Today sees the Iron Maiden juggernaut cruise into town, and Nottingham Capital FM Arena is the setting for tonight’s sell out gig. The Nottingham natives have been getting restless judging by the Twitter and Facebook chatter, eagerly anticipating the event and experiencing these absolute legends of British metal. A quick survey of the gathering masses filling the floor, hitting the bar and splashing out at the overflowing merch stalls is a credit to the longevity and legendary status of Bruce Dickinson and his boys. All generations seem present and correct, right from young kids hoisted on parents shoulders for their first Maiden gig, to the battle hardened greying Maiden veterans, still squeezing into their original back patched denim jackets from the mid 70′s.
But before we get to the main event, we have the small matter of the support band. Worthy of a review in their own right, and firm TINAS faves Airbourne have been brought along for the ride, and to get the party started. There’s no other way of saying it, Airbourne are simply ace. Proper old school Rock ‘n’ Roll debauchery. The few that didn’t manage to drag themselves away from the bar as the “Terminator” intro music kicked in missed a real treat. The huge “No Guts No Glory” Airbourne backdrop sums it all up as the Aussie troop thunder through their raucous set. It’s all ripped jeans and no shirt, balls to the wall rock with loony front man Joel O’Keefe on fine form as he bounces around the stage like a hyperactive Tigger. It’s a support slot, so we don’t really get the full on mad antics we saw at Sonisphere this year, but we get the big gun anthems. “Raise The Flag”, “Cheap Wine and Cheaper Women”, “Diamond In The Rough” and “Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast” all get airings as the Maiden crowd starts to warm to these antipodean rogues. By the time the anthemic set closer “Runnin’ Wild” is thrown out, Nottingham Capital FM Arena is bouncing, and any unsure Maiden fan left has no option other than being swept up in the infectious Airbourne grooves. Airbourne can walk away from Nottingham with a few thousand extra fans from the die hard Maiden faithful.
UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” blast’s through the Arena’s PA, a five minute warning to the mighty Iron Maiden experience. The lights are killed, the atmosphere electrifies and we are teased further as the lengthy intro to “Satellite 15… The Final Frontier” reverberates about the place, with the impressive lighting rig getting a full work out. As Bruce Dickinson and crew finally land on stage, the roof is raised and the place explodes. Everyone surges forward and bounces as one, as Maiden conduct the masses. The opening salvo is brutal and relentless as “The Final Frontier” becomes “El Dorado”, with Dickinson’s air raid vocals soaring through the mix, interspersed with the mandatory “Scream for me Nottingham!” orders. As he commands, we obey, and thousands scream back at the six figures on stage. What we thought was already running at full tilt is turned up a notch further, as the triple guitar assault of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers rip into “2 Minutes To Midnight”. Much as Iron Maiden’s later albums are excellent, it’s still the stonewall classics that get the biggest response.
This is of course part of “The Final Frontier World Tour” and so we are going to have a set leaning towards the latest album. “The Talisman” is a belter of a track, and in our TINAS opinion the best on the album, and hearing it live is a serious chills down your spine moment. “Coming Home” is prefixed with a spiel from Bruce about their world travels and the crowd laps up everything the Maiden boys are throwing at them. The new tracks nestled in with the old shows the progression Maiden have forged, and with Dickinson eager to reassure us that Maiden will be around for years to come, it wont be long before these new tracks sit in familiar territories and become stalwart classics in their own rights.
Any unsure lull from the newer tracks is well and truly kicked in to touch, as once more Nottingham roars as the ever changing “Eddie” backdrop morphs into “The Trooper”. Dickinson sprints up and around the stage and scenery, now dressed in his red Army jacket and brandishing the Union Jack. The signature riffs thunder through the arena as Steve Harris prowls, grinning from ear to ear, as if West Ham had just won the Champion’s League whilst his fingers gallop along with the rhythm. The flags are discarded, the backdrop morphs once more as “… the shadow of the Wicker Man is rising up again”. Our vocal chords are strained to the extremes as we sing, or rather screech along. Nicko McBrain is as flawless as ever, whilst obscured by his mountainous kit for the majority of time, his work area gets plenty of air time and you cant help but notice how much he smiles whilst belting seven bells out of his kit.
Iron Maiden are simply awesome, a real powerhouse of a metal unit and tonight’s show is a full on experience. The entertainment level is through the roof, with the visuals impressing as much as the music. Right through from Eddie coming on stage with his own guitar and duelling with Gers, to the Devil stage prop for “The Number Of The Beast” and of course the giant animatronic Eddie “Final Frontier” head shoulders and arms rising from behind the drums. But Iron Maiden are more than just entertainment, there is the banter with the crowd from Bruce, but we have to raise our hats to his opinions on the recent Norway tragedies. The diversity of playing in Jakarta and the religious connotations of that all put into perspective against a so called Christian murdering many in Olso. The fact that the world events are even mentioned is a real leveller, and form poignant introductions for certain tracks.
