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July 6th, 2010 was the one and only time I saw Iron Maiden, and I report this fact with significant regret. And not just because it was a really great concert, which it was. No, I regret not seeing them before because of Izzy Stradlin. But first:
Maiden was the headlining act on a sweltering opening night of Bluesfest, an easy indicator of how epic the lineup was for that year’s festival (which also included Further, Joan Jett, The B-52’s, Rush, Santana, The Flaming Lips…oh, it was all so great). Following a note-filled opening set from prog-metal demigods Dream Theater, Iron Maiden mounted a stage decorated with stage props that mimicked a jetliner crashed on the moon (or some such thing) and proceeded to rock everyone’s faces to the ground.
I will freely admit that I didn’t recognize a single song for the entire set, though if they had played Run to the Hills I would’ve been right there with them, but they didn’t. Clearly I’m not much of a Maiden fan and I never have been (though I’ve always admired Bruce Dickinson’s rapid-fire machine gun bass playing).
Then why am I so sore that I hadn’t seen them before? I’m sure the rock historians out there took one look at my Izzy Stradlin comment and immediately knew why, but for the rest of you:
In my early teenage years I fell in love with rock concerts and swore I would go to any and all shows that came through my hometown’s Coliseum regardless of who it was. I just wanted to go to concerts and Moncton didn’t get too many. And then in 1988 Iron Maiden announced a tour stop at the Coliseum and I almost went. Even though I didn’t care for the band at all, just the prospect of seeing a live concert nearly got me out the door, but in the end I decided to save the twenty bucks and I blew it off.
And here’s the kicker: a young group of upstarts called Guns ’n Roses opened the show as part of their second ever arena tour (their first tour had been supporting The Cult*). Appetite for Destruction had just been released, nobody really knew who these guys were, and they still had the original lineup which included drummer Steven Adler but most importantly still included their principal songwriter and secret element of awesomeness Izzy Stradlin, who would quit GnR just months before I finally did get to see them.
Oh, to have seen Guns ’n Roses when they were young, hungry, and devoid of rockstar ego trips! But I didn’t.**
It’s too bad, because I suspect if I had I might have become a fan of Iron Maiden too. And I would’ve probably enjoyed this concert even more, even without Run to the Hills.
*Even more painful, when Guns ’n Roses opened for The Cult at the Moncton Coliseum in 1987 it was literally their SECOND-EVER time playing in an arena, and just the fourth stop on the Appetite for Destruction tour. The first three stops were The Marquee Club in London, the Plaza Hotel Ballroom in Los Angeles, and the Halifax Metro Centre. Unfortunately I’ve never liked The Cult so I skipped that one too. Clearly I am pretty fast and loose with my self-promises.
**As a bonus kick-in-the-teeth, after opening for Maiden the entire band went to The Junction Club – where I worked as a busboy – and sat drinking at the bar until closing time. I had the night off.
Todd Man Out 