The first rock concert I attended was at the Edinburgh Playhouse in November 1988. Iron Maiden were headlining and were one of the world's biggest heavy metal bands at the time. I went with schoolmates Chris and Paul and we thoroughly enjoyed the show. Paul and I have seen Maiden several times over the years and when a Scottish date was announced for 2023, it was time to organise a trip through to Glasgow. The band remain hugely popular and the venue was the cavernous Hydro arena, which holds up to 14,000 people and has both seated and standing areas. I rendezvoused with Paul in Kincardine and he drove us through to the large multi-storey car-park next to the concert venue, where a flat fee of £11 is charged.
The Hydro opened in 2013 and offers a purpose-built facility for big touring acts who formerly frequented the barn-like SECC. This was somewhat akin to playing an aircraft hangar and acoustics were generally unsatisfactory. Large arenas are always a compromise in terms of sound quality but the Hydro fares better than most. The queueing system and ticket inspection ran smoothly and we were quickly inside. There were many bars and fast-food stands on the concourses and the usual hefty prices applied. Ditto the merchandise stall. Clearly these income streams go a long way towards financing mega tours. That's par for the course at any major music event. In fact the whole financial model now relies heavily on the live experience. Physical CD sales may be a thing of the past but top acts are earning more money than ever. It's not unusual to pay £100 or more to see a high-profile show nowadays. In that context, £75 for an Iron Maiden ticket wasn't actually extortionate. Our generously padded seats were up in the gods but directly in line with the centre of the stage. Toilet facilities were available on every level. The Hydro is bowl-shaped and we were some distance from the performers but large video screens provided close-up shots. So the venue offers a comfortable gig-going experience, but what about tonight's main attraction? Iron Maiden's roots lie firmly in the east end of London and the band was formed in 1975 by bass guitarist Steve Harris. He has been the driving force behind Maiden's success and is the principal songwriter. Bands rarely work as democracies and 'Arry is firmly in charge of the ship. A fitness fanatic and lifelong supporter of West Ham Football Club (often wearing their strip onstage), Harris is now aged 67 but still bounds all over the place while playing. Few long-standing rock groups keep a constant line-up and Iron Maiden are no exception, although the players involved since the band turned fully professional haven't changed greatly over the years. Along with Harris, guitarist Dave Murray has appeared on every album since the boys inked their first recording contract in 1979. The eponymous LP was released the following year to great acclaim, entering the UK charts at #4. Fellow six-stringer Adrian Smith came on board for the second album, displacing Dennis Stratton who was a fine musician but somewhat older than the rest and perhaps not completely aligned with the image the management were projecting. Dennis later found success with Lionheart and Praying Mantis. He still speaks warmly of his Iron Maiden tenure.
The senior member of the current line-up is drummer Nicko McBrain, who at the age of 71 has the most physically demanding job. Renowned as the joker of the pack, he signed up in 1983 following the departure of Clive Burr. A great character, Nicko once appeared on the Sooty & Sweep kids TV show and is completely open about the fact that he's a born-again Christian. Clive Burr sadly passed away at the age of 56 due to complications caused by multiple sclerosis. The band had organised several benefit shows on his behalf after he lost the ability to play drums and earn a living. Singer Bruce Dickinson is something of a heavy-metal polymath. Besides fronting the band with his "air-raid siren" vocals, Bruce is a published author, fully qualified airline pilot (even flying the band's own plane between gigs) and a useful fencer. He also presented the rock show on BBC Radio 6 and was instrumental in launching Trooper beer, bearing the Maiden logo but sadly not available at tonight's concert as Heineken own exclusive rights to alcohol sales within the Hydro. Bruce isn't the original singer but first joined the band as far back as 1982, in time for the Number of the Beast album, which truly established Maiden as an international act. His predecessor was Paul Di'Anno (real name Paul Andrews) who sang on the first two albums and still tours his own Iron Maiden show to this day. Di'Anno's gruffer style suited the band undeniably at the time but it was Dickinson's more operatic approach that bumped the band up to the status of global superstars. There are of course those who still insist Di'Anno is the real voice of Iron Maiden. He was especially brilliant on the first album - and never again did the band embrace such a variety of moods - but you are absolutely kidding yourself if you believe the lads would have conquered the world with Paul at the helm. Bruce took the music into the stratosphere. I find it incredible that's he still performing at this level after undergoing radiation therapy for throat cancer less than a decade ago.
