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IndianExpress.com reports that over 30,000 fans were treated to the best of IRON MAIDEN in Bangalore Saturday night (March 17), as the world famous heavy metal troupe touched base with India for the first time ever. The six-member British band pumped out a nearly two-hour-long live set comprising its most popular tracks, leaving fans panting for more.

The run-up to the show was marked by unprecedented frenzy in Bangalore, despite a sizable feast of rock and roll in recent times. The Saturday night concert brought fans in droves from across the country. Hundreds of young and old who have plugged into IRON MAIDEN's exhilarating sound and their dark but introspective lyrics at different points of time over the past 25 years gathered to head bang live to the music.

Kicking off with three tracks from their latest album A matter of life death, Iron Maiden put the crowd in high gear with Wrathchild from the 1981 album Killers, followed by classic maiden tracks The trooper, Run to the hills, Hallowed be thy name and Fear of the dark.

The band’s skeletal mascot Eddie adorned the stage through paintings until midway through the show he made his first live appearance by popping up from an army tanker.

Like front man and vocalist Bruce Dickinson had promised before the show, there was a lot of sweating, yelling and head banging. Dickinson’s trademark “come on, scream for me” frequently rent the air above the guitar threesome of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, the bass guitar of Steve Harris and the tireless drum work of Nicko McBrain.

The band members, most of whom are pushing 50, arrived in Bangalore on Friday and were followed around the city by groups of fans seeking a glimpse of them.

Video is here!
Watch a video report from the concert at IBN Live.

Courtesy: Blabbermouth

Update: here are some images from the concert.





Watch out for my review on the concert. Stay tuned...
\m/

Labels: maxMusic

March 17th, 2007. A Matter of Life and Death tour. Bangalore.
Yeah baby!!! Bring it on!!!

I have been hearing this news from past 15 years and at last its a dream come true for me and thousands of Maiden fans in Bangalore and elsewhere in India. Its gonna be an awesome experience, I still can not believe that it is really happening, even with the concert tickets in my hand!

Iron Maiden, metal gods with the classic lineup of The Number of the Beast!
Air guitars and crazy headbanging assured.

Bangalore has one of the craziest bunch of Iron Maiden fans. I am sure it is going to be an Once in a Lifetime experience for us fans and a great experience for the band to perform here. Incidentally Iron Maiden is the first international Metal band to perform in India, hope to see many more perform from now on.

Some Iron Maiden trivia

• Bruce Dickinson and Eddie did a public service announcement for British television with "The Seat Belt Dummies" in 1991. The seat belt dummies were in the audience playing air guitar and Eddie is shown. The dummies remark that, "if you don't wear your seatbelt, you may end up looking like this (points to Eddie)". At the end, Bruce says "Don't forget, buckle your safety belt, mate."

• Iron Maiden is referenced prominently in the lyrics to the 2000 hit "Teenage Dirtbag" by American punk-pop group Wheatus. The song tells of a lonely, nerdy teenage boy who secretly yearns for a pretty female classmate, Noelle, while listening to Iron Maiden. Noelle later surprises him by declaring herself to be a "teenage dirtbag" too, and inviting him to join her at an Iron Maiden concert. Bruce Dickinson returned the favour by singing on Wheatus' third single "Wannabe Gangstar".

• The band is mentioned several times in episodes of Beavis and Butt-head. Songs featured include "The Prisoner", "From Here to Eternity", and "Running Free".

• The multi-platform video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 features "The Number of the Beast" as a song on the game's soundtrack. The game also includes Eddie as an unlockable skater.

• Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for the Nintendo Wii features "Different World" as a song on the game's soundtrack.

• In the video game Guitar Hero II, "The Trooper" appears as a playable song exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of the game, although it will be covered by the in-studio development team for the game.

• The Nickelodeon TV show "The Fairly OddParents" featured a villain called "the Iron Maiden" that fought briefly against Timmy's favorite super hero, "The Crimson Chin." It was made to look like a giant robotic maid. In order to help viewers understand the reference, the Crimson Chin taunts, "Your days of heavy metal terror are over, Iron Maiden!"

• Phoebe Buffay, the popular primary character played by Lisa Kudrow on the successful American sitcom Friends, says she's "working on a couple Iron Maiden covers" when asked about the kind of music she plays (season 9, episode 3).

• In the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted travel back in time to medieval England, and are caught talking with the King's daughters. The King decides to "put them in the Iron Maiden" at which point Bill and Ted look at each other and say, "Iron Maiden?! EXCELLENT!" and then play a few notes on the air guitar. Later in the movie, Bill and Ted break into Ted's father's police station to break out some of the historical figures by using a tape recorder with Ted's voice. At the end of the tape, Bill and Ted exclaim together, "Now opening for Iron Maiden: The Wyld Stalyns!".

• In the movie "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" the oldest boy is in his room with his friends and on his door is a poster with Eddie on a motorcycle

• In adventure game Escape from Monkey Island, when players make Guybrush look at the iron maiden in the jail on Lucre Island, the "Bill and Ted" quote is referenced by him proclaiming "Iron Maiden?! EXCELLENT!".

