The 2006 Music Marathon
Well well well, boys and girls. Time for me to reflect on what has been a mind-blowing few days of awesome live music. This will more than likely turn into a long entry, so grab yourself a coffee, sit back and read on.
The start of the Marathon was We Will Rock You on Thursday evening. It was my 36th show overall, and my second that week (I had already done one show on Monday on my way home from Aberystwyth). What a show. The entire cast and band were on top form and the sound was amazing. I managed to give Jenna a few bits and pieces which I’d done for the cast for Christmas (a WWRY image edit I had printed, a tin of Quality Street and a card), I don’t actually know if the rest of the cast actually saw any of the Quality Street or not! It was a full principal cast, and everything was nigh-on perfect for the whole show. I’m not going to go into great depth with the review but I think I’ve already said most of it. Jenna and Peter were brilliant, you could see the great chemistry between them in Hammer To Fall and Who Wants To Live Forever. Mazz and Alex had a storming show, as did Rachael and Colin. All-in-all: one of the best performances I think I have ever seen.
My first of two Iron Maiden gigs in two days comes next. Got to the Earl’s Court Arena at about 7:30, just missing Lauren Harris’ set (Maiden bassist Steve Harris’ daughter). I went into the Arena with an open mind towards Trivium (the main support act on the tour), as I hadn’t really heard anything from them before. It was mediocre at best. The vocals were a bad Metallica-copy and the drummer was just playing the same pattern over and over again. I was glad to hear the end of their set, as it was only just bearable. They were annoyingly American and commercial, and it I think that it was Trivium who caused the majority of the crowd trouble later on, with massive surges and stupid, pointless pushing.
Iron Maiden was - predictably - awe-inspiring. They played the full A Matter of Life and Death album from start to finish, and although it did start to drag towards the end of the set, the classics at the end more than made up for it. One slight hiccup was the fact that the main power cable into the building caught fire and melted halfway through and rendered the band instrument-less and reduced Bruce Dickinson to a mega-phone and the crowd singing Christmas carols for a full 20 minutes. Two Minutes to Midnight, Fear of The Dark, Iron Maiden, The Evil That Men Do and Hallowed Be Thy Name was a class end to a class set.
The Maiden madness continued into yesterday (Saturday 23rd) when I went into Earl’s Court again for another round of ear-bashing from Trivium and comparative harmonic bliss from Maiden. This time I went into the venue about 10 minutes before the doors officially opened at 6pm, thanks to the First To The Barrier wristbands I won in a raffle from the Iron Maiden Fan Club. Lauren Harris’ set was solid and definitely deserved to be higher up on the bill than Trivium, who were just as bland and unimanginative as before. Again, I endured their set and Maiden were brilliant. The highlight of the Album set was Benjamin Breeg. Atmospheric and downright headbanging. Again, the classics during the encore were just draw-dropping. I actually got a nod of the head from Steve Harris at one point during the set, that was enough to make my night.
Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough, so merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all 
January 20th, 2007 at 1:06 am
Sounds like an awsome few days of music - really enjoyed reading it over a coffee. Why the long wait for the follow up posts?