IRON MAIDEN LIVE AT COMFORT DENTAL AMPHITHEATRE

The forecast predicted cloudy skies and slight rainfall, but it didn’t say anything about hell breaking loose on earth... in Englewood, Colorado. Have you ever gone to an ordinary concert (or perhaps even the mall) and witnessed every rock fan sporting an Iron Maiden shirt? Take all of those fans and condense them to one place! Obviously with that, you have yourself one hell of a sold out IRON MAIDEN concert! 

For a group of 50 year old veteran rockers, these dudes rocked the hell out; like animals. They were insane and I loved it! These modern day musicians will not out-stage the Gods of Rock and Heavy Metal, because no one can put on a better show than Iron Maiden. This show has outdone any performance I have ever seen before. Here, the band reignited their 1988 version of their “Maiden England” tour. 

The show started off with Coheed & Cambria, a band that I personally adore. They are just that awesome! And, they always seem to play on some of the wackiest lineups. When you hear Coheed, and see them on a bill with Slipknot, Dio and Soundgarden, you kind of think to yourself "these guys don’t quite fit the bill just on sound alone", but it does make for a very interesting show; emo to the sound, but rather metal when you listen to the lyrics. Plus, their Amory Wars theme (the foundation the band is based on; the storyline is that of Star Wars), makes their set better to spectate. But the Kids of the Fence performed a very strong set, even with their new bass player, Zach Cooper, and old/new drummer, Josh Eppard. Personally I prefer to have Michael Todd and Chris Pennie, which is when Coheed sounded their best in my opinion. However, Todd was arrested last summer while on the last date of their tour with Soundgarden. Way to go! All in all, Coheed had a great set -- kudos to Zach, the newbie of the band. Slappa da bass mon!

Maiden was introduced with a video recording of arctic scenery lighting up their stage; a representation of their album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The band came blasting out to "Moonchild". I was sad it wasn’t "Wrathchild", but "Moonchild" was still rock'in!

As I explained before, these gods of metal will never die, because they still jump around on stage like fucking monkeys! Throughout the whole set, the scenery changed variously, with Bruce dressed as a red coat during, “The Trooper” and a large sized trooper appears on stage to fight with Janick. Janick totally kicked the stage's ass with his awesome shredding.

The scenery changed to a hellish view with a lot of pyrotechnics and a golden devil during “Number of the Beast”; complete excitement all around. But then, Bruce Dickinson regrettably informed the crowd of the short set that the band had to stick to, due to noise complaints in the area. Say what!? It’s called a fucking "concert"! If Englewood, Colorado was going to file complaints, then why did they build the venue near office buildings? That’s really all ther is; office buildings in the area -- no suburban community or anything of the sory. So, I’m not sure what the issue with that was. I think people were just pissed that they missed out on the most kick ass metal show of the summer! You snooze, you lose, pal!

The crowd was forced to sit or stand. Sit? That’s funny. Despite the bolted-in seats at this venue, this would not have minimized the crowd’s level of animosity. It in fact would have encouraged them to break more bones and snap more spines. Anything to please, Eddie, who later rose up form the rear of the stage towards the end of the set.

Shooting during the first few songs of the pit, I was out of breath and I was trapped in a confined photo pit, but thankfully there were only three concert photographers shooting, otherwise it would have been sheer madness trying to keep up with the band as they jumped around. But, it was a pleasure and a privilege. Though, I may need an inhaler next time I do an Iron Maiden show!

- Josh Lowe, Alternative Revolt Magazine [Story & Photos]