Iron Maiden closed its 2008 American tour last night with a glorious onslaught of metal and some terrible sound problems.
The band has already sold out stadiums from India to Japan, Brazil to Costa Rica on its “Somewhere Back in Time” tour. But it couldn’t sell out Comcast Center last night. And after playing to close to a million people, the septet of metal gods couldn’t escape sonic hiccups for almost an hour. But it didn’t really matter.
The Iron Maiden nation didn’t come for crystal clear sound. The fans came to hear hits in rapid-fire succession like bullets from band mascot Eddie’s machine gun. They came to see a fog of doom descend during a 13-minute “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” a massive model sphinx’s head split open to reveal a giant mummy Eddie shambling like the specter of death, and six towers of flame erupt throughout “The Number of The Beast.”
During its worst bits, the sound got so bad singer Bruce Dickinson’s mike completely cut out - his stage banter before “Wasted Years” was almost totally lost. But after half a dozen songs, the engineers did their job and Dickinson was as operatic and epic as ever.
Since Adrian Smith’s return to the band in 1999, Maiden has embraced the triple guitar attack. Why three guitars? Well, that’s a stupid question to a Maiden fan. Maiden devotees think of guitarists the same way Gillette thinks of razors: More are always better. And the proof is in the performance. Guitarists Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers sliced up staples “Powerslave,” “Heaven Can Wait” and “The Trooper” with berserker solos.
But Maiden remains bassist and chief songwriter Steve Harris’ group. The architect of archetypal metal, Harris invented the genre’s galloping beat that propels most Maiden tunes. And the pick-less bassist, with his amazingly melodic lines, led his troopers through that trademark beat on most of the songs, including “Run to the Hills” and newer gem “Fear of The Dark.”
As in any Maiden show, the pageantry often - if not always - bordered on self parody. But after 20 years these guys know who they are, and aren’t afraid to joke at there own expense: Dickinson made a knowingly tenuous connection between Al Gore’s green message and “Mariner.” To them it’s only rock ’n’ roll, or rather histrionic metal, but they like it.
Harris’ daughter, Lauren Harris, opened the show with a some pop metal that was strictly mediocre - yet showed potential. But since she has a 23-year-old’s pretty face and was wearing skin-tight leather pants, no one in Maiden’s cult was about to complain about the old man’s kid’s set.
