Savage Distortion

Misanthrope came through huge with floor seats for himself, Tony Alva, and I at the Iron Maiden show at Madison Square Garden Sunday night.

Tony and I spent the afternoon listening to selections of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal from my vinyl collection while knocking back beers and grilling chicken.

We met up with Misanthrope and Hazmat for some pre-show libations at Tempest Bar across from MSG. Our casual drinking cost us two and a half Maiden tunes, as the band went on promptly at eight o'clock. We missed 'Aces High', 'Two Minutes to Midnight', and half of 'Revelations'. I was more bummed about missing part of 'Revelations' that the other two.

Iron Maiden were in fine form. They played great, and for over two hours. Even a P.A. snafu during 'Powerslave' which left the band stranded for ten minutes didn't phase them. They brought out a soccer ball and booted it about until they sound came back on, then they picked up where they left off.

Maiden is such a talented band. Across the board, all amazing players.

The real star of the show, however, was the set design. Just fucking brilliant. Huge backdrops featuring various stages of Eddie, beautifully lit. Outstanding pyro and, of course, robotic Eddies.

I was a bit let down by the set list, as I knew I would be. They played almost all of 'Powerslave', quite a bit off of 'Somewhere In Time' and other more recent numbers leaving very little room for selections from their first five records. The records I like. Hey, I understand. Just because I didn't buy any of their post '84 records doesn't mean nobody did, quite the opposite in fact, and those fans deserve to hear that stuff. They did play 'Number of the Beast' and 'Run to the Hills'. They closed with 'Hallowed Be Thy Name', but they gave us nothing from 'Killers', and only 'Iron Maiden' from the debut.

I'm fine with all that. I had a great time.

The Scorpions did a better job of making me feel 15 again, but Maiden kicked ass and then some for two hours and a hell of a lot of 16th notes.