Bruce Dickenson doesn't stop moving, a consummate frontman, the 53 year old lead singer of Iron maiden is in constant motion at the Prudential Center, a blast of the purist energy as he leaps over speakers , rushes the front of the stage, and dashes back mid-stage, singing at the top of his lungs, while a three guitar pius bass heavy metal quartet serenades him. When Bruce finally stops he is at the top of the stage, pointing at the General Admission section, "Good to see some people not sitting on their fucking arses", he snarls, before launching the band into another full throttle riffarama.
This is Iron Maiden and don't judge the band by its dumbass album sleeves, by its mascot Eddie or, for that matter, by its fans, lyrics, or concept of melody. Judge them by the power of a riff making machine that would blow just about any band away: loud, abrupt, no blues, no black at all: a white heat metal riff after riff. Hardly any soloing , hardly any sense. And an introduction to a song about a soldier on the frontline, started the only mistake in the concert i saw (I left early) "Afraid To Shoot Strangers.
For the most part Iron Maiden are a study in the difference between English and American Heavy Metal. Iron maiden is an ancestor of pub rock, whamabamadingdong, tuneless, sexless, but loud and overbearing, without an ounce of pretension. Watching the aging men, 36 albums into their career, dipping back as early as their first, there is a timeless elementalness to it. It is like Status Quo meets Led Zep, a relentless barrage of hormones so overwhelming a moshpit breaks out.
You might not like HM, I don't all that much,and still enjoy their feral, raw, organic rock and roll. there is no background tapes, no moogs or loops or tapes, this is four men and four instruments, with only the most succinct of guitar solos to get in the way. Except for the moments when their silliness overwhelms them (a terrible "The Phantom of The Opera" can't be saved), the band has the togetherness of any great band.
They aren't like American metal-they don't have the melody of 1980s metal, they have no r&b background the way Van Halen, or the Springsteeny sensibility of Guns N roses: they are closer to the Judas Priest school though with a taste for 1970s punk rock. Ill at ease with their excess, iron Maiden's chief songwriter performs three minute punk sculptures with the speed slowed down and the guitars turned up. This is mostly goes to the credit of bassist Steve Harris, who has written the material since 1975 and seems to have a limitless amount of variations to offer on a very basic sound. On stage, the band relies heavily on the fan favorite mid-80s albums like 1986's Somewhere In Time and the follow-up Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. With their last album two years old and pointless to push, they perform a steady stream of fans faves.
This is so unlike the current hardcore scream from the bowels of hell of a Lamb Of God, to feel like a completely different genre. For such a bombastic sound, Iron Maiden are surprisingly unassuming: all their power stripped down to the essentials.
iron maiden are the real thing, a deluxed, extremely powerful bunch of men taking care of business while the Metallica's of the world have meltdowns and whine about file sharing. This is why the kids are united with metal. Bruce takes the silly prepositions of metal, and rams it home.
Grade: B+