Iron Maiden: Flight 666 The movie

Those who have seen Iron maiden's Rock in Rio 1985 live concert video won't have any doubt if they are asked the question, 'Which is the religion having most number of followers in the world?". The concert which happened 25 years ago was attended by 3 lakh die hard fans. And when they came back there in 2001, they still had 2.5 lakh fans waiting there. The band which started 34 odd years back, when our parents were still in college has now grown into a worldwide religion. There's not a country on the face of the earth without a sizeable population of Iron Maiden fans. All this was achieved with not even a single article in mainstream newspapers or a single song of theirs being played in any mainstream radio station. So, when they started their latest world tour titled 'Somewhere back in time' with songs from their heydays in 80s, they decided to visit previously unvisited places like Costa Rica, Colombia and Puerto Rico. And, following the band on the first leg of this world quest is Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen, the guys behind those path breaking documentaries 'Metal:A headbanger's journey' and 'Global metal'.

The route of the tour

Maiden with their Boeing-Edd force one

The documentary starts off with the staple concert starter 'Aces high' and halfway through it cuts back to the preparations prior to that. The first leg of the tour itself is hectic and mammoth, covering 23 cities around the world in 45 days. And, this almost impossible schedule is made possible by their own Boeing 747, titled 'Edd force one' and with that magic number 666. They also needn't pay for the pilot because Bruce Dickinson, their brilliant vocalist is a man who rides boeings for fun. The plane carried all their equipments and stage props. The tour starts off from our own Mumbai. Its looks as good as any international rock venue. From there, its a whirldwind ride as they travel around the world to play for their fans. Their versatality is proved in the scenes where they are shown engaging in sports as varied as tennis, golf and football in their spare time. And they have guys like Wimbledon champion Pat Cash to play along. Compared to the other 2 documetaries of his, Sam Dunn has relegated himself to the background and let the band run the show. The narrations are few and far in between. The band comes off as a down to earth, easy to approach bunch of gentlemen who stays away from drugs and doesn't booze much. Posers who do drugs and drinks just for the sake of that age old slogan should try to learn from these seasoned campaigners.

The allrounder-Pilot and Vocalist Bruce Dickinson

Bruce doing what he does best-Commanding the crowd

The real spirit of what Maiden means to the fans is revealed in the South American leg of the concert. There were crowds matching Rio De Janeiro in Mexico city, San Jose and Bogota. The scene in Columbia where the fans came and lived in tents near the concert venue even 1 week before the concert made for great viewing. It was a country where Maiden was banned sometime back for their supposedly Satanic lyrics. Only the fans know that its anything but supporting Satan. A guy called 'Father of Iron Maiden' with 100s of tattoos all over his body amused everyone. It was also a great sight to see legendary artists like Kerry King, Lars Ulrich and Tom Morello queuing up like fans to meet them. Life on the road touring is not as easy as we think whatwith these people having to brave injuries, ill health etc and come on stage with all their energy as usual. Talking about energy, I don't think there's a more energetic band that too at the tender ages nearing 60.

Watching Maiden in a movie theatre was a different experience though it was nowhere close to being in a concert. Only a handful of people were in the theatre and most of them were swaying their heads when the songs were being played. This docu made me understand the enormity of the historical concert we all watched live some months back in Bangalore. It was a fitting finale for a well made documentary with 'Hallowed be thy name', a song which has served as an introduction to many of us to the phenomenon that is Iron Maiden. I sometimes wonder about the people who have never listened to a Maiden song or seen a Maiden concert. How many have died without ever hearing their name. Aren't we all fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the magic of Maiden? So, if any of you who is reading this, have never experienced what Maiden is, its time. You been losing out on something. Get in the bandwagon before its too late. Even if you don't, its ok. Because, as Sam Dunn says, 'We all are doing just fine without you'.

