Iron Maiden & Megadeth @ San Manuel Amphitheater. 9/13/13.

The Battle of San Bernadino. An eight hour heavy metal bonanza in the blistering outskirts of Southern California. Somewhere along the edge of civilization (LA County) and chaos (the desolate landscape/highway system that leads to Las Vegas) a shit ton of awesome metal bands besieged the San Manuel Amphitheater (the largest outdoor amphitheater in North America) for a full day of mosh pitting, dirt breathing, guitar shredding goodness. Iron Maiden, aka the coolest band ever, headlined the event while thrash metal legends Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament and Overkill; along with neo-thrash younglings Warbringer, handled supporting duties. "Run To The Hills" indeed.

Well, that was a sick lineup. Too bad life and traffic interfered. Between conflicting work schedules, the basic human need for food/subsistence and the two and half hour trek to the venue (FML road construction/detours/Friday after work traffic blows) we missed all the opening acts before Megadeth. Hearing Anthrax play "I Am the Law" while hiking to our seats and watching them take a bow after closing their set with "Antisocial," doesn't count. 

For whatever reason, Megadeth was the only group from thrash metal's "Big Four" lineup that I had never seen in concert. Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, I've seen them all at least twice over the past decade but have somehow always missed Megadeth. Well, on Friday the 13th, on band leader Dave Mustaine's birthday no less, the curse was finally lifted. The band opened with "Hangar 18" and the 30,000 people in attendance went ballistic. 

photo by:  Kathy Flynn @ WickedGoddessPhotography.com

Thankfully, Dave and co. played a greatest hits set, with only one track off their new album Super Collider making the cut. After years of struggling with live vocals, Megadeth have recently begun tuning their guitars down a step so that Dave's voice is finally in key with the music once again. This meant that the vocals sounded fine but the music to some of the band's more technical songs *cough*"Tornado of Souls" & "Holy Wars..."*cough* sounded a bit funny. By funny, I mean distorted and slow and kind of silly. Songs with more groove and start/stops like "Sweating Bullets" and the ending breakdown of "Wake Up Dead," were awesome though, especially with thousands of people shouting along. Finally got to see Megadeth on Mustaine's birthday. Circle of life.

photo by: Kathy Flynn, @ WickedGoddessPhotography.com

Iron Maiden are magicians. Swashbuckling, acrobatic, hypnotists. Only Iron Maiden could make such a large and sterile venue like San Manuel feel like a cozy club gig. Their music and stage show are larger than life. Attending an Iron Maiden show is an all encompassing experience. The elaborate backdrops on stage, the fireworks and pyrotechnics, the singing and chanting, and dear lord the guitar harmonies. It's like hanging out with the singing outlaws from The Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but in Tomorrowland and Frontierland all at once. This was the final run of their 2013 Maiden England tour, where they revisited songs from their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. It was pretty much the same show as their concert from last summer, but with a crap load more people. The audience at a Maiden show is almost as important as the members onstage. The crowd at The Battle of San Bernadino was in full scale celebration mode. I took some crappy cell phone footage during "Run To the Hills" and "Fear of the Dark" and the audience was so loud I could barely hear the band. The maniacs in the lawn area behind us kept the entire venues spirits up, lighting multiple bonfires and chanting/jumping in unison all night. The rabid crowd response kept the band's energy going which resulted in yet another spectacular Iron Maiden show for the record books. How these guys keep rocking so hard in their 50's while I struggled walking back to the car once the lights came on, is something I'll never know.








*BONUS IRON MAIDEN OVERDOSE FOOTAGE*
Some awesome individual recorded the ENTIRE concert. Check it out below:

IRON MAIDEN FTW

Iron Maiden are the coolest band ever. There, I said it. Yeah, The Ramones had the sick jackets and no fucks given attitude, The Doors had that 60's psychedelic swag thing on lock, and Rage Against The Machine got tons of angst-y kids to drop (mental) f-bombs at any/all authority figures, but in the end Maiden smokes them all. Why?

Well first off, they've outlasted just about everyone. Formed in 1975, the band has been in action for 38 years now. They've never gone on hiatus or abandoned the scene, hell metal abandoned THEM in the 90's and they waited that shit out till everyone came crawling back during the new millennium. Next, the band is still relevant. Maiden are not your typical nostalgia cash in artists, as they continue to release and tour in support of new albums to this day. They're also insanely popular. Maiden regularly sell out soccer stadiums around the globe and are basically heralded as gods in South America. Also, they've sold something ridiculous like 85 million albums world wide, all due to word of mouth buzz with little to no support from mainstream radio or MTV. Finally, Maiden has Eddie, the coolest mascot in the history of mascots.

Now don't get me wrong, the individual dudes in Iron Maiden are far from Fonzie level coolness. In fact I'm almost positive a bunch of docile millionaires in their 50's are the very definition of "uncool," but that matters not. When these goofy fucks convene onstage or in the studio, they form the larger Maiden monster that's greater than the sum of it's parts. But why? Why is their campy music rooted in geeky shit like history,  mythology and science fiction so cool? Well, just listen!

It's like pirate music, full of swing and buoyant rhythms. The guitar harmonies are catchy, haunting even. Yes it's loud/heavy "metal," but there is no denying how fucking fun and exciting Maiden's music is. I want to hit the open seas and swash buckle my life away whenever this comes on. Only Iron Maiden could make a thirteen minute song about an 18th century poem rule so hard.

