IRON MAIDEN : LIVE REPORT FROM DORTMUND, GERMANY
Iron Maiden’s incredible Future Past Tour is reaching the end of its European leg with a handful of dates in Germany, concluding with a headline show at the mighty Wacken festival. K-RPM decided to take a trip to Dortmund, and the legendary Westfalenhalle arena, for a closer look before the tour moves on to North America.
Yes, we are a Parisian webzine, but with no indoor venue hosting Iron Maiden’s Future Past Tour in France this time around we made the decision to head to the east. It was here in Dortmund after all that the band killed off their mascot Eddie for the first time, back in 1983, and it was Dortmund where the full-length concert DVD from the Death On The Road Tour was filmed. “Scream for me Dortmund” is just another one of those phrases that sticks in the heads of the die-hards.
With COVID messing up Maiden‘s now traditional album – tour – history tour – album cycle, Senjutsu – now two years old – has been forced to share its own tour with the re-imagining of the original Somewhere On Tour show from the eighties. Somehow, the concept of merging these two albums into one show, this Future Past Tour, just seemed like the most logical thing they could have done. It is also one of the most exciting ideas they have had in years, which is no small feat considering how satisfying the Legacy Of The Beast tour turned out to be.
The announcement of the tour also gave hope for an answer to what had become, since the advent of social media at least, the “eternal” question of, “Will Maiden ever play Alexander The Great?” Surely this was it … and it’s quite possible that the idea of finally playing the historical epic was the seed of the whole idea to reentact the Somewhere in Time tour.
Try explaining to someone outside of the Maiden Family that the song which possibly makes more Maiden fans weaker at the knees then almost any other is in fact a song written and played by another band. Or perhaps don’t. Pretty much all rock shows have their intro tapes, and Maiden is no exception – but Maiden’s intro tape has its own intro tape, one that is guaranteed to send the crowd into an absolute frenzy, and so when, finally, UFO’s Doctor Doctor begins to ring out, the noise from the Westfalenhalle crowd is absolutely deafening.
And then it happens. The same intro tape from 1986, the Vangelis theme from Blade Runner begins its trance-like beat, the electronic music, so out of place in this environment, matched with the neon lights above the stage, builds and builds until it’s crescendo when the sound of a ticking clock, a burst of thunder and then, of course, the paced, opening chords of Caught Somewhere In Time send the crowd to another level of madness altogether. And finally, finally … boom! We’re off!
One of our least favourite words in the English language used to describe something fun, impressive, exciting, mad or over the top is without doubt “bonkers”, but it was almost impossible to watch this opening song without smiling from ear to ear, jumping around like crazy and just admitting to yourself that yes, this whole thing is entirely … bonkers! The fact alone that they have chosen to open with this complex, no-let-up 7-minute gallop, one that they haven’t played live since they were all around thirty years old, was surprising enough. The glorious neon and ultra-violet lighting, the Blade Runner-esque backdrops and of course … Bruce Dickinson, dressed in a full-on “time traveller” outfit, long grey coat sweeping around, a pair of black goggles that just touch the most ridiculous side of cool, while treating his mic-stand like an abused dance partner just added to the insanity of the entire affair.
After the opener it’s straight into another Somewhere In Time epic, Stranger In A Strange Land which also gives us our first sighting of band mascot, Eddie, appearing in his Man With No Name coat and hat, leaning against the side of the stage set, observing the band just like any other 12-foot tall, cyborg-cowboy mashup would do.
From then on, we storm through a selection from Senjutsu, The Days Of Future Past and The Time Machine appropriately given their live debuts during this section. The Time Machine especially turns out to be a real crowd-pleaser, the post solo section having the entire crowd jumping up and down.