PS- The journey to the theatre was an eventful. Me and Nikhil rushed from office to home, jumped on the bike and sped to Fun cinemas, the location of which was still a mystery to us. We made it a point to get stuck at almost all the red lights in between our home and the multiplex about 15kms away. At a point, we almost gave up hope. Then I told him, 'Bruce God(Maiden vocalist Bruce) will help us'. It was a miracle that we reached the theatre right in time just as the screen flashed the name Iron Maiden. Before that, I had to hastily answer a security lady who asked me, 'where did you get that Iron Maiden T shirt?'. An Iron Maiden poster was given free with the tickets and it is now waiting to adorn the walls of my room.

your crusader Praveen

Somewhere back in time with Iron Maiden

The cutout outside the grounds

When I watched my first international rock concert 2 years back, featuring Iron Maiden, I thought no experience can ever match this. Last year's 'Rock In India' fest was great but still couldn't match the first experience. Then, to surpass it all, it needed Maiden to come again. For, the first maiden show, I had to be content with reaching the 7th or 8th row from front. No such things to bring sadness this time because I was right there upfront hanging on the barricade. There was no one's head before me to hide the happenings on stage. Yes, I watched the Kings of Heavy metal from the front row...

Bruce, Janick and Nico behind the drums

Janick and Adrian

Unlike last time, since the list of opening bands were a big disappointment, we decided to go a little late. There was a huge cutout of Iron Maiden in front of their own plane 'Edd force one'. As we walked towards the entry point, 2 guys walked upto me and asked, "Dude, Got some grass to share?" I don't know what made him ask that. Maybe my 'extra decent' look. There was a round of thorough checking at the entry point. Still, many managed to smuggle in cameras, weed and cigars. All I could manage was my sony ericsson phone with a high end 2MP camera. By this time, 3 bands had already got over. When we walked in, the band 'Cyanide serenity' from UK were playing. The vocalist reminded us a lot of Phil Anselmo from Pantera with his looks and antics. They played a decent set and the crowd just loved them. Next came in the Bangalore band 'Kryptos'. Have seen them before at a couple of shows. Not a big fan of their music. They seem to be a bit over rated. Also, I don't understand why they were wearing that leather jacket when they were playing in the hot sun. 2 weeks back also, they were sweating profusely when they played at an indoor stadium here and still they never took off the jacket.

My fav shot- all four of the axe wielders together

The trooper-Bruce waving the flag

The next band was De-Profundis and their first song was an indicator for what was in store. So, we decided to explore the stalls put up as part of the fest. The bungee jumping was a treat to watch though doing it yourself won't be such a treat. The merchandise shops were doing brisk bussiness. The Romanov lounge had gaming pavilions for a vareity of games, especially that of Guitar hero. As we were having food outside, we could hear Lauren Harris's concert going on inside. We hated her 2 years back and today we hated her more. This is one gal who's hell bent on spoiling her great Papa's name. The Parikrama show was a decent one although I missed my favourite songs 'but it rained' and 'vapourize'. The band 'Brandon Ashley & the silver bugs' were one of the most disgusting bands that I saw in recent times. The lady who came on stage just to strip her jacket as well as another one doing a cheerleading act added to the disgust factor.

The crowd chanting 'Maiden, Maiden'

Time to cut the crap. The time for Maiden was getting near. The crowd had become sizeable in front of the main stage. We slowly started snaking our way through the crowd. By the time, Parikrama ended, we had reached the fifth row. For the next 30 minutes, we had an experience that can be described as close to 'hell'. Pushing and shoving were happening all around. There was not a single inch of space left. Many times, we almost fell down due to the constant pushing. We struggled to breath properly. After every push, we advanced by an inch. Then at around 8 PM, the lights went off. 'Transylvania' was played from the speakers and the giant screen showed a collage video of visuals from the Maiden tour. After it got over, the Winston Churchill speech was heard and scenes from the world war 2 were shown on the screen. That was the last we would see of the screen because with the next push we had reached the 2nd row. By this time, all who came with me were separated from me. I could see only Nikhil near me. As the speech ended, the blast started. The air raid siren sounded heralding the arrival of 'Aces high'.

Bruce bhai on top-Scream for me Bangaloreee!!!

Bruce talking to us!

You just have to bow your head to these bunch of 50 year olds for their longevity. I've seen some stupid guys commenting in various sites on how only the old bands keep coming here. I just want to ask these guys, 'Can you tell me a band which can play for 34 years, still stay together, still tour non stop and still release albums?' Or 'Can you show me a band which can perform with the same energy as Iron Maiden?' By the time 'Aces high' ended, I had touched the barricade. So had Nikhil. I had decided that once I touch the barricade I would never let go whatever be the cost. So we weathered heavy pushing and pulling and hung on to that. Then came '2 minutes to midnight'. The stage settings which were flown in specially in their own aeroplane was just huge. The Egypatian themed set resembled the 'Powerslave' album cover. The background changed according to each song. But the lighting equipments were less compared to the Edd fest 2 years back.

