Giantrobo

Isn't Bruce flying the band and their equipment all around on this tour? Maybe he doesn't wanna hit all the American cities.

B5Erik

Well, remember - they DID announce that they were cutting WAY back on touring about 5 years ago. They never really got over the Powerslave Tour. That tour really took a lot out of them. Too many shows with too few days off covering too many continents over too long a period of time. Look at their tour schedules since then. Generally, they've gotten shorter over time.

This tour has more U.S. shows than their last tour, so it's an improvement. They aren't as young as they used to be, and since they put on shows with the same energy level it's probably a good thing that they don't play as many shows - it would be the end of them. (It's a lot harder to pull off that kind of show night after night at 50 than it is at 26 or 27.) Plus they've all got families, so they don't want to spend as much time away from home as they used to.

Rypro 525

Eh, i bought Number of the Beast and Powerslave tonight at best buy, and I don't have any issues with the sound quality. Instruments come through loud and clearly without distortion. Or maybe its just me. i personally can't stand it when you put an album into itunes, and some of the older stuff you have to turn up some to hear anything. the first 2 'real' pantera albums come to mind.

Flashback

Just a heads up ... the USA/Canadian leg is just about to kick off. These are the latest dates I have seen.

USA May 21, 2008 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless
USA May 22, 2008 Houston, TX Woodlands
USA May 25, 2008 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
USA May 26, 2008 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion
USA May 28, 2008 Concord, CA Concord
USA May 30, 2008 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
USA May 31, 2008 Los Angeles, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
USA June 2, 2008 Seattle, WA White River Amphitheater
CANADA June 3, 2008 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum
CANADA June 5, 2008 Calgary, AB Saddledome
CANADA June 6, 2008 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
CANADA June 8, 2008 Regina, SK Brandt Center
CANADA June 9, 2008 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
USA June 11, 2008 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
USA June 12, 2008 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
USA June 14, 2008 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
USA June 15, 2008 New York, NY Madison Square Gardens
USA June 17, 2008 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Centre
USA June 18, 2008 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
USA June 20, 2008 Mansfield, MA Tweeter Center for The Peforming Arts
CANADA June 21, 2008 Montreal Parc Jean-Drapeau

Giantrobo

I have tickets for May 30th in LA and I might try for May 31st.

DaveWadding

Got my Phoenix tickets right here in front of me.

Hokeyboy

I saw the 3/14 show at the Meadowlands... fantastic, really. They snuck in 1 song that wasn't from the 80s albums, but other than that there's nothing to complain about. They soudned spectacular, and Bruce had more energy and stronger pipes than any frontman half his age.

Rypro 525

hopefully my seats are good, paid 75 bucks for them. row aa LC at merriweather.

i also noticed on the merriweather site that Lauren Harris is opening, who is the daughter of bass player Steve Harris. How is her band?

Hokeyboy

Fucking awful.


And I say this with all due respect, and she is quite a smokin' hottiepants, AND the daughter of the man who made me want to pick up a bass guitar in the first place and as the central figure of the greatest heavy metal group of all time.

But.. Lauren Harris is pretty much TOTAL shit.

jdodd

She has some samples of her music on her myspace page. Matt Millheiser is pretty spot-on.

cdollaz

Good show last night, except for Janick Gers acting like he belongs in a Sunset Strip hair band rather than a metal band. But I was expecting that. At least I scored one of his sweat bands at the end of the show.

There was a guy that jumped up on stage at the beginning of the encores, and he was sitting behind me and periodically throughout the show, he would tell me that he was going up on stage. I thought he was just stoned and talking shit. So all of a sudden I see him grab a chair, put it up against the barrier, and jump over onto the side of the stage by the speakers. No security saw him do it. Then he goes over the riser on stage, runs to the front of the stage, sticks out his tongue and makes metal horns to the crowd and I see a couple of guys rush from behind the side of the stage and grab him. Funny stuff.

slop101

I will be at this one.

What's funny is that I'm going with a bunch of old highschool friends (most of them coming from out of town), that I used to go to Maiden shows with back in '85 - '88. Twenty years later, the more things change...

Flashback

Great. Funny thing is I am trying to get my buddy to come out for this one as well since we went to the Powerslave and 7th Son shows together.

DaveWadding

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

You Cali people will NOT be disappointed. They were incredible. Leagues beyond even my high expectations.

Supermallet

Awesome! Seeing them on Friday, can't fucking wait.

Holysmoker

The San Antonio show was incredible!

Here's a video I took with my digital camera. It's not the greatest in terms of sound or video, but it's still pretty cool.


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Rypro 525

love that Bruce can still hit the high notes with ease at his age. june 18 can't come any quicker.

Snowmaker

I still cannot believe there is no Michigan show.

Supermallet

Saw Maiden tonight at the venue formerly known as Irvine Meadows. Anthrax opened, which was pretty awesome, seeing as how they weren't on the bill when I bought my ticket. They have yet another singer, who felt very generic, but it was cool to see the band.

Maiden, of course, completely rocked. Bruce Dickinson's stamina was amazing, and the set was gorgeous. They swapped out backdrops every few songs, to tie in with the artwork of the album from which the song came. They played pretty much every song I wanted to hear, except "Infinite Dreams" and "22 Acacia Ave." I gladly would have sacrificed, say, "Wasted Years" and "Fear of the Dark" for those two, but there really wasn't a bad moment at any point in the show. Also, as an added bonus, Bruce mentioned that they're going to have a new album coming out.

My only issue is that the mix seemed really low. Anthrax came across both louder and more clearly. But it was great to see the band (my first time seeing them) and I picked up the Live after Death and Somewhere In Time tour shirts.

Giantrobo

Yeah it was a great show.

Bruce drives me nucking futs when he pulls away from the mic because his voice drops out immediately. There are parts of songs where you can barely hear him if at all. This has been driving me nuts for several years now.

Other than that I loved the show. Lots of great songs and the set brought back memories of Long Beach Arena.

Supermallet

Also, I didn't realize how funny Bruce was with his stage banter. You could tell he was making up most of it on the spot.

slop101

Going tonight!

I was hanging out at my girlfriend's place last night, near the Irvine Spectrum, and we could hear the show from there - totally got me pumped.

islandclaws

I was at last night's show and it was fucking killer. I had Orch 1 seats, 20th row on the aisle near the center, so a perfect view with no one around me. It couldn't have been better. Anthrax was good, but I'm not a fan of the new lead singer. Maiden was fantastic. Great set list, lots of action and a ton of fun. My buddy and I had backstage passes, so we hung with some of the Anthrax dudes (my friend knows Charlie), but none of the Maiden guys came out to say hello. Oh well. Amazing show. I almost want to go again it was so much fun.

Giantrobo

And oh...Janick is a fuckin' SPAZ He was really distracting, especially when the rest of the band was standing still playing complicated parts....there was JG actin' up.

emanon

I can tell you from several different interactions, some personal and some reported, that at least the Bruce portion of "the Maiden guys" can be complete asses to their fans. If the others are like him...you didn't miss much.