I listen to a lot of modern music and usually don't stay intune with a lot of bands from my past.  So when I initially heard that Iron Maiden was coming to town I thought "Whatever.  Probably another lame ass CD of regurgiated classic rock sounding songs."  Just out of curiousity I checked online and to my surprise the tour was dubbed "Somewhere Back In Time."  The bottled up kid in me surged to life as I read the tour was based on hits from 1980-89.  Those were the days when I was heavily into Maiden.  I've never seen them live before, I just saw old footage from a VCR tape 'Live After Death' at a long lost friends house years ago.  So now this was my chance to hear it all live for the first time.  I even went out and bought the 'Live After Death' DVD and watched it a few times, which made me reminising of the 'good ole days.'

I ended up going with an old high school buddy of mine (how appropriate,) and it set the mood perfectly.  Old music with an old friend.  The weather was perfect and the opening act was finishing up as we arrived on the scene around 8:30.  I grabbed a tour t-shirt, a couple of $8 cups of beer and axiously awaited for the show.  We joked and laughed about the past up until the stage went dark and footage on the big screen of Maidens current tour gave a glimpse into the bands life on the road while Transylvania played along.

The start up of WWII plane engines signaled Churchills famous speech that leads into the intro of Aces High!  By then I was in 80's nostalgia.  It was pure bliss as the band ripped off song after song.  Bruce Dickenson was running all over the stage, and his vocals were impecable.  I felt I was in the DVD I watched leading up to the event.  Steve Harris galloped the bass as I screamed like a little biatch as Adrian Smith and Dave Murray blew me away making the solos to each song look effortless.  There is no way any modern popular guitars could match those two.  They were my guitar heros from back in the day (Janick Gerrs did okay too!)  I sang every song and head banged to my hearts content.  Me and my buddy made a run to the pissers and then got a couple more 8$ beers during Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner, getting back just before they played Powerslave.  Waves of garage band memories flooded through my head as they played Wasted Year, The Trooper, and Hallowed Be Thy Name.  I haven't had that much fun in years. 

By the end of the encore I was completely exhausted.  I'm too old to have that much fun and my body knew it.  Walking back to the car, along with the rest of the capacity crowd was fun.  Hardcore fans were still hollering and yelling out, still full of the excitment of the unbelieveably great show.  I could hear in the distance a few groups chanting 'Maiden maiden maiden!'  In the car we were already reminising about events not even a couple hours old.  When I got home I hit the sheets and curled up in bed like a little kid, still wearing my brand new Iron Madien t-shirt. 

Set list:

Churchills Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
Number of the Beast
Can I Play With Madness
Rhyme 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