2 minutes to midnight!

i was lucky enough to catch iron maiden in concert last night (well, after spending mucho dinero in pursuit of a ticket). and the tickets were good, vip seats for a concert is always good idea if you want seats with a solid view. 3 inches of blood opened for maiden...but i didn't catch their set as i was held up driving to irvine to get to the venue (in the process also winning 2 tickets to go to dave navarro's halloween party at the highlands).

so was it worth it? dickinson and co. started off with songs from their new album, "a matter of life and death". starting with "different world", they proceeded to sing every single song from this album. in their 31st year, they should really know that while their new shit is good, it's the oldies that made maiden. songs like "seventh son of a seventh son", "aces high" and "666" were conspicuous by their absence.

dickinson was in fine fettle...roaring, screeching and banshee-ing like we all know he can. so was the rest of the crew, the guitar work was solid and the drum work, tight. maiden is one of those rare acts that has been lucky (and talented) enough to have a solid second run in their careers. their latest album is in the billboard top 10, and how many other metal acts can boast that? the verizon amphitheatre was completely sold out, and it was great to see the number of young people out there.

and for me personally, a wait of 16 years is over. i've finally seen maiden (eddie did make his token appearance), who along with priest were an important part of my days growing up. would i have loved to hear some of those old songs? hell yeah, but did i come out satisfied after the concert, that would be a "hell, yeah" too.

picture courtesy: http://www.sfondideldesktop.com/