Posted on 10/18/2022 6:35:01 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Iron Maiden experienced a Spinal Tap moment on Monday night when their Spitfire replica plane malfunctioned during their set-closing performance of "Aces High."
The Powerslave opening track has been a fixture of Iron Maiden's ongoing Legacy of the Beast World Tour, which began in 2018. The song — which previously opened the band's set and now closes it — features a 90% scale replica of a Spitfire, the single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Typically, the Spitfire "flies" (i.e. floats) above the band during "Aces High." But during Tuesday's performance at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., the plane appeared to get stuck on its way to the front of the stage. Fan-shot footage, which you can watch below, shows the wings failing to extend fully, and the plane hovering awkwardly near the back of the stage before crew members deflate it and hide it from view. Singer Bruce Dickinson can be seen glancing back at the Spitfire as it flails and flapping his arms during the guitar solo after it has retreated from the stage.
Iron Maiden is no stranger to stage prop mishaps. The band's 1986 Somewhere on Tour trek featured a giant inflatable version of mascot Eddie dressed as the futuristic bounty hunter seen on the cover of that year's Somewhere in Time. Eddie's head was supposed to inflate underneath drummer Nicko McBrain, while Dickinson and bassist Steve Harris were supposed to be raised on platforms in the palms of Eddie's hands at the sides of the stage. Unfortunately, the technology of the age was not quite advanced enough to match the band's ambition every night.
"This was the 'Great Inflatable' tour," Dickinson told Classic Rock in 2016. "Dave Lights was still doing our lighting stuff, and he was well into inflatables. He had a bit of an inflatable megalomania, in fact. He built inflatables that were so big they wouldn't actually fit inside the sodding buildings! We had two big hydraulic hands, which would raise up – not Spinal Tap at all! – with big Eddie claw hands that would inflate."
As for Eddie's inflatable head, Dickinson recalled, "It was great except when the pressure started to go and it looked a bit like a saggy bin liner. Ha ha ha!"
The Legacy of the Beast World Tour concludes on Oct. 27 in Tampa. Iron Maiden is scheduled to embark on the Future Past Tour, which will highlight 2021's Senjutsu along with Somewhere in Time, in June 2023.
Iron Maiden
EXCELLENT!
gee thanks alot! Now it’s 3 1/2 hours later and i don’t know where the time went! musta listened to 20 of her analysis’
she liked Ozzy and Dio quite a bit too- here’s an interesting one on ozzy and the timing of the song to make it ore creepy sounding-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClDhAMnE14U&t=463s
I know, first time I saw her I got sucked in too! Thanks for the ozzy one, I will take a look tomorrow.
I love them too.
But just because some bands tune down a 1/2 step or a full step doesn’t make it lame.
Up the Irons!
An exceptional individual for sure.
Meanwhile, Ozzy is tuning down a FULL step, and many 90s bands are down a half step.
Tuning down isn't ipso facto LAME, but if I'm spending $150 for a ticket, I'd like for my singer (he's working for me during the concert) to keep himself in shape and hit the notes.
So yes. It's not lame. But....Tuning down is a sign of inferior conditioning and not caring about the finishing product. Age takes a toll, and we are all built differently. But if Bruce Dickinson can hit the high notes in regular tuning, some loser in his 40s can hit the gym and hire a voice coach.
Your mileage may vary.
He was right. Metal is about soaring vocals and guitar (and some times drum) pyrotechnics. Sabbath had neither, though they were pioneers in very heavy blues-based hard rock. Zeppelin had the vox but Page is a sloppy player. Deep Purple could have been deemed metal, but there was way too much outstanding and tight bluesy playing (every car sold on the planet should play Highway Star on the sound system when the car breaches 88mph). Mötorhead stood alone.
Metal today is almost totally detached from yesterday's metal. Today's metal is mostly screaming or Cookie Monster vocals, a double bass drum ostinato-fest, and guitarists playing many notes and little music. A massive exception to that generalization is Meshuggah, who are brutal AND musical.
Maiden still puts out new and fresh albums with excellent material, everyone in the band can still play (though they're aren't at the same BPM on some songs), their live shows never disappoint (though their Jones Beach show in 2012 was fair at best, and opener Alice Cooper won that day), and they're not on TMZ.
And while this isn't a political post, when I saw Maiden this tour Dickinson acknowledged the differences and fracturing in the world and across nations but stated unabashedly that Maiden fans "are all brothers." It wasn't a left or right thing. No wokism. No bashing Deplorables. It was the most unifying thing I've heard from an entertainer in ages.
....though Bruce also said Maiden unleashed covid on the world...."yeah that was us."
"We're Motorhead and we play Rock and Roll!"
I like listening gto vocal experts analyzing singers as they pick up on everything thst most of us miss or don’t recognize. This girl in the video is partcu,arly observant, and picks up on a great number of things at once, like tempo, tune, annunciation, drums, guitar, the way a singer pronounces single letters and changes their pitch midstream or whatever. She has a fantastic ear for those things. Her facial antics are a bit over the top though. Maybe she does get that excited over music, but it seems a bit contrived for the sake of gaining views to me. But whatever, she is still worth listening to for her observations about why famous singers are so good- usually its because they really understand music and explore with sound way more than we realize at first
Several years ago, my daughter was playing a decent version of Iron Man while practicing guitar.
I said something about metal. Her reply was, “dad,that’s not metal!” Um, who do you think invented metal dear daughter.
Which is why I didn’t even bother with the last Genesis tour. That is not how I wanted to remember them.
Alice Cooper put on some great shows. He was very much a theatrical rocker- he also kinda pioneered or helped push ‘shock rock’, even rap,before it was rap lol.
Was listening to ozzy’s madman song, (the one in the link i posted) and it had a lot of the similar sound of Alice cooper’s songs back In The day.
Cooper now had Christian Rick albums too now.
Seriously, do you have perfect pitch? I don’t, so a performer who can hit a note is better than one who is trying to hit the original.
Whatever classification, I like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, and similar bands.
Oh I agree....they’re all in my music collection. But Maiden’s shows are events, and well worth the price of admission.
I think I’ve read a story about Bruce Dickinson flying Vets and Active Duty home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Have you heard similar?
Personally, I'm a fan of Daltrey's comment "give me a bum note and a bead of sweat." I saw Daltrey belt out tunes with a few missed notes, but he's not tuning down the set AND he keeps swinging the mic while standing up.
Hitting a note after tuning down is akin to an Olympic diver doing a cannon ball. There's no sweat involved. It's copping out. If the song is in A♭, and I am paying $150 plus taxes and fees for a concert, I don't want to hear it in A. Take some of your earnings, hire a vocal coach, hit the gym, and deliver the songs the way you recorded them when you cared.
Yes, this is a First World problem. But I live in the First World.
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