The lights go up, picks, sticks and wristbands are thrown (Gary gets one of Steve's) and we are waiting for the encore. What will it be? Surely a predictable run of Number of the Beast, The Trooper and Hallowed Be Thy Name, then maybe a second encore with Wasted Years? Nope! In the spirit of giving us unplayed songs, first up is an incredible version of Hell On Earth, Senjutsu's epic and towering swansong, with so much fire that I am genuinely slightly worried that we are all about to die in a terrible inferno (what a way to go though eh? At least we got to see Alexander and Caught Somewhere in Time).
After that comes The Trooper, which I have seen so many times that I seem to have completely blanked this version from my memory - I can't even remember if Bruce wore his red jacket and waved a flag like he usually does. I think maybe he didn't actually, I would have probably recalled that. Instead I remember absolutely nothing except that the boys all lined up at the front of the stage like they always do.
The final song of the night is Wasted Years, the hopeful tone of which actually contrasts really nicely with the mournful Hell On Earth, and is a really nice note to end on. We get Dave and Janick pretending to do backing vocals in a Beatles sharing the mic style. And more of Steve Harris shooting us with his bass (honestly he must have hit us about a hundred times over the course of the night) and then it's all over. I am waiting for a second encore as last year they became a two encore band (which I wasn't a fan of - too cabaret for my taste) but none is forthcoming this time around. In fact overall it is all scaled back on the theatrics from the Legacy of the Beast tour (which isn't to say it isn't over the top and ridiculous in places but they really pushed it to the absolute max on the last tour and it was a little bit much at certain points). Overall I absolutely love that they have mixed things up, seven songs I've never seen them play before, no Hallowed or Number of the Beast and no fucks given. Absolutely brilliant, ten out of ten for the setlist and the show and the performance.
In the aftermath I find the 100% wonderful human Reaper Balboa who is as high on adrenaline as I am and grinning the broadest grin you could imagine, then shuffling out I am grabbed from behind and headrubbed by the legendary John Stevehunter Miles. I also see Donnie fae Elgin and several other faces I recognise. Outside we find Willum at the designated meeting point but have lost the others somewhere along the way, presumably due to Gary having to talk to every single person in the Hydro (he honestly knows absolutely every Iron Maiden fan on the face of the Earth). Waiting around, Reaper spots the one and only David Forrest who is wandering around apparently looking for me and we get a good catch-up walking back to the bus station with Reaps following the retrieval of my bag and sad goodbyes with the rest of my compadres.
Cheers to everyone who made it such a brilliant day. I love you all and hope to see you all again in the near future. Iron Maiden gigs are the best and the friendships you make through music can last your whole life...
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