Well, some plans fell through and they almost fell through completely, but I managed to drag an old friend of mine out of his grave after two years (metaphorical grave, mind you) to see Iron Maiden in concert. Since I now had an extra ticket, I invited my dad to go since he's been begging to go to a concert all summer. More of a sixty's hard-rock guy, he thinks all heavy metal is Judas Priest and ergo all heavy metal is gay and wants nothing to do with it, but he was bored anyway.
We didn't get there in time to see Coheed and Cambria opening, but they have exactly one song anyone knows, and it sounded exactly like it does in Guitar Hero from outside the pavilion so big fuckin' whoop. Bought a $40 tour shirt - it's
The Trooper cover, repainted as charging from the Alamo in flames with the Lone Star flag. All of three stops in Texas, and they went to the trouble of making a shirt. I can wear it for legit
and for irony.
Then the show. Halfway through
the opening song, my dad exclaimed, "This is a guitar orchestra" and as a guy who actually knows how to play a guitar, spent the whole two hour show desperately trying to keep up with air fingering. And as Gene Simmons once said, nobody goes to a concert to hear experimental new crap or recorded backing. You go to a concert to hear your favorite old hits played fast and loud, and holy shit did they deliver and then some.
Phantom of the Opera went from four minute puff to a ten minute rock odyssey with a completely separate instrumental in the middle of the bridge.
Fear of the Dark was punctuated by an actual lightning storm that swirled around the stadium without dropping any rain. I punched a guy's drink out of his hand and nobody cared. Two days later my throat is still sore. And I managed to get everyone home safe and sound, despite being so, uh, exhausted that I didn't notice I was still wearing my sunglasses while driving back and forth across town at midnight.
Welp, I'm reunited with old friend, my dad worships the ground Dave Murray's fat ass walks on, and I can die happy. Yay death!