Seattle Subsonic

Revelations, Iron Maiden at White River Amphitheater, Winston Churchill

June 28th, 2010

.
UPDATE: New and much improved photos by Dean Hamack.
.

A friend of mine named Patrick posted on Facebook that he had an extra ticket and VIP pass for Iron Maiden’s show last week at the White River Amphitheater. Maiden used to be a favorite of mine, an absolute favorite, back in high school and early college, back in the late 80′s and early 90′s. I bought everything they released. I learned much of their work on both guitar and bass. The first moment when I knew I had reached a certain level on the bass, when I knew I had something special, when I knew I could not only play but play well, was when playing an Iron Maiden song. Way back then I played along with various albums and artists in an effort to learn the songs, to develop my chops, to get a sense of playing with a band. One day I put on Piece of Mind and skipped ahead to the second song, Revelations. I had a Fender P-Bass then much like that of Steve Harris, and intentionally so. The song started, I played the big notes, G … A, the little riff in between. The song went on through the heavy chords, the mellow part, picked up during the solo and then back into the heavy chords, and I was right there. Perfectly in tune, perfectly in sync, the volume of my stereo and amp perfectly balanced and loud so that it felt like I was indeed playing with the band, like I would have no problem playing with the band, in the band, in any band. The song ended. I stopped the CD and never played along with another. I played in bands after that, but still of course loved Iron Maiden. And before last week, it had been 23 years since I’d last seen them. It was time again, and I hoped for a bit of Revelations.
.

We got to White River around 6:30. “VIP is the only way to go, man,” Patrick said. I had to agree. We parked right there in front, strolled easily into the VIP section where we got a table and a couple $9.00 cups of Blue Moon. We skipped the opener, Dream Theater, in favor of the $9.00 beers so that by the time we headed over the to the pit at 8:45 we’d each spent the equivalent of about six six-packs of Blue Moon while only drinking the amount of a single six-pack. We didn’t mind though. We were in good spirits. We were there to see Iron Maiden. We were looking forward to Aces High, Run to the Hills, The Trooper, and Hallowed Be Thy Name among others. We made our way over. The amphitheater was full, or at least looked very much so from where I stood in the pit on the left side of the stage. The lights went down, then up, then the band and the music emerged. The crowd roared.
.

I am very well versed in everything Iron Maiden released prior to 1990, not so much in what they’ve released since. The first two songs thus I did not recognize. They were good, but unfamiliar. The crowd was appreciative though, and many of those much younger than my middle-aged self knew the tunes, sang along, jumped, raised there arms. The third song was Wrathchild, an old favorite from the Killers album. It was most excellent. Another friend of mine somewhere off in the crowd texted me, “Hell Yeah!!!!” I agreed, replied with the same sentiment, but then the band did something unexpected. They played song after song after song from only their most recent albums and one from the upcoming August release. It was good stuff. It rocked, but I wanted at least a sprinkling of some older stuff. I wanted Flight of Icarus, Phantom of the Opera, 22 Acacia Avenue, Heaven Can Wait, but they did not come. They played one called Blood Brothers and dedicated it to Ronnie James Dio. It was a good tune. The new one was called El Dorado. It was good too. But I wanted Two Minutes to Midnight, Where Eagles Dare, Somewhere in Time, To Tame Land, even a cover like their version of Cross Eyed Mary. They played instead No More Lies, Brave New World, Fear of the Dark. Good stuff, but …
.

Finally, they played Iron Maiden. Then the show was done. I sighed. I knew there would be an encore, but how many songs would they play in the encore, three, four, five at most? They came back out with The Number of the Beast. The crowd erupted. I did too. Finally!! The pit bounced. I looked back and the people in their seats and way back out on the lawn bounced. It was obvious that as much as we all thought the newer stuff good, we all wanted this, songs from back in the day, Maiden at their best. The song finished, the applause was the loudest by far of the evening. And then it came, my personal live favorite, Hallowed Be Thy Name. The slow descending riff of the intro, the same riff that picks up speed and energy in the verse, the lengthy guitar solos. And then the highlight when after the solo they go into the beautiful big riff and accent on thunderous chords. If you like heavy metal, especially 80′s heavy metal, you need to see this at least once. Hallowed Be Thy Name live. Nothing beats it. Nothing. It’s the highlight of any Iron Maiden show, makes the price of admission well worth it no matter what came before, the kind of musical moment you want to just go on and on and on. It ended though and they went right into Running Free.
.

Sigh.
.

Running Free is a good tune but as a closer, as the audience participation tune, it felt done to death. They’d used it as such way back in the 80′s, did so very well on Live After Death but now I felt a little cheated. Give me Revelations or Stranger in a Strange Land or Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Or if they wanted the crowd to really sing, Run to the Hills. But instead there was,
.

“I’m running Free yeah, …”
.

The show ended there and we left not without some disappointent. We went to Muckleshoot Casino and drank more Blue Moon and danced and hit on fat chicks to no avail. A worthy Iron Maiden show? Yes, but only just saved at the end by the one song, the one big beautiful riff. I won’t see them again. I will listen though. So I put on the CD and there it is, one of many I wanted to hear live one last time but never will again, there is Winston Churchill’s voice…
.

We shall go on to the end,
we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills…
we shall never surrender!!
.

.

Dave


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.