Nottingham came en masse to be entertained tonight, and Iron Maiden did just that. Mixing up the new and old with great effect. This was huge set and a huge evening. Dickinson reminded us constantly that Maiden are here to stay, and after such a blinder tonight we can all say in unison… “thank fuck for that”.
Iron Maiden Setlist:
Satellite 15… The Final Frontier
El Dorado
2 Minutes to Midnight
The Talisman
Coming Home
Dance of Death
The Trooper
The Wicker Man
Blood Brothers
When the Wild Wind Blows
The Evil That Men Do
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Running Free
Our Rating: 
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Are you insane, was u at the same gig as me……..
The sound was horrendous, just about as bad as it can be. yes the band are great, and tight, but sack the soundman, who let the band down big time. i stood by the foh mixer and watched the soundman cram his fingers in his ears to check if the balance was right. just pull the overall mix back and let the room do the work.
it got slightly better mid set, but these are meant to be pro engineers, it should take 30seconds not 55 mins.
sgt major harris should be dishing out some major bollockings!!!
sorry for the rant, but a hugely dissapointed maiden fan.
@Tony – Totally understand what you are saying and why you’re disappointed. You would expect being by the sound desk to have the best sound in the house.
I’ll admit I had the same experience at the Arena for the Dance Of Death tour, and it surprises me the number of bands I’ve seen over the years at the Arena that have struggled with their sound, however from our viewpoint for this one the sound was not an issue. This time though we were up in the rafters.
It was a little murky and muddy until hallfway through El Dorado, but from then it was perfectly fine.
I’d be interested to have more perspectives about the sound at floor level.
I found that with my musicians ear plugs the sound was better as it cut a lot of the mids out. The arena is a cess pit for mid frequences colleting and blasting out. I too was stood behind the mixing desk and unfortunately the sound engineer was too busy chatting to people around him to notice. I wanted to jump over the barrier and get my hands on the whatever band (2×30 perhaps) EQ was mounted in the reck and cut those mids.
Very disappointing there but besides the let down of the engineer I thought Maiden played the best that I’ve seen them, their new tracks are epic, their light show was fantastic… I wish I could afford to buy another ticket for one of their UK dates.
Like the previous posters I was mightily hacked off with the sound. It wasn’t until “The Trooper” that I either the sound engineer got the balance right, or my ears became accustomed to the battering.
Once things had settled down, and I could properly hear the tracks, I thought that the concert was superb. The right mixture between old and new. The opening riff to “The Wicker Man” made my hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and “When the Wild Wind Blows” and “Fear of the Dark” were truly amazing.
Just ordered the Airbourne album too, I was mightily impressed.
i was about 5 rows from the front , the sound was horendously bad for most of the show , however as usually maiden tried their hardest to put on a great show and i still had a great time , is it the soundman or the venue that makes the sound bad as have been to a few gigs lately with terrible sound , plus the reviews of high voltage last weekend calll for the soundman to be shot or at least never work a rock gig again
I have been a have been a fan of Iron Maiden from my teens and I finally got the chance to see them live so I also took along my son who is 17 and now a fan having listened to all my albums.
I was so looking forward to the father and son experience and hearing the power of Bruce’s voice live.
But from the first song the experience was painfull. We were sat quite close to the stage on the left hand side – the sound was so loud and so distorted with feedback I couldn’t distingush voice from guitar. The high pitched guitars seemed to scream a background reverb that just drownd out the vocal.
I could see Bruce’s lips moving on the big screen but couldn’t hear any of the words he was singing due to the background whale and scream of distortion.
The only way I could listen was with fingers in my ears and that seemed to drown out the screeching feedback.
After the third song I was ready for walking out as it was getting unbearable, uncomfortable and not a pleasurable experience – one guitar in particular I was hoping that they would just turn it off.
For a band I have followed throughout my adult live and so looked forward to hearing and engaging with I was almost in tears with disappointment.
I first thought it was my ears – but I have been recently to status quo at the same arena in virtually the same seats and the audio was superb. I have also been to see Deep Purple recently at NEC and felt the raw power of a guitar in crystal clarity.
I feel very let down by a band I would have expected to be at the lead in rock performance and entertainment – but I came away feeling let down and very disappointed.