Saturday, December 08, 2007
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Iron On Maiden at that Gun Tavern
These blogs are for reviews of proper bands that people have heard of. They are not for the likes of Cassettes, Ten Foot Nun, or jizz MALFUNCTION, and they are not for tribute bands, not for Plastic Letters, not for Dinosaur Jr. Jr., not even for Abba-toir! Proper bands only please. But rules are there to be broken. Last night I was supposed to be traipsing all the way to Kingston to see Anchorhead (death metal band that play the music from the Star Wars movies), but the people I was supposed to be going with ended up not going, and a chance encounter with Vicky Gash resulted in my learning about an Iron Maiden tribute band playing at The Gun Tavern. "Hi on Maiden?" enquired I. No, this was Ironon Maiden, and Ms. Gash had seen them before, when funnily enough they played at a gig Hi On Maiden had pulled out of. She told of how they had performed Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and possibly Infinite Dreams (my two faves). I was so there. It were a strange do, it was actually a wedding function, complete with buffet and folk of all ages, though it was still a gig open to all for the price of a fiver. I weren't expecting much, but as the band launched into opening track Aces High, I had to rush to the front of the pub to make sure it wasn't the real thing. It certainly looked like Bruce Dickinson (though freakishly, a lot shorter), and he sounded pretty much exactly like him. The rest of the band didn't look anything like Adrian, Nicko, Dave and Steve, though all had that awkward ugliness required of the concentration needed for such wonderful solos. The attention to detail was spot on; Harris's imposter had a West Ham scarf wrapped about his bass strap, some overly patriotic fool threw a union jack flag over a speaker, and the counterfeit Bruce announced each song exactly as Bruce would have done, as well as mirroring his movements. It was quite a spectacle! They were sticking mainly to the early stuff, but were poking at the seventh and eighth albums (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is my fave, BECAUSE of the synthesizers) and I was getting impatient for my Infinite Dreams. After they had played a marvelous The Clairvoyant, I finally called out "Infinite Dreams". "What?" replied the singer. "You can't deny them!" I answered quick as a flash. And oh how we all laughed. But the set list had been written by the happy couple, and neither Infinite or Mariner were on there. But as they launched into Phantom of the Opera, it didn't really seem to matter. Marky Malfunction is bang on the money when he says that The Gun Tavern is the new Cartoon. Anyway, congratulations to Dawn and Jeff (Geoff?), and here's that set list in full, with thanks to Ten Foot Jon for filling in the blanks
Aces High Two Minutes to Midnight The Prisoner Wrathchild The Trooper Revelations Stranger in a Strange Land
The Evil than Men Do lives on and ooooo-o-o-on Children of the Damned Be Quick or Be Dead Wasted Years Heaven Can Wait The Clairvoyant The Phantom of the Opera Bring you Daughter to the Slaughter Fear of the Dark Hallowed be thy Name Iron Maiden
The Number of the Beast The Flight of Icarus Run to the Hills |
Review from Rock of the North. IRON ON MAIDEN
THE GASWORKS BRADFORD
FRI 21 SEPT
This was my first time at the Gasworks , and I was mightily impressed
with the place. With more speakers and flashy lights than a chavs corsa,
it's a brilliant venue for bands and fans alike, with two pa rigs, one
onstage for the sweaty nutters who want to bounce around in front of the
band and the other a third of the way down the pub for anyone too old or
pissed to stand for two hours, or just too cool to mess up their hair.
But you don't miss any of the action, as every movement of the band is
caught on a load of cameras and fed to a dozen or so TVs dotted around
the room and bar. And as for the band, well they started with a bit of a
spinal tap moment when the huge video screen that acts like a stage
curtain didn't go up, but it was soon sorted and they were off. If you
have never seen the band, they are quite simply awesome, recreating the
maiden sound to a tee. From the tight as chuff drumming through the note
perfect guitars to the brilliant bass playing, how could it get any
better?? Mini Bruce matt on vocals is how. From the moment he hits the
stage he's working the crowd, getting them singing, shouting and
clapping along, and that voice, he has got to be in the top five
vocalists I've heard live, ever. Put that together with songs spanning
the entire career of one of britains best and most respected metal bands
and you just can't go wrong. Also a shout out to big al who is better
known to the fans as eddie, great bloke. Get to the lion cas in nov and
check them out.
UP THE IRON ONS !!
BSD
rock of the north website