1. Trumpets of Jericho
2. King in Crimson
3. Chemical Wedding
4. Gates of Urizen
5. Killing Floor
6. Book of Thel
7. Tears of a Dragon
8. Laughing in the Hiding Bush
9. Accident of Birth
10. The Tower
11. Darkside of Aquarius
12. Powerslave
Encore 1
13. Tattooed Millionaire
14. 2 Minutes to Midnight
Encore 2
15. Road to Hell
16. The Flight of Icarus
I originally hadn't intended to do a review of this show as I'd reviewed last night at Wolverhampton (see the review for the 4th December) but a few things happened, and I just had to get things off my chest. I'm sure you'll understand when you've read my whole review.
Okay, my friends and me arrive early. All but one of them had never seen Bruce, so I was interested on what their opinions would be. Usual stuff, straight to the barrier, right at the centre in front of Bruces' monitor. Only one support band tonight in the shape of Kill to This. Again their set was a little wasted on me, but some of the crowd seemed to enjoy them. It's not a sell out tonight but they moved the gig from "The Rig" next door which holds 750 people, so there was still a good crowd. Then onto Bruce. Same set as last night, the Chemical Wedding stuff sounding better everytime I hear it live. Eddie Casillas recognises me from last night and keeps waving and throwing his plectrums in my direction. Out of the numerous ones he threw I managed to catch only one..Still, one is better than none. After "Book of Thel", Bruce explains about the Chemical Wedding album, and introduces the "Plank of Wood". This is Adrian's 12 string Ovation that he uses on "Tears of a Dragon". He explains it's not digital.no processor, no Intel inside, no Bill Gates.and it will be played by the 100% analogue human being known as Adrian Smith. The rest of the set was great; the crowd seemed to get more energetic with every song, of course, exploding when Powerslave closed the set.
And then it started to go wrong. It's amazing how things seem to snowball, and what seemed like an insignificant incident proved to be anything but that. Bruce came out to do the first of his encores, and noticed that one of the security men in the pit between the stage and the crowd was smoking. Bruce asked him to put his cigarette out as he had given strict instructions that there was to be no smoking in the pit. The guy refused and Bruce poured a bottle of water over his head, thus extinguishing his cigarette whilst it was still in his mouth. Okay, sounds funny, and I must be honest I thought it was too. The security guy is a little upset at this, as you can imagine, and throws a bottle of water all over Bruce and storms off. Now, the crowd is starting to get a little tense, you could feel it. Bruce explains to the crowd that his voice is his livelihood and he doesn't want to screw it up by passive smoking. To his credit he introduces the band and breaks into "Tattooed Millionaire" as if nothing happened. Then, out of the corner of my eye I notice that all the security guys have disappeared. My only theory is that they were so outraged at Bruces' treatment of their colleague that the just upped and left. I prayed to myself that no one would do anything stupid, and as one guy came surfing over the crowd and over the barrier I had visions of serious trouble, but the guy landed in the pit and just walked to the side and into the crowd. I smiled to myself. I know a lot of Bruce fans, and they wouldn't do anything silly, would they? The band breaks into "2 Minutes to Midnight" and Bruce goes offstage to discuss something with his roadies. "2 Minutes." finishes and they break into "Road to Hell". I guessed Bruce just felt it better to get on with the set and finish up as quick as he could rather than have another gap in the set. Then it happened. Some idiot ran onto the stage, shakes Bruces' hand and dives back into the crowd. The tension in the crowd is starting to fill over and things are starting to degenerate. I'm sure Bruce must have known what was going on. It was obvious to me and I was all but a metre away from him. Suddenly Bruce's roadie jumps into the pit, closely followed by a whole host of his crew. The band finish "Road to Hell" and Bruce is livid. Not because of that idiot running on the stage, but because when he jumped into the crowd he'd caught a young girl a little of the way up on the barrier from me with his boot. There was blood everywhere, I think she must have smashed her nose or something. Bruce is seriously upset, and he stops the gig to explain to the crowd what has happened, and in o uncertain terms tell the guy what an asshole he is. The band finish up with "Flight of Icarus" but the damage had been done; the atmosphere fell like a stone in the ocean. Usually the crowd is going wild when Bruce plays any Maiden stuff, but not now, not after that. What was to be the big ending, and to many, the big suprise of the set was wrecked because of some idiot leaping into the crowd. During "Flight of Icarus" Bruce jumped into the pit and talked to the young girl. I heard him invite her backstage afterwards, he was more concerned for her than the gig, and at that point I think he was 100% right to do so. It's nice to see Bruce cares, and I must be honest Bruce, if by any chance you happen to read this, well done mate.
I'm not here to preach to any of you, but if your going to see Bruce on this tour, or any other band for that matter, just think before you act. Okay, the circumstances surrounding this incident were pretty rare, but don't go and spoil it for the rest of the guys and girls out there who are only there to have fun and support Bruce.
Before I go, let me take the liberty in wishing all of you reading this a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. From the size of the crowds I've seen recently I can see Bruce's fanbase growing with every tour. Keep up the good work all of you, I'm sure Bruce appreciates it. I know I do.
Jason Mead