My best bud Jammin’ Jaymz was at the opening night of Iron Maiden’s “Final Frontier” tour last night in Dallas, TX and he reported back to me song for song as they were played.
IF YOU DON’T WANT A SPOILER, DON’T CONTINUE READING FROM THIS POINT!
Iron Maiden took to the stage in Dallas last night to a nearly sold out house but what they would perform that night had everyone pretty much in shock. What the opening night crowd got was a set list VERY heavy on material from the band’s last three albums, “Brave New World, “Dance of Death” and “A Matter of Life and Death.” There actually wasn’t even a “classic” Iron Maiden song played until the 12th song in the set which was “Fear of the Dark.” From that point and into the encores was a handful of classics that most fans are calling “played out and predictable.” Here’s the set list from last night’s debut:
IRON MAIDEN – FINAL FRONTIER TOUR
OPENING NIGHT – June 9th, 2010 – Dallas, TX
HOUSE LIGHTS DOWN – DOCTOR DOCTOR over the PA
SCI-FI type music over the PA.
Holst’s “Mars” as Intro.
1. The Wickerman
2. Ghost of the Navigator
3. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
4. El Dorado
5. Paschendale
6. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
7. These Colours Don’t Run
8. Blood Brothers
9. Wildest Dreams
10. No More Lies
11. Brave New World (people behind Jaymz yelling “PLAY SOMETHING OLD!”)
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Iron Maiden (Eddie looks like Swamp Thing)
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14. Number of The Beast (audience goes nuts!)
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
16. Running Free
After hitting the message boards today, it’s literally right down the middle as far as the fan’s reaction. The “casual” Maiden fans who know the “hits” and what not seem to be clawing at the bricks and screaming with a rebel yell while it seams the hardcore Iron Maiden fans are very welcoming of the fact that they are performing some of their more modern material from the last ten years.
My best buddy Jammin’ Jaymz was at opening night and him and I are both huge Maiden fans. Even he said that while it was great to hear some of the newer songs you don’t get to hear, the band really should’ve mixed it up a bit more and threw in maybe one or two “classics” just to break it up. 11 “recent” songs before you even get to “Fear of the Dark” is quite a long ride for even the die hards much less the fans that want to hear “The Trooper” and “Run To The Hills.” I’ll be honest, I’m a huge fan of the band but I am a lot less familiar with their current material than I am of their classic stuff. This just lights a fire under my ass to revisit those albums and as I type this, I am being melted by “Brave New World.” I’m really psyched to see this show in July!
A tour like this for Iron Maiden is VERY ambitious and this is one of the things that I love so much about Iron Maiden. They are not afraid to take chances at the risk of pissing their fans off. When Maiden does stuff like this, it’s almost like being forced to try a piece of food that you are horrified of trying only to discover that it’s really not that bad and that you wouldn’t mind trying again.
Iron Maiden is a band that never seems to be able to make their fans 100% happy. If they play a whole set of classics, they want to hear deep cuts. Then the band goes on tour and plays an entire new album and then fans want the classics. The band comes back and plays the classics and then the fans scream that they want to hear more songs from “Brave New World” and “A Matter of Life and Death”. Iron Maiden delivers that show and then they all want the classics again. Well, ya know, Maiden fans are worse than Deadheads in the fact that they are excruciatingly picky and needy. While this is true, we also love this band and want nothing but the best from them, even if the best isn’t exactly the songs we want!
Don’t write this tour off so quickly folks. Go re-discover those later albums and you may find yourself opening up to the experience of hearing songs that you haven’t heard yet and just may never hear again.
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