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Reportedly, There are only Three Bands Dream Theater would EVER agree to open for. Metal gods Iron Maiden said farewell to North America last night in Washington, DC. Farewell to the largest North American Tour, and the largest gathering of Iron Maiden fans in DC ever to the best of front man Bruce Dickinson's recollection. These six musical pioneers and touring veterans thundered out onto the massive stage at Jiffy Lube Live! (formerly Nissan Pavilion) just as the last lingering rays of sunlight faded out behind the hill. The lawn and open pavilion packed full of sopping wet die-hards and yes, a startling number of newbies waiting for a chance to see the legendary sextet of innovators.
Reportedly, there are only three bands that Dream Theater would ever consider opening for, with this said, the reasoning behind attendance is not a mystery. Rain sputtered down for 20 minutes straight, tangling up concert goers as Dream Theater engaged the audience in several of their epic-length tracks. The atmosphere cooled from the high heat and humidity of the day fed into the relaxing feel of Dream Theater's hard hitting melodic vocals and long instrumental interludes. The band has been touring for two years straight, and is saying goodbye to the Iron Maiden crew tonight, somberly. The only thing that could have made the set more fittingly superb would have been if Bristow had been blessed with the promised lightning storm. Imagine that dashing across the sky? Epic. Somewhere Back In Time, indeed. Maiden's set ranged from the early days of the self titled album to most recent Matter of Life and Death. Strewn about within, tracks from Brave New World vocalized at last by Dickinson, as many, if not all, agree it should have always been. These were an absolute treat along with popular favorites such as, Fear of the Dark, Wrath Child and an amazing and much demanded encore of Number of the Beast. Dickinson is absolutely amazing. Still. As energetic and theatric as ever. I personally was so surprised to see what good shape the entire band was in physically and how spirited and animated the faces and smiles and stage-antics. True to the dramatic, but excellent stage set, it was like stepping back in time. There is something incredibly uplifting and wonderful about watching an old godhead like Iron Maiden tear it up like it was the first day of tour and not the last. And not just that but, to see the smiles and sheer surprised grins at crowd interaction and reaction and appreciation for what they are witnessing, what they are suddenly, unwittingly a part of-- History. For me, it was my first time seeing Iron Maiden. I was not disappointed. I did not anticipate as much stimulation as was introduced the second Bruce Dickinson came, literally, leaping out up over the monitors as the band took the stage, already playing before the spot lights could extinguish the darkness of the deep loaded stage. There was no way to tear the eyes away from the classic performance, the melding of man and instrument and the stage the scene of a time-traveling craft crash. Judging solely by the pace of the performance, it would seem as though all six were revived from the flames as spry as on the day of the bands very inception. Spinning, thundering, twirling, thrashing, fighting mutant Eddie hand-to-guitar-to-hand. You have to watch the smiles dance from face to face from lick to lick and back crashing over the wall of toms. You see this and you know that these are men that love what they are doing, love playing, love touring, love their fans despite the stereotype. “If Heavy Metal ruled the world... well there would be a lot of drunk politicians in office, general disorientation in the streets and lots and LOTS of Sex... but overall, there would be a lot of love. I don't see anything wrong with that.” As with all wonderful things, we say adieu and we must “look on the bright side of life” and exeunt with the thought that these gods have come and like apocalyptic wraiths move on to Europe to begin the tour again, leaving in their wake a promise for a new album in the fall. |
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