Bruce Dickinson is THE FRONTMAN. Bruce Dickinson is simply one of the best things that have ever happened to Heavy Metal. When I left home to go to his concert I could never imagine what would happen in front of my eyes. Together with me they experienced the same magic about 4.000 fans who have filled the place. It was a magical concert, it was probably the best concert for 1998. But let's take things from the beginning and slowly unfold the whole story.

Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith and their company were on stage exactly on time and they started with "Trumpets of Jericho" from their latest album "Chemical Wedding". Bruce and his band need no spikes, no theatrical scenery, no smoke effects, no leather and nothing at all, except their presence to drive us crazy. His personality is so strong that he can do it in his short and a t-shirt with no sleeves ! His voice is awesome, his live performance simply can't be described. For 105 minutes he was running and jumping on stage, singing and dancing, playing with the audience and when he was screaming "Scream for me Athens", the crowd was responsing so loudly that you coudn't hear the band play ! This man is a charismatic frontman. He can make the crowd do exactly what he likes. I had the feeling that if he asked the audience to do flips they would ! At least i certainly would, and i believe that most of the people there would follow !

The first 45 minutes of the show were dedicated to the new album. After "Trumpets of Jericho" they continued with "King in Crimson", "Chemical Wedding", "Killing Floor", "The Tower" and a few others that i can't really remember. After those 45 minutes passed it was time for Bruce to remember his older albums. He started with "Tears of the Dragon", to continue with "Laughing in the hidding bush", "Accident of Birth", and then... then he said the magic words.

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea,
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath
because he knows the time is short...
Let him who have understanding reckon the number of the beast,
for it is a human number
it's number six hundred and sixty six....
.. and... and... and He played "Powerslave" instead of "Number of the beast" ! Anyway we forgive him since it was far better than listening the present Iron Maiden playing the song. You simply can't compare Bruce and Blaze. Bruce is a frontman, Blaze is'nt. Anyway we had the pleasure to see Bruce perform three Iron Maiden songs since in the two times that he came back on stage for the encores he also played "Two minutes to Midnight" and a fantastic "Flight of Icarus" along with "Tattooed Millionaire" and "Dark Side of Aquarious".

Theend of the concert found everybody exhausted. Bruce is pure entertainment. He can sing and perform like nobody else. I just hope that we'll have the chance to see him again soon enough. Welcome home Bruce.