Up The Irons

So last night was the big show, Iron Maiden at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The drive there was ominous as we were in a torrential thunderstorm within 10 miles of the Merriweather, which is an outdoor amphitheater. However, Eddie apparently can control the weather as it never rained there.

The opening act was Lauren Harris. Her daddy is in Iron Maiden. She plays unoffensive melodic hard rock. She's not bad, but Maiden could have had a fairly big name band opening for them if they wanted. However, a female hard rocker is always welcome in the world. There aren't nearly enough of them.

Maiden hit the stage with Aces High amid showers of sparks and pyrotechnics and never really slowed down. The set list looked like this.

• Intro/Aces High
• 2 Minutes to Midnight
• Revelations
• The Trooper
• Wasted Years
• The Number of the Beast
• Can I Play With Madness?
• Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Powerslave
• Heaven Can Wait
• Run to the Hills
• Fear of the Dark
• Iron Maiden
• ENCORE/Moonchild
• The Clairvoyant
• Hallowed Be Thy Name

It was very much a greatest hits show, with nary of mention of the most recent album. At one point Bruce even joked about the number of people at the show who weren't even born when most of the songs were written. We were treated to 2 giant Eddies during the show. During Iron Maiden, the giant sarcophagus behind the set opens and a giant 40 foot Eddie puppet emerges with sparks shooting from his eyes. And then during The Clairvoyant a 12 foot future Eddie (from Somewhere in Time) was wandering the stage with a laser gun.

In a way I feel a little sorry for Breck. Iron Maiden sets the bar real high. Future rock concerts he attends are likely to pale in comparison.

Other random thought from the show:

• Between sets they played Journey over the PA system. Most of us booed.
• If your hair has turned gray don't try to spike it for the Maiden concert. It's not a good look.
• If you are trying to dance to Rime of the Ancient Mariner you are most likely really drunk, stoned, or both.
• The no smoking law in Howard County is apparently just a mild suggestion. It's been quite a while since I caught a whiff of either a clove cigarette or the demon weed. Both were present last night, although not really in abundance.
• Concert t-shirts start at $35 each. I didn't buy at that price. I never had money for concert t-shirts when I was a kid, and I just can't pay $35 for a t-shirt even when I have the money.