Iron Maiden
w/ Alice Cooper
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Atlanta, GA
Lakewood Amphitheater
Who would’ve ever thought that a double bill of Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden would ever be possible? Maybe they fear the end of times according to the Mayan prophecies and figured they should go out with a bang. Whatever the reasons, I was just glad to see this kind of bill come to life. I was so excited for this show and because I have the coolest wife in the world, she chose to spend her birthday watching me get my face melted off by Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden. Do they come any cooler? She had taken me to see Alice in December (my top show of 2011) and she loved him so she was really excited to see him again. We made it to the venue, found the free parking log (yay!) and made our way to the gates. After checking out the way over priced merchandise, my wife and I took our seats with our $9.00 diet coke and $5.00 pretzel and waited for Alice Cooper to hit the stage.
As the Vincent Price intro to “The Black Widow” filled the air, the crowd rose to their feet with a huge roar. At this point the venue was about ¾ full so it was cool to see so many people there early to see Alice Cooper and Co. As the band kicked in and the giant curtain dropped to reveal Alice on a giant podium, the place went nuts. As always, Alice was on absolute fire and had the crowd eating out the palms of his hands. Alice’s band was once again nailing it and his secret weapon Orianthi was just killing her guitar solos left and right. She’s a really cool addition to Alice’s band and has no problem adapting to the freak show vibe of his band. This line up is probably my favorite line up since the classic Alice Cooper Band line up. They just seem to all click and really work well together with a totally fun chemistry that is totally contagious.
Alice’s stage set was identical to his headlining run for last year’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” tour and being that he was opening; the theatrics and overall production were scaled down tremendously. Maybe I’m just spoiled from having seen him as a headliner but I almost would’ve preferred not see the “theatrics” in such an abridged fashion. Besides that, the set list was a very hits heavy set that still managed to blow me away and not disappoint. Alice Cooper is one of those bands that you just can’t ever tire of. I mean, seriously. I don’t care how many times I’ve seen him do “I’m Eighteen”, “Billion Dollar Babies”, and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” live. It’s always like hearing them for the first time because Alice and his band don’t make them sound old and dated. They sound fresh and full of life as if they were just recorded and released a year ago. Closing out with “School’s Out” brought the house down and leaving a three mile smile on every face in attendance. You know Alice can’t go quietly so he went out with an explosion from the confetti canon and the ceremonial giant balloons sent out into the crowd. It was obvious Alice had totally won over this audience which can be a hard thing to do when opening for Iron Maiden. I would’ve loved to have seen a longer set from Alice but truth be told, I knew why I was there and so did everyone else. Having Alice open the show was a top notch move on Maiden’s part but I just knew that the best was yet to come.
The last time Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson were on a st
age together here in Atlanta, GA was on July 11th, 1992 was a bittersweet night. I had just graduated high school, I had no idea where my future was going, and we all knew that we were witnessing the last performance of Bruce Dickinson with Iron Maiden as he had announced that he was leaving the band to pursue his solo career. It would be 20 long years before Atlanta, GA would see this reunion but leave it to Iron Maiden to make it completely worth every bloody year of the wait.
This time around, Iron Maiden has chosen to re-create yet another iconic moment in Iron Maiden history: The Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour. In these days of technology and the Internet, it is nearly impossible to have any element of surprise before a show. I stayed clear of message boards, friends’ Facebook walls, and anything else that would give me the slightest hint as to what to expect as far as visuals and the set list. I wanted to go in knowing nothing and I did just that. As the ritualistic PA music of UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” cut through the air, 14,000 screaming Iron Maiden fans rose to their feet with a roar that was as deafening as the band itself. The opening introduction of “Moonchild” was met with yet an even louder roar as the band cut through the pyrotechnics and smoke to make their usual jaw dropping entry to the stage.