Adrian, Janick and Bruce

Adrian and janick in his trademark pose

It was an exhilarating sight as Steve Harris and Janick Gers pointed their guitars at us and did the shooting routine. Adrian Smith and Dave Murray at the other side of the stage also were a treat to watch.I just couldn't believe my eyes as I could see all all of their fingers moving on the fretboard clearly. I could even see the sweat rolling down their faces. Once Bruce pointed at us when he said 'Scream for me, Bangalore'. For a minute, I felt that time stood still. The 80s playlist was the icing on the cake. The 13 minute epic 'Rime of the ancient mariner' and 'Phantom of the opera' were highlights of the show. The way Bruce changed his costumes quickly for this was just astonishing and it looked just perfect. 'Children of the damned' was damn good. For 'Fear of the dark', the background artwork display changed to black. The whole crowd sang along and it gave me goosebumps. Before the show, Nikhil had said that 'We cried the last time. Hopefully will do the same this time too'. Yes, as I sung 'Fear of the dark' alongwith Bruce at approachable distance I could feel the tears welling up. Tears of joy for watching a band which we grew up listening to, so close, much closer than we could ever dream of. 'The trooper' was another highlight with Bruce doing his flag waving routine. The way he went on jumping and diving left us all astonished. 'Evil that men do' and 'Wasted years' were near perfect reproductions. Then, 'Hallowed be thy name' arrived earlier than expected. Atleast some of us had this fear that the show was gonna end. After the song, they left the stage only to come back with their classic 'Number of the beast'.

They then unleashed another set including 'Run to the hills' and 'Sanctuary'. The band's title song from their eponymous debut album was the las song of the show. Towards the end, the giant eddy made his customary appearence and pointed his gun at us. Bruce said that this is one of the last shows of their 'somewhere back in time' tour. They are gonna start recording their new album soon and he promised that they would again visit here as part of the new album's promotional tour. He just loves the Indian audience and it was evident when he said that he doesn't know why Indians love Maiden so much. The show ended a little too fast for us. Then, that is the case with Iron Maiden. You'll never get tired of them. As we walked back, Nikhil, Pappu and the rest of the gang startedd describing stories on how they reached the front row. Nikhil even had a tear mark from the barricade to show on his arms, so had I. Many years later, when I sit listening to Iron Maiden with my grandchildren, I can tell them, 'Kids, Grandpa once watched the Iron Maiden concert of almost 50,000 people from the front row and had a sore throat from screaming all night'. These ageless old men will still be touring the world and releasing new albums. When I will be walking with a wlaking stick, Bruce dickinson will still be jumping all over the stage. They say, 'You are never too old to rock n roll'. Whoever has said that must've meant only Iron Maiden.

Me and Nikhil-all charged up after the show

PS- More than half of the photos are blurry because of the constant pushing and jumping. Could manage only a few clear snaps. As I type this at 3.30 in the morning, I just can't stop thanking God for blessing me with one of the greatest days of my life.

your crusader Praveen

Overflowing pubs, Maiden spirit & Death of the culture vultures

crowd in front of Le Rock pub. Checkout the cutout of Bruce 'Maiden' Dickinson at the top.

The spirits are at their highest point as I write this. Just got back home close to midnight after a hectic valentine's day. No, I was not busy kissing and holding hands with my girl friend all day. That has happened only in dreams until now. The pub bharo campaign was a grand success today as evident from the sea of humanity seen near the pubs in Bangalore. The fact that the Iron Maiden concert is happening here morrow added to the normal crowd in the pubs.

The Kingfisher heavy metal blogger's meet conducted by indiblogger.in was the highlight of the evening. Me and my friend Narayan landed up there and proving ourselves to be the new Gods of punctuality. Never have in recent times I reached for a program at the scheduled time. There was only a small bunch of about 8 people at the stone's pub in Indiranagar when we arrived there. The free beer started flowing from the word go. As the intros wen on, the music in the pub had already changed to the 'Iron Maiden' flavour. By 4.30 almost the whole bunch arrived and the pub was filled with only us, the bloggers who were familiar to each other only by their screen names. Today, it was a task of matching the correct face to the correct blog although to be honest, I haven't seen most of their blogs. It was nice to see many non-rockers too among the bunch, who just came for the blogging part of it. Special mention must be made of the guys who travelled miles from far away cities just for this meeting. The Iron Maiden quiz was a great touch from the part of the organisers. Spend quite a long time chatting with many of them. Hope to see them all morrow there at Palace grounds as we chant 'Maiden Maiden'. Also hope to see the non-rockers at the next blogger's meets.

