Concert was on October 17, 2006 at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan
I have been a fan of Iron Maiden since the “Killers” release in 1981. Over the years, I have had some issues with both Bruce Dickinson’s vocals, and also some of the lyrical content. In the past few years, I have rediscovered the band’s music and have grown an appreciation for their entire history.
In 2005, I was able to catch the OzzFest USA tour, which featured a “retro” Iron Maiden set. The band performed material from only their first 4 releases. Having not seen the band prior to this, it was a nice shot at seeing the band recreate some of the early days. I was very impressed with the energy the band brought to the stage.
Now in 2006, Iron Maiden has released a new CD called “A Matter Of Life And Death”. This release reached #9 on the top Billboard charts for the USA, and topped the charts in other parts of the world. This has proven to be one of their strongest releases, and certainly the best in recent memory. When I heard the band would be starting the tour in North America, this was a pleasant surprise (it has been many years since the band started a tour in North America).
On a Tuesday night in October, Iron Maiden brought their 2006 tour to The Palace, in Detroit suburb Auburn Hills. A friend and myself arrived a tad later than desired, and we had missed the entire opening act. The opening band was called “Bullet For My Valentine”, and I have no knowledge of them. Upon entering the performance area, we noticed the crowd was far from a sell-out. We found our reserved seats around 8pm, and Iron Maiden took the stage at 8:30pm. This was a tad earlier than I expected, but I didn’t mind. The band opened the evening by performing the entire new CD, from start to finish. Dickinson and the rest of the band looked energetic, and worked hard to keep the audience involved in the new material. Although I wasn’t entirely surprised that they chose to highlight the new release, I did think it might have been better to include a couple older hits intermingled with the new tracks. After about the fourth song, Bruce told the audience that drummer Nicko McBrain had broken his bass drum head and there was going to be a brief moment while this was replaced. This provided some humor during the show, and certainly wasn’t planned. During this time, my friend and me went to find some other seats more “directly” facing the stage. We found some nice seats by the time the band got things going again. They continued through the new CD, and completed the material a little over an hour into the set. Maiden then moved into some older material. They treated us to versions of “Fear of The Dark”, “The Evil That Men Do” (featuring an appearance by band mascot “Eddie”), “Iron Maiden”, “2 Minutes To Midnight”, and even “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. The band sounded great during all these songs, and the energy was kept up all night. After almost 2 hours of full on metal, Iron Maiden bit farewell to Detroit.
Afterward, I heard some fans upset about not getting performances of “Number Of The Beast” or “The Trooper”, and I was a bit surprised these were left out. However, I could see that the band was working at keeping the focus on the newer material, and they weren’t really looking to make this a “retro” tour. They were going to showcase the new CD, and share some of their favorites from the past. It wasn’t going to be a total “best of” concert, like some may have wanted. I would say a majority of the audience was very happy with the evening. I know I was happy to see the band working to build interest in the new material, and not just riding on past successes.
Overall, a solid performance from one of the all-time best heavy metal bands, while also showing they continue to release quality new material. Although certainly not as popular as they are in Europe, Iron Maiden is still one of the best metal bands touring today.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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