They were playing and suddenly the electricity went off... "Hey, what the hell is happening?!?!?" everybody screamed... Fortunately the emergency lights worked and after a minute the power returned.Well, this problem occurred 3 times during their show...After about 25 minutes they left the stage and the roadies prepared for Bruce's band...
Everybody was really impatience and we couldn't wait anymore! The technicians also checked all the cables and equipments in order to avoid the problems the Pink Cream 69 encountered, so we waited for about 45 minutes...
Finally, the band appears and we welcomed our gods screaming "Bruce" and "Adrian"!!!! They started with "Trumpets of Jericho". The sound was very good and I was very very impressed by the guys... We all know Bruce and his stage performances and I was lucky to see him during his last show with Maiden in Italy, 5 years ago always in Milan, so it was no surprise to me his energy!!!
It was my first time I saw Adrian and let me say he's really great, great, great!!!!!!Of course he's much better than Janick Gers!!!!!!!!!Also The Guru played very well and let me say he was very cool. And what to say about the bass player, Eddie Casillas? He was just awesome!!!!!!! Really impressive especially when they played "The Tower"!!! I was just beneath the stage and so I could see very well his fingers running on the bass!!!!!At first I didn't like very much the guy at the drums, David Ingraham. He started the show with an earphone and he was the first metal drummer I've ever seen live to use the "click"!!!!!!It also seemed he really had to concentrate on what he was doing. Anyway, later on the show he took off the earphone. He didn't play bad and actually he was very accurate but he lacks some fantasy. Nicko McBrain is much better also from this point of view.
Anyway, they played some songs and during the wonderful "Tears of the Dragon", the power went off again!!!!I couldn't believe it!!!!Bruce appeared very sorry for us the fans but after a few seconds he mimed us to calm down and like an orchestra director, he led us to sing the chorus!!! We all sang "I throw myself into the sea, Release the wave, let it wash over me, To face the fear I once believed, The tears of the dragon for you and for me"along with Bruce and it was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!!
After we finished the chorus, Bruce went to the drums and he played a bit!!!!He's not a very good drummer, but he's an incredible show man!!!!!!
Then the electricity came back and the show went on with Laughing In The Hiding Bush.After 5 minutes, the problem happened again, this time when they were playing "Accident of Birth". Everybody was singing the chorus along with Bruce so we just continued when the power went off. Anyway after a few seconds, the power came back and the band just began to play again, without any interruption! Very cool!!!!!!
During the show they also played songs he wrote during the old Maiden's days: Powerslave, Two Minutes to Midnight and Flight of Icarus. It was great, great, great to listen to these songs live after so many years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The show was almost over when Bruce offered us white wine to drink, incredible huh?!?!?!?! He opened 5 or 6 bottles and he drank first then passed the bottle down to us. I was lucky because I could drink too from a bottle, wow, I drank from the same bottle He drank!!!!!!!
At the end of the show he thanked us for being such a patience crowd nevertheless the electricity problem and he said that it was ok for him if we wanted to ask our money back, really a great guy! I think no one will ask for his money back also because thanks to this problem we really had an unusual but unforgettable show!!!!!
Bye!
Matteo Maestroni,
Alme', Bergamo, Northern Italy.