Well, a couple of shows have gone by....
Rush - didn't end up being a special show in any way that it was hyped. We got the standard format concert everyone else got, so a bit disappointing in that way. The show didn't sell out either, a big surprise there. It was very impressive and the most amazing aspect is just how good these guys are as musicians individually and as a group. One of the tightest performances I've ever seen.
Boston/Lou Gramm - didn't end up going, though apparently it was a pretty good show, or at least Boston was. Lou Gramm apparently hasn't done well physically, his vocals are off and he's applying a fair bit of creativity to the original versions. I don't really know anyone that enjoyed that aspect. Boston was apparently great.
Iron Maiden.
Get the idea? Wow, just wow. It was loud, fast and hard. Dickenson's vocals were amazing and the band sounded fantastic. It was basically the same tour as 1986 for the most part and was fantastic. It was kinda funny because I talked to a fair number of the staff before the show and they were terrified of the crowd, which aside from the floor was extremely well behaved.
As for the crowd, it was without a doubt the loudest crowd I've ever heard. That's saying something too. The show was a "sell-out" at 12500 but that was about 4000 less than were at the Pearl Jam show. The lower number is in response to the stage setup that wasn't as open as the Pearl Jam concert where folks were sitting behind the stage as well. The Pearl Jam crowd was probably the most impressive I've ever seen overall and their energy was consistently higher before and during the show. The Maiden crowd did quiet down a couple of times during songs I thought were kind of obscure to include in the show when better or at least more popular choices existed. I don't remember that happening at Pearl Jam through the show. Where the Maiden crowd was better (louder) though was in the duration of singing along during the show. Routinely you couldn't even hear Dickenson singing at all because the crowd just drowned him out.
Suffice to say I'm really, really happy to have gone to this show. Hell, I even bought a t-shirt. At regular price even. It had a bloody hockey stick on it, how could I possibly resist?
