Iron Maiden!

Thanks to Steve Newton, I know exactly the last time I saw Iron Maiden. It was 36 years ago, in 1983, on the Piece of Mind tour; I would have been 15, and thus well on the way to rejecting metal altogether out of a tribal allegiance to punk, but I liked the show, as I recall. I went with a high school friend, Greg, and it was one of the first-ever rock concerts I went to without an adult (Greg and I also caught Van Halen, the Kinks, and Judas Priest, all also at the Coliseum). I only have a vague impression of seeing Fastway, and thinking it cool that I was seeing Motorhead's guitarist (I had Iron Fist at home, at that point); a vague impression of seeing Saxon - of the singer's blond hair blowing in the stage breeze; and a vague impression of a gigantic Eddie stomping about onstage (still have no idea how, exactly, they do that). About the only specific I recall about the Maiden set was Bruce Dickinson introducing "To Tame a Land" by talking about how Frank Herbert wouldn't let them call it "Dune" because he didn't think much of heavy metal music, which drew boos from the crowd; having read and enjoyed Dune, I thought that was a strange gesture, to write a song based on a novel then invite the crowd to boo the author! ...other than that, I loved the show...

Anyhow, here's welcoming Iron Maiden back to Vancouver. Somewhat to my surprise, I'm going... it feels kind of nice to tie off the circle, to revisit one of those formative bands - especially one month after seeing the BOC. It'll be fun, I'm sure. First stadium show I've seen in a few years....