After the meeting, I headed to brigade road to meet all those old rocker buddies from Trivandrum. It was another round of the 'pub bharo' andholan which happened there. The whole street was filled with Maiden fans wearing all kind of Maiden Ts. In between, I bought my special Maiden T for morrow's concert. Couples were out on full strength, holding hands and walking along proudly. The members of the 'Indian culture club' wearing saffron robes were nowhere to be seen. There were so many waiting to show them the middle finger, nut sadly they didn't make an appearance. To, Ram sene and your saffron bros, remain in the same hole that you hid today for the rest of your life. Don't ever dare to come out. Our shoes are ready to smash your faces and kick your asses. BTW, You are always welcome to the Iron Maiden concert. You will get to see a crowd of more than 50,000 'western influenced' guys and gals. And do shout a slogan against that. That will be the last you see of this beautiful earth...

So, Iron Maiden fans...Up the Irons...The day of reckoning is here...

Fear of the dark...Fear of the dark...I've a constant fear that someone's always near...
Scream for me Bangaloooooooooooooooooooooooore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

your crusader Praveen

Iron Maiden, Heavy metal blogger's meet and Valentine's day

Bangalore is in the grips of aero mania with the Aero India show starting in Yelahanka Air force base yesterday. F-16s, MIGs and their smaller counterparts have caught the imagination of people from all over India, who are flocking to see the shows. But on Sunday evening, another air raid siren will dwarf the combined sound of all these mean machines. It comes not from high power aircraft engines but from an exceptional human's powerful vocal chords. Yes, you guessed it right. The unmistakable air raid siren from Bruce Dickinson is here again to wow us on February 15th at Palace grounds. Iron Maiden are currently on the last leg of their more than an year long world tour titled 'Somewhere back in time', named after their famous 80s album. The tour which started in Mumbai in last February has covered previously unknwon rock destinations like Costa Rica and Columbia.

The memories of that day almost 2 years back when we all came down from Kerala for our first international rock concert are still fresh in memory. That day with Iron Maiden was pure heaven. And, last year India got its first day long rock fest titled 'Rock In India'. Megadeth, Machine head and Indian heavyweights like Motherjane, Junkyard Groove, Millennium, Pentagram, TAAQ and many more gave us a fest to remember forever. Though the sounds and scale of the fest were nowhere close to the previous year's Iron Maiden edd fest, it did leave a mark. This year, its back again with Iron Maiden and 10 other bands. The list of the accompanying leave a lot to be desired. Except Parikrama, Synaps and Kryptos, rest of them are unheard of bands. Its certainly a disappointment.

The iron maiden edd fest 2007 ticket

The lousy Ticket design for Rock in India 2009

Got the tickets to Rock in India this monday. The design of the tickets are no match to that of Eddfest 2007 though they have increased the rate by 100 rupees. But who cares..In the end, its all for Iron Maiden. \\m//

Kingfisher Heavy Metal Blogger Meet

14/02/2009 at 16:00

Now, about my Valentine's day plans. Not been a big fan of this day because I never got a reason to celebrate. All my one way loves usually break up atleast one week before the Valentine's day. Don't get confused by the word break up. It actually means that I come to know about the gal's 2 way love affair with some other guy just one week before the valentine's day. So, each year the Valentine's day comes and goes, alongwith it redifining my eternal single status. In a way, its better than spending a day and shelling out thousands of rupees for listening to utter nonsense. See, I always try to look at the positive side of things so that I don't feel bitter about something. Anyway, this Valentine's day is gonna be a happening one with the Kingfisher heavy metal blogger's meet at Stone's pub in Indiranagar. The agenda of the meet is to listen to Iron Maiden songs, sip beer(sprite for tetotallers like me) and discuss blogging. In a way, it will turn out to be a pub bharo campaign as metalheads from all over India are gonna be in Bangalore for the Iron Maiden concert. If ever Ram sena tries to barge in there, it will be the last pub attack in their life for sure. So, this is gonna be the first Valentine's day that am going to do something worthwhile.