The setlist consisted of 5/8 songs from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album and the 
production itself was all based around the ice and snow concept of the cover art for that album. This was also the first time that I can honestly say that I didn’t dread hearing “Can I Play With Madness.” It almost seemed appropriate being placed 2nd in the set as it just came from out of nowhere and the energy from the band and the crowd just pumped me up and had me screaming the lyrics along with them. I had never been so pumped to sing a song that I hate so much in my life. The inclusion of some really rare gems such as “The Prisoner” and “The Clairvoyant” made this diehard fan so happy but it was “Afraid To Shoot Strangers” from Fear of the Dark that just solidified the fact that Maiden had their diehard fans kept in mind. Hell, I felt as if they had included that one just for me. The song’s lyrical content was surprisingly relevant more than 20 years later as Bruce dedicated it to Charlton Heston and the NRA. It was a powerful statement that really hit a chord with me as it reminded me just why I love this song and Iron Maiden so much. Iron Maiden is so much more than a band with great songs. Iron Maiden makes me think, they make me feel things that I never knew possible.
The audience as a whole was really receptive and very vocal. It was great to see the interaction between Bruce and the crowd as Bruce really seemed to be having a good time. He was his usually energetic self running from one side of the stage to the other with youthful sprite as he let out his now trademark command, “Scream for me Atlanta!” to which we all responded at the tops of our lungs. Bruce’s humor was also very much present throughout the show. At one point during “Phantom of the Opera”, Bruce announced to the crowd, “Atlanta! The turkey’s in the oven! Thanksgiving dinner here we come” just as the fire pyrotechnics went off. He listed off each course of the meal (turkey, rice potatoes and cauliflower) and after each one a huge explosion of fire would go off. This had me cracking up. It was obvious Bruce was having a blast and it was great to see him having so much fun. It just made it all the more fun for us in the crowd.
The highlight of the show for me was when the band delivered the song “Seventh Son of a 
Seventh Son” during which one of the most impressive Eddies I’ve ever seen emerged from the back of the stage holding a giant quill and gazing into a crystal ball. The song itself was played in its full epic glory and capped off by yet another amazing pyrotechnic display that brought the house down with a huge roar from the crowd. The only thing that really blew me away more so than that was to have Maiden return to play one of the most unpredictable encores I have ever seen them do. As “Churchill’s Speech” filled the air, the place went nuts as we knew just what was coming. The band stormed the stage once again for “Aces High” with so much energy that it could’ve been the opening song. “The Evil That Men Do” followed with its massive, hair raising chorus followed by the playful and surprisingly fun “Running Free” set closer. This is a song that I don’t normally like and there I was singing along and jumping up and down like it was my all time favorite song.
In all honesty, this was the first Maiden show I’ve ever left not saying, “I wish they would’ve played [insert song here].” I felt completely fulfilled as a long time fan and I literally felt like I they left no stone unturned. Some minor sound issues aside in the first few songs, Iron Maiden delivered a performance unlike any I have ever seen them deliver. They were so full of energy and fire and you could just tell that they were so happy to be there. In my 25 years as a fan, this was Maiden’s finest performance. I’m sure you could say that this statement is totally objective but for me, this was Maiden at their finest. I felt a connection with the songs and with the band that I never experienced before. It’s a show like this that makes me proud to be a diehard fan of a band. This was not a band doing just a nostalgic performance and going through the motions. This was a band that wanted to take a whole new generation back to a specific time and their older fans back to relive it one more time. It was a truly magical journey and one that I will never forget for as long as I live. Up The Irons!
Alice Cooper Setlist
Vincent Price intro, The Black Widow, Brutal Planet, I’m Eighteen, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Hey Stoopid, Billion Dollar Babies, Feed My Frankenstein, Poison, Wicked Young Man, I Love the Dead, School’s Out
Iron Maiden Setlist
Moonchild, Can I Play With Madness, The Prisoner, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, The Trooper, The Number of the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, Run to the Hills, Wasted Years, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The Clairvoyant, Fear of the Dark, Iron Maiden
Encore:
Churchill’s Speech/Aces High, The Evil That Men Do, Running Free
PHOTOS COURTESY OF IRONMAIDEN.COM
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