Why this random ass Iron Maiden tribute? Well they're playing a special little show in Southern California this Friday w/ Megadeth, Anthrax and Testament that I almost lost my tickets for. Yes, I ordered my tickets months in advance but somehow misplaced them. After a frantic search that consumed most of my afternoon, the precious tickets materialized safe and sound. I was giddy and have been blasting Powerslave and Somewhere In Time ever since.

So remember folks: Iron Maiden rule. Besides, if they're cool enough for Miley Cyrus

                                               and Michael Fassbender

then Iron Maiden is cool enough for you.



*BONUS PROOF OF MAIDEN'S SUPERIORITY*

Lady Gaga confirmed as legit Iron Maiden fan, posing backstage with Bruce and Nicko. Up The Irons Gaga.

Iron Maiden @ Verizon Amphitheater, Irvine. 8/8/12.

ALL HAIL

Iron Maiden played two sold out concerts in Southern California a few weeks back. It was AWESOME. How does a band that's been around since the early 1980's continue selling records and playing to crowds of 30,000 people with little to no support from the mainstream media (radio/MTV)? Through word of mouth. That's Iron Maiden's secret, they've got 30+ years of positive word of mouth, generations of loyal fans that keep their popularity soaring. That and they're a damn amazing band.

This trek celebrated their Maiden England tour from 1988. Meaning they played a lot of material from their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. This is hardly my favorite Iron Maiden album but even when they play songs I'm whatever about, they still put on one hell of a show.

First things first. I gotta say that Bruce Dickinson is the fucking man. Really. This was my 7th time seeing Iron Maiden since 2004 and I'm pretty sure this was the most hyped up/energetic performance I've seen from him. Not only is Bruce an amazing singer, but he's such a badass frontman it's insane. He just turned 54 years old this month and yet, there he was: running, jumping, leaping, climbing and throwing that mic stand of his around like nothing. At one point I thought, "SLOW DOWN MAN!" When he stood like 6 inches away from the giant pyro bursts during "Number of the Beast" I seriously feared for his life. I could feel the heat from those flames way out in my lodge seats, he was literally inches away and he didn't flinch at all. Bruce Dickinson, I applaud you sir.

So the show was great. Not as amazing as their Somewhere Back In Time tour from 2008 (probably the coolest thing I'll ever see in life), but still damn good fun. The title track from Seventh Son is no "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", but it's still epic as hell in it's own right. I was stoked they played "The Clairvoyant," one of the most underrated Maiden songs IMO. My absolute highlight of the night was "Phantom of the Opera." The only time I've seen Maiden play that song before was at Ozzfest 2005 when that whole egg throwing incident went down, needless to say I was stoked to finally hear an interrupted version of the song! "Wasted Years" and "Aces High" got some pretty sweet responses from the crowd as well.

(not recorded by me, but by a lucky bastard on the next day's show)

The 15,000 people in attendance loved every second of this show. There were old dudes who've been Maiden fans since the early days, men in business attire holding their new Maiden shirts/merchandise on their arm, parents and young kids, teenagers, literally everyone and their mom came out to see Eddie and the boys. I don't go to church but I'd imagine it's something equivalent to that. Paying our respects to altar of Iron Maiden. So much fun...

Hot Chicks w/ Guitars: The Iron Maidens

My last post was quite a bummer. I also had a horrible time at work last night. Today I plan on reversing the trend of negativity the only way I know how...with Courtney Cox and Nita Strauss of The Iron Maidens playing "Aces High."



The Iron Maidens are the worlds only all female Iron Maiden tribute band. They're based out of Southern California and I've been trying to see them live for YEARS. Strange, because they play the Santa Fe Springs swap meet a lot and I still can't manage to get my ass down there for a free show =/ Either way, The Iron Maidens rule. They've had a lot of lineup changes over the past decade, but these lovely ladies are the band's current axe slingers.

I hope this brightened your day as much as it has mine. Even if you don't like Iron Maiden or hot ladies rocking out/shredding on the guitar...you might still get a kick out of this next video. The dude filming has a straight up heart-gasm (heart attack/orgasm) when they start playing "The Trooper." Pure comedy.

Iron Maiden Return

I let a friend borrow one of my Iron Maiden DVDs back in December (maybe even November) and totally forgot about it. They gave it back the other day. I'm in Iron Maiden mode now all weekend.

My Birthday

 Me in the late 80's. Batman cake FTW

So today is my birthday. I'm not a fan of getting older and usually loathe/dread my birthday every year but this time, I'm indifferent. Lots of things have changed for me this past year so I'm slightly less morbid about my countdown toward certain death and will try to actually enjoy myself for a change. I have the next couple of days off from work and although I have a post or two scheduled for ye ol' Jim's Fear bloggy blog, I may not be following ya'll so much. As a consolation for my absence I have a sort of birthday gift for you bloggers...

enjoy this kick ass Iron Maiden tune on loop until I return!

no love for Eddie and the boys? Too bad. It's my birthday and I'll blast Iron Maiden if I want to.
That would be so rad if I got an Iron Maiden/Eddie cake. Super Rad. *crosses fingers*