PS- Those who are free in the morning can join this protest march against moral policing in Bangalore. Visit- http://ofsongsforthesoul.blogspot.com/2009/02/for-those-in-bangalore14-th-february.html

your crusader Praveen

The 'Maiden' Miss

This is really a bad day for me as I'll miss watching 'Iron maiden' performing live in mumbai marking the beginning of their 'somewhere back in time' world tour. I can safely say that watching them live some months back during their banglore show was one of the greatest experiences I ever had in my life. If that concert was a mix of old and new, this mumbai jig is exclusively in tribute to the good old days. Coupled with that, they've chartered a flight titled 'ed force one' with a mammoth amount of equipments being flown in[our own great bruce dickinson himself is flying the plane]. So, Me and my friends were eagerly waiting for this. But, as fate would have it, we have our final exam of training scheduled on monday and we had to drop that plan.

Now, poor me is sitting here catching every possible news on the concert on the tv and net. My ipod been playing Iron maiden non stop for the last 2 days. To get that concert feel, am playing 'rock in rio' and 'live at donington'. And also browsing through the old pics that I took last year during 'eddfest 'o7' at Banglore.

So, for all those who missed the show, here's a link to last year's concert review and a collection of pictures from the concert.

Iron Maiden eddfest '07 -Banglore concert review
Snaps from the Banglore concert

your crusader Praveen

THE IRON MAIDEN EXPERIENCE

Pappu, me , jk with the tickets

Last week can be termed as one of the most rocking one of my life..After having two days of pure fun at NIT Calicut's Raagam '07, we headed straight to Banglore to watch the concert of our lifetime..to watch the uncrowned kings of heavy metal in action.. to watch none other than IRON MAIDEN... It was a sort of get together of the who's who of the Trivandrum headbangers club.. let me compile a list of the metalheads from TVM who attended the show.. first of all, the 'Rage' band..Nithin chettan, mithun chettan, abi chettan, pramod chettan...then, Raja, Nikhil, JK, Pappu and Kishore chettan from K.OS...Govindan chettan from old 'transmigration', Vivek, Chippu and Alex from 'Soulburn', metal fans bhasi chettan, sono chettan, subin chettan, Rohan, sreejith and finally rohith and me representing 'Stoneage'..

take a look at the lighting equipments

with the superfans from Germany

Me and k.os guys set out to the palace grounds at morning 10am itself. Even the autorickshaw drivers in banglore seemed to know 'iron maiden' and they easily recognised that we were heading to the concert venue. As we reached there, lots of young guys and gals were already pouring in. The site of IRON MAIDEN LIVE on the arch leading to the ground really pumped up my spirits. We walked in and was greeted by the awesome sight of a sea of black shirts outside the grounds and most of the shirts had the words 'iron maiden' written on it. Some weirdo guys and gals with equally weird haircuts and dressups were roaming around there. Many of them carried beer cans. As expected, some were busy smoking the 'stuff'. It was only 11am now. The gates won't open in another 4 hours. And the guys who were having our tickets were still to arrive. We sat around there savouring the multi cultural, multi lingual but still united rock crowd who had gathered there. Am sure there were atleast a dozen people representing each state in India.


As we sat around there munching some water melon, a van carrying police men passed by. And the agressive crowd raised up their middle finger in unison and sang some slogans which cannot be written here. Already, big queues were gathering in front of both the 900rs and 1500rs entry points. Atlast at 2, all the guys arrived. We posed for pics holding the tickets in our hands. Then, we queued up for the final push to the stadium. The impatient crowd were banging on the metal panels and chanting 'maiden , maiden'...and finally the gates opened at 2 30 pm...The ticket guy checked our tickets and was collecting it back. I was not ready to part with that prized possession. I showed it to him and ran away with it. I could hear him calling from my back but i dint turn back. We all ran straight to the front. And all of us went mad because we were so close to the stage. The first 30 minutes were really mad as lots of pushing and swearing were happening. We were struck by the sheer elegance of the stage. The number of lighting equipments dangling from the top were just mind blowing. After many rounds of slogan shouting, the crowd settled down. As we roamed around there, we met 3 superfans of maiden from Germany. They had the SPF[Superfan] badges and lots of Maiden stuff on their dresses. According to them, there are only 40 people all around the world with this special pass. These people follow the band wherever they go. We spend sometime talking with them. As we walked around, we could see smoke enveloping the whole stadium. Cigarettes and the 'other stuff' were being smoked freely all around.