There are very few “classics” mixed in with the Somewhere In Time / Senjutsu tracks – The Prisoner being a notable surprise of course, but it is in fact the lack of classic songs that makes this show as spectacular as it is, in a way. This is one of the best Maiden shows we have ever witnessed, and this is without any sign of The Number Of The Beast, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Run To The Hills, Aces High … we could go on. The entire setlist is a testament to the strength of both Maiden’s back catalogue and their newest material. There isn’t one song in tonight’s show that we’d have passed on.
Iron Maiden have played this second Bruce era of their career (all 24 years of it) to perfection. Their “history” tours have never once come across as anything like the kind of cash-in, Greatest Hits tours many other artists start to pull out of the bag at varying stages of their careers, and this is because they have never needed to. The Greatest Hits tours start when the ideas dry-up, when the output seems pale compared to the classics, when the bands have no interest in writing new material, and when the fans are starting to stray towards something fresh and new. But none of this has ever applied to Maiden. The new material is always on point, the live shows are always
strong, something that continues to this very day, and because of all this the fans are as loyal as it is possible to be. The Senjutsu album itself contains songs that are on par with anything the band have ever recorded and has what may even be some of their finest moments to date (The Writing On The Wall and Hell On Earth are two tracks that instantly spring to mind – both featured tonight, we were happy to discover). The History tours are here for a reason. When Bruce asked the crowd tonight to raise their hands if they were born after their 1988 classic Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album came out it would be no exaggeration to say that over a third of the crowd on the floor raised their hands. The History tours are for these younger fans to hear the songs they missed out on, but also for the older fans to get their fix of songs we haven’t heard for a very long time. And of course, on this tour, to hear something none of us have ever heard live before.
Maiden could probably have called this tour “The Alexander The Great Tour” and sold just as many tickets, such was the anticipation from the fans to finally hear this song live. The band must have their reasons why it was never played on the original ’86 tour – perhaps as Rime Of The Ancient Mariner was still relatively new and featured in the setlist there wasn’t enough room for two epics, who knows? Perhaps it was just too complex to play with the kind of frenetic energy their shows exuded back then. Whatever the reason, it no longer matters. When the song finally arrives, you can feel the entire audience snap to attention. No one wants to miss a second of this.
Maiden are, as always, Maiden. Steve Harris, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray work the stage exactly how we’d expect, and want, but it’s the other two members of the band who deserve very specific
and honorable mentions this time around. The first is of course drummer Nicko McBrain – at 71 years old did any of us ever imagine that Nicko Boomer McBrain would still be behind the kit at such an age? There is no let-up in the driving energy behind the songs, the tempos, the power, it is all still there.
The other honorable mention goes out to front-man Bruce Dickinson. We’ve rarely seen Bruce on such form, having so much fun. He is the front-man, entertainer, and still after all these years, (and everything he’s been through) the air-raid siren. He is at the top of his game. Logic suggests that after 40 years give or take doing this job then of course he should be at the top of his game, but these things are never a given. Look at his peers. Not only is Bruce on the top of his game, but he’s also far above everyone else’s.
“Time … is always on my side …” we’re all screaming during the opening song, and of course, “time” is the big thing now. The clock is ticking. The fans are treating every Maiden show as if it may be one of the last times they see them. And the band? Does this dwell on them too? It’s hard to tell. They just look like they are having the time of their lives, embracing this stage of their careers.
The last word of the night from Bruce was a promise that we would all see each other again, and for all the excitement and exhilaration we felt tonight there is still, even now, one thing none of us can wait for, even after all they have given us in the past, and that is to see what the future holds for Iron Maiden.
SETLIST: CAUGHT SOMEWHERE IN TIME : STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND : THE WRITING ON THE WALL : THE DAYS OF FUTURE PAST : THE TIME MACHINE : THE PRISONER : THE DEATH OF THE CELTS : CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS? : HEAVEN CAN WAIT : ALEXANDER THE GREAT : FEAR OF THE DARK : IRON MAIDEN ::: HELL ON EARTH : THE TROOPER : WASTED YEARS
words and photos : Brian Downie