Adrian Smith took a 10-year hiatus from the band as the 90s dawned. He was replaced by ex-Gillan guitarist Janick Gers, who had been working on Dickinson's debut solo album, Tattooed Millionaire. Bruce himself jumped ship in 1993 and Maiden continued with Blaze Bayley (real name Bayley Cook) on vocals. He had fronted promising UK rockers Wolfsbane who secured a major American deal with production mogul Rick Rubin. The buzz around the Staffordshire outfit failed to translate into hard sales and Blaze was never going to pass up the chance of joining an outfit of Maiden's stature. He recorded two albums that divided opinion among the fanbase. Venues became smaller around this time although it was a challenging period for all traditional rock bands, due to the grunge revolution. Today's concept of classic rock, attracting multiple generations of fans hadn't yet begun and Maiden halted the lean spell by tempting Dickinson and Smith back into the fold, thus recreating the best-known version. I am certain money talked here. The two members who had stepped away from the band found out the hard way that solo success is not easy to find. Meanwhile, Gers was invited to stay, thereby creating a three-pronged guitar assault. Maiden were back in business and I saw the reunion tour at a packed Glasgow SECC. From that day to this, the Irons have drawn large crowds wherever they play and the age of the audience ranges from 15 to 75. New albums are fewer and further between but the band put out Senjutsu in 2021 to critical acclaim. Maiden probably have enough old-school fans craving physical product to make a CD release financially worthwhile. The vinyl medium has re-appeared in recent years and forms a high-end collectors market. Modern technology makes it cheaper to record music as computer software can perform complex tasks within seconds that would previously have required hours of tinkering with analogue machinery and tapes.
Finally, tonight's show. The tour was focussing on the Somewhere in Time album from 1986 and the deeper cuts from Senjutsu were also featuring in the set list. I got this information from the official website and made sure I refreshed my knowledge of these releases. Of course, the back catalogue is vast and the band threw in nuggets from all parts of their career, with the exception of the material from the Blaze Bayley era (although they do sometimes perform these songs). I never look at reports of previous shows in an attempt to work out what tracks might be played. I much prefer to be surprised on the night. Neither do I film segments of gigs on my phone. I can understand folk recording the opening or closing sequences, but to point a device at the stage for a complete song, or more? Nah, not for me. The playback quality must be dreadful in any case. The support band was Lord of the Lost - a Hamburg based outfit who represented Germany in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Yes, the annual event does sometimes feature metal. I quite liked the band and they grew on me as their set progressed. A modern sound, rather like Swedish metal outfit Ghost. As the lights dimmed for Iron Maiden, the UFO classic Doctor Doctor was played over the PA. Steve Harris is a huge fan of the veteran UK hard rockers (who are sheer class). Long-time frontman Phil Mogg is currently recovering from a heart attack. We wish him well. Maiden opened with Caught Somewhere in Time and this went down a storm, as the tracks from the album have been somewhat neglected in recent years. Bruce Dickinson was in amazing form and the whole band was on fire. They are such a well-drilled machine, you wouldn't expect anything less. I haven't yet mentioned the seventh member, Eddie the Head. The perennial mascot appears on the album covers and all promotional literature. Eddie also makes several appearances at every show, walking on stage in the form of a 12-foot monster. You don't mess with Ed. The obvious question is how long can the band keep doing these high-energy performances? Clearly there is gas left in the tank and I hope to see them at least one more time. Up the Irons!
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