• In the movie Bull Durham, minor league pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh, played by actor Tim Robbins, can be glimpsed wearing an Iron Maiden "Live After Death" t-shirt while talking on the team bus with Kevin Costner's character, Crash Davis.

• In the computer and video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the song "2 Minutes to Midnight" is played by the V-Rock radio station. Also, the "ROCK" in the logo of V-Rock is written using the angular font used in the Iron Maiden logo. The player can also see a parody of Eddie on posters on the concert hall in the downtown area of Vice City. The angular Iron Maiden font is also used for the title of the Love Fist's latest tour, The Steel Heart Stone Cold Prostate Tour, which the game states as "the world tour that has been banned throughout the world". The Iron Maiden logo, allegedly designed by Steve Harris, has been expanded to encompass the alphabet and has been used in projects from "heavy metal" compilations sold in music stores to the VH1 "Metal Month" promotions.

• Several computer viruses contain references to the band, such as the "Seventh Son", "Evil Men" and "V800" infections.

• Phantom of the Opera was used in two UK television commercials in the late 80s to mid 90s. One commercial for KFC saw Colonel Sanders bungee jump as the music speeds up while letting his audience know of his latest offerings. The second, and more well known, was a commercial for Lucozade where we see Daley Thompson preparing to race (albeit as a training exercise) and, once again as the music speeds up, he is seen sprinting from his starting blocks.

• Canadian pop-punk band Sum 41 made reference to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in the hit single Fat Lip where they state:

"Heavy metal and mullets, it's how we were raised.

Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised."

• As well, in their music video for "In Too Deep" former guitarist/singer Dave Brownsound is wearing an Iron Maiden "The Trooper" t-shirt.

• "Aces High", "Be Quick or Be Dead", "Man on the Edge" and "The Trooper" were featured in the video game Carmageddon II.

• Japanese pro wrestler Akitoshi Saito uses "Ghost of the Navigator" as his theme song.

• Iron Maiden's signature font is used for Heavy Metal and Hard Rock reference and even skate/snowboarding sub-culture.

• Jimmy Savile reputedly played a piano version of the song "Afraid to Shoot Strangers"

• Nicko McBrain appeared as a guest star on the long running British children's show 'The Sooty Show' on the episode "Hidden Talent". The highlight being a battle of the drums between the Iron Maiden drummer against Sooty and Sweep.

• The character Lord Raptor of Capcom's Darkstalkers videogame series was based on Maiden's Eddie.

• In the First Person Shooter computer video game Delta Force II, single-player cheats are titles of Iron Maiden songs from the Piece of Mind album, such as thetrooper, diewithyourbootson, revelations.

• In the "This Week" section of New Scientist magazine 25th of March, 2005, an article regarding one of the Mars Landers was headlined "Limp to the Hills"

• "Run to the Hills" was the main theme song on SSX on Tour.

• On Little Nicky the first time you see John and Pete (the two who worship Nicky), Pete is wearing an X-Factor album t-shirt. Also on the documentaries, on Satan's Top 40 they mention the The Number of the Beast album.

• On the British television channel Sky One, Bruce Dickinson presented a program called "Inside Human Spontaneous Combustion".

• VH1 has made a commercial featuring a cardboard-cutout monster and a kitten that uses the song "Run to the Hills".

• The font on Music Choice's Arena Rock station consists of Iron Maiden's font.

• Emma Griffiths wore a Live After Death top for several of the photographs in her 2005 FHM 'Girls of FHM' photoshoot, alongside other heavy metal icons such as Motörhead.

• In the 1999 American Film Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In one scene where Virginia Baker trades with Conrad Greene. in the background there is a poster of Iron Maiden's Virtual XI album was shown. This was Iron Maiden's latest album at the time during the filming of the movie

• In the 1985 Film Morons From Outer Space, the Iron Maiden album Number of the Beast is shown being used on the alien Bernard (Played by Mel Smith).

• Iron Maiden is mentioned in the "Total War" chronological period from the novel World War Z by Max Brooks.

• In the video game Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, (at least on the PC version) in the Indonesian TV station level, there are recording studios with posters of Bruce Dickinson singing.

• On the 30th of January 2006, Iron Maiden's second single from A Matter of Life and Death, Different World, was played during the highlights of a football game on Sportscene on the BBC.

• Adrian Smith was introduced to Dave Murray by someone else called Dave with an M in his surname.
• In the album "Powerslave", if you look carefully the hieroglyphics on the pyramids, you'll see "encoded" the words "Bollocks", "Indiana Jones was here" and "Wot, no Guinness?"
• The songs "Back In The Village" and "The Prisoner" are both based on the 60's TV show "The Prisoner" of which both Steve Harris and Adrian Smith where fans of.
• The track "Aces High" is based on World War II dog fights.
• The song "Brave New World" is based on the novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley.
• Eddie's full name is Eddie The Head -or Edward The Head- and it comes from the following old joke:
  Eddie was born with no body and no arms and no legs. Just a head. But despite this slight birth defect his parents loved him very much. So on his sixteenth birthday they run into a doctor that says "Hey, I can give Eddie a body"... so the parents are going totally nuts because finally their kid can have a body and be like other normal people. They go home and are really excited and say "Have we got a surprise for you. It's the best present ever!" and Eddie says "Oh, no, not another fucking hat!"
  