The proceedings started around 5 30 pm with this year's campus rock idol winners F**k The Name[FTN] taking the centrestage. And the poor guys were not given the full output, which was preserved to be unleashed during the maiden show. So, inspite of being really good, they were booed down. Lots of F words were heard from all around. This day would rank as the one in which i heard the maxmum number of F words. After FTN, Parikrama came on stage. Their popularity out here was guaged by the loud cheers that greeted them. They played 8 of their original songs of which my favorite was 'but it rained'. The violinist and the lead guitarist stole the show. The vocalist made some unnecessary remarks at the end which were really in bad taste. He used the F word to describe the critics of the band. That was going a little too far. Then, it was time for Lauren Harris, daughter of Steve Harris, and her girl band to perform. Less said about the show, the better. Barring the old spirited lady behind the drums, it was a load of crap, the biggest crap being the Zakk wylde imitating guitarist.

OK, now enough is enough..sorry to all the maiden fans out here for boring you with such a long intro. The Edd Fest '07 really started at 10 minutes past 8 'O' Clock. There was no warning. There was this rumour going over many months that the show is scheduled at 12 am. So we never expected this to happen so fast. All through the opening shows of FTN, Parikrama and Lauren, we were looking behind the stage to catch a glimpse of the maiden guys and we were successful a couple of times. We were waiting impatiently for their arrival on stage..And they did arrive! Like an unannounced storm, they came on stage sending the whole crowd into frenzy. All of us were still screaming out of disbelief. The thought that am watching Iron Maiden in flesh and blood, right before my eyes, sent a chill down my spines. Dickinson was in full form as he sang 'Different world' from the new album ''A matter of life and death''. The album artwork that was dispalyed in the background was awesome. The lighting was innovative. Next up, they played some more songs from the new album..'Brighter than a thousand suns', 'For the greater good of god', ''these colours don't run'' and 'the reincarnation of benjamin breeg'. Nicko McBrain was thumping behind the mammoth drumkit and he could be seen only from the screen. The rest of them were their energetic self, setting the stage ablaze. Bruce Dickinson's voice was still the old air raid siren sound, with no evident changes. Seems like guitarists never age..All of them, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray looked less than 30 years of age. But truth is that the band itself is more than 30 years old.

More surprises were in store for us. The biggest of them came during the song ''Iron Maiden''. We saw something rising up from behind the stage. Oh god..It was a full scale model of a military tank. First, it was side view. Then it turned with the big barrel facing the audience. The whole stadium roared. Then came the song ''evil that men do''. This time, it was eddy himself, who surprised us. The mammoth eddy walked in and probed the audience with a binocular. After some spirited calls of ''scream for me banglore'' from Bruce, came the icing on the Maiden cake. ''Hallowed be thy name''. I felt the song was being played from a CD player. That was the perfection with which they reproduced it on stage. For that matter, they played almost all songs like that. And, almost everyone was singing along that Bruce's voice was drowned. This song was the signal that the concert was coming to an end. Bruce was so impressed by the crowd, who sang almost every song with him, that he said the following words..''You've waited 17 years for Maiden, but u don't have to wait even 17 months for the next one''.. So, another Indian concert is on the cards soon. At the end, they all turned their back to the audience for a snap with us in the background. Am sure that will rank alongside some of the other iconic Iron Maiden posters. They threw down drum sticks, wrist bands and guitar picks down into the audience. Though we were all standing in the front row, none among us were fortunate enough to get a piece of the memorabilia.

Eddie arrives

Goodbye Banglore

We didn't know what hit us. And before we could find out, it was all over. We didn't want it to end so fast. But it was all over by the time we realised its Maiden playing in front of us. Now, that is Maiden magic for you. Its not for nothing that they been ruling the Metal Kingdom for the past 30 years... The audience kept on chanting 'Maiden, Maiden'. Most of us were relucatant to leave even after Maiden left. We hung around near the stage trying to catch a glimpse of the Maiden guys and all we got to see were the sound guys. They were all really fast in dismantling the huge amount of concert equipment that they had set up there on stage. Atlast, the policemen drew us away. As we walked back, we were still shaking our head. Now, as I write this, almost one week after the show, am still shaking my head. Am wondering when will it all sink in..the truth that I watched Iron Maiden live...up close..in flesh and blood..from the front row..... Until then, its 'MAIDEN MAIDEN'....chant alongggg...all u members of the Maiden army...

for the complete photo album checkout...
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/blazeofglory2007/IronMaidenEddFest07Banglore


your crusader Praveen