First attempt at a concert review here.
I had seen Iron Maiden on their Final Frontier tour on which they played a lot of songs from their more recent albums. They were great, but the truth is that most people wanted to hear more classics. The time came for Maiden to tour the U.S. again, this time with a set list made up of classics from their golden years.
Alice Cooper opened for Maiden. My concert-buddy said that it felt weird for Alice Cooper to open as opposed to headline because Alice Cooper was said to be as much of a stage show as a concert, but when would the great Iron Maiden ever open for another band? I'm admittedly not a huge Alice Cooper listener, although I do appreciate the band, and sure enough they played the, like, four songs by them that I actually knew (those being "I'm Eighteen", "Billion Dollar Babies", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", and "School's Out"). They definitely put on a pretty good show and the crowd massively approved. Also sure enough, Alice Cooper himself was "executed" on stage towards the end of the set, only to return in a Devils jersey for School's Out, during he also sang lyrics from Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall". Overall, while I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see Alice Cooper just because I am not a huge listener, it was a good show, and I would give the band's performance a good 7.5 or 8/10.
As expected, it took a little while for Iron Maiden to take the stage, but finally the recording of UFO's "Doctor Doctor" was played, and Iron Maiden took the stage to "Moonchild" off "Seventh Son". They played a lot from the "Seventh Son" album, but I have no complaints about that! This was my friend's and my first time seeing classics such as "The Trooper" and "Phantom of the Opera" live, and Maiden put on an amazing performance from start to finish of their set. Bruce Dickinson handled all of the songs pretty much perfectly, including screams such as the famous one in "Number of the Beast", and the band, having been playing these songs for decades, played perfectly. Not every solo was note-for-note the same as each song's album recording, but, really, what band other than Dream Theater or Megadeth even aims to recreate songs or solos straight from the album? Every solo felt right anyway.
The only two songs that I would say were missing would have been "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Powerslave", but, that said, there wasn't a single song that I would have replaced for this performance. Maiden's sheer power lasted throughout the performance, and whenever there was a calmer moment such as the build-up-to-solos in the "Seventh Son..." title track or the intro to "Fear of the Dark", it was used perfectly as a build-up to the awesomeness to come. The ending of "Seventh Son" almost made me tear up, because, as I said to my friend, it was "that fucking epic." The only bands to have brought me to that point have been Opeth (the song was "Blackwater Park") and Maiden the first time (the song then was "Hallowed Be Thy Name").
Even though Iron Maiden aren't much of a moshing band, it was easy to tell that the crowd was great and very into the performance. They would "scream (for me New Jersey)" when prompted and sing along. Bruce Dickinson knows what he's doing and is great with the crowd, and even made fun of their usual New Jersey venue, the PNC Bank Arts Center, and its lacking a GA pit in favor of "fucking chairs." My friend and I were at the back of the mass in the GA pit (not at the very back, just at the back of the mass of people, which ended up being near the middle of the pit near the controls), and at one point we noticed that some guys behind us were jumping and dancing around in the open space of the back. I admittedly never have that much energy at concerts (though I certainly feel and can love the performed music) but my friend got more into it than I had ever seen him at a concert, even more than for his favorite band, Megadeth, who we had seen three times. Afterwords, he told me that this show might have been his favorite we, as inexperienced concert-goers, had seen yet.
I would give Iron Maiden's performance a great 9.5/10. If you like Iron Maiden at all, the typically pricey ticket cost for seeing them is well worth it, and you should definitely catch these guys on tour if you can, before they eventually sadly retire after one of the most legendary careers in all of metal. As far as I know Iron Maiden have always been a famously great live band, and they have held that to today, for both times I have seen them. The set list change favoring classics also made this performance even greater than their performance on the Final Frontier tour.
Thanks for reading!
Set lists (thanks Setlist.fm as I wasn't going to remember everything or the order easily)
Alice Cooper
1. The Black Widow
2. Brutal Planet
3. I'm Eighteen
4. No More Mr. Nice Guy
5. Hey Stoopid
6. Guitar Solo
7. Billion Dollar Babies
8. Feed My Frankenstein
9. Poison
10. Wicked Young Man
11. I Love the Dead
12. School's Out
Iron Maiden
1. Moonchild
2. Can I Play With Madness
3. The Prisoner
4. 2 Minutes to Midnight
5. Afraid to Shoot Strangers
6. The Trooper
7. The Number of the Beast
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. Run to the Hills
10. Wasted Years
11. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
12. The Clairvoyant
13. Fear of the Dark
14. Iron Maiden
Encore
15. Aces High
16. The Evil That Men Do
17. Running Free
TL;DR:
Rating: 9.5/10 (Iron Maiden), 8/10 (Alice Cooper)
Personal Highlights: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Fear of the Dark, Phantom of the Opera
Recommend: See!