  The original Eddie was just a theatrical mask. It can be seen in the band photos on the first album and on the "Running Free" single picture sleeve. It was a face right next to the band's logo. It was connected to a pump that would eject various kinds of liquids, from food dye to paint, and would drool over Doug Sampson, Clive Burr or whoever was at the drums at the time. Fans would also try to throw stuff into the mouth at gigs.
• The song Where Eagles Dare is based on the 1968 classic WWII movie of the same title, starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton.
• The song Como Estais Amigo is a tribute to the dead Argentinian soldiers in the Falkland Islands conflict between Argentina and England in 1982.
• The song "Sign Of The Cross" is based on the book "The Name Of The Rose" (written by Umberto Eco).
• Dave Murray started the 'Charlotte saga' on Iron Maiden (1980) by writing the song 'Charlotte the Harlot' about a prostitute in the East End of London. This was continued on Number of the Beast (1982) with the song '22 Accacia Avenue' and the No Prayer for the Dying (1990) song 'Hooks in You'. 'From Here to Eternity', on Fear of the Dark (1992), also mentions Charlotte, although as this is in passing it is not regarded as being a true part of the saga.
• The song "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is based on the poem of the same name written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And though the song is perhaps Iron Maiden's longest studio track, it barely scratches the suface of the poem it's based on
• The song "The Trooper" is about the charge of the Light Brigade at the battle of Balaklava and is based on a poem written by Lord Alfred Tennyson.
• The live Keyboardist, not officially a band member, is named Michael "Count" Kenney.

Couple of Maiden songfacts

Aces High by Iron Maiden

This song describes an air battle from the viewpoint of a flying ace. The lyrics and fast-paced style have made the song commonly associated with war, and it appeared in the 1986 film Incident at Channel Q, about a war between headbangers and conservative "straight people"
.
The first line is "There goes the siren that warns of the air raid." Lead singer Bruce Dickinson had earned the nickname "The Air Raid Siren" for his powerful, never-tiring vocals. He is also a licensed pilot, and since leaving the band in 1993, has flown many commercial flights.

Partially inspired by the 1976 war film of the same name starring Malcolm McDowell and Christopher Plummer.
The cover for the single was a close-up of Eddie (Iron Maiden's mascot) in a WWII jet. The back of the case showed the jet spiraling the ground, up in flames, smoke spewing from it. The B-side was "King of Twilight."
On the back of the album Somewhere in Time, there is an Aces High Bar.

On the cover art, to the left below the cockpit there is a unique symbol scribbled in white. This is cover art designer Derek Rigg's "logo," which depicts his initials - a mirrored D and an R on the right hand side.

Iron Maiden had already performed two songs about a historical war from the perspective of those being attacked. One was "Invaders," which was set during a Viking sea battle. The other was "Trooper," set during the Crimean War in which the British fought the Russians (see the famous Alfred Lord Tennyson poem The Charge of the Light Brigade). After this, Maiden wrote and performed another song about flying aces in combat, "Tailgunner." "Run to the Hills" was also about a historical war/invasion, but was told from the perspective of both the invaders and the invaded.

This was covered by Children of Bodon for the album A Tribute to the Beast and Arch Enemy for the album Made In Tribute - A Tribute to The Best Band In A Whole Goddamn World!.


Quest For Fire by Iron Maiden

This is based on the 1981 French film of the same name directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It is about cavemen looking for fire, and contains little dialogue. As such, it is something of an art film and not very popular.

This is generally acknowledged as one of Maiden's worst songs. Like the film, few people like it.

*****
some useful info from Dance with Shadows

If it’s your first time for a Metal Concert you need to know a few things: Mosh Pit: is common in every metal show. The cops in India should be explained that if a mosh pit occurs not to intervene as it is part of the show.

A mosh pit is when people collide against each other just like atoms and molecules. If this starts and it’s your first time stay away from it as it may injure you. If you want to have some fun you can join the pit for once in a life time experience (but carefully).

Wall of Death: is another way of enjoying a metal concert.
People stand in two opposite corners like a wall and when one side charges, the other side also charge towards each other. Its almost like two trains colliding head-on with each other.

Hopefully all these things will make your concert more injury free. If you are not a freak then go somewhere in the corner for shelter. The first Metal bands to come to India and the security are surely going to have a tough time handling the violent crowd.

.....

Meesa gonna be there!
Bring in the noise, kick some ass and awaken the beast. Ed Hunter's here to stay!

Parting shot:
Word is out that Sepultura is set to perform on 1st April in Mumbai and 2nd April in Bangalore. I am not sure how much of it is true because the Sepultura official site, fan sites all have listed the tour dates till March 31st, 2007.
I'll keep my fingers crossed till that happens and keep my ears open for any news on this regard.

\m/

Labels: maxMusic