A Metal Journey Through Time with Iron Maiden – Live Report (Ljubljana, Arena Stožice, 28 May 2023)
Iron Maiden
Ljubljana / Arena Stožice / Slovenia
Sunday, 28 May 2023, 8:00 PM
Many fans of the English heavy metal institution Iron Maiden have long wondered why this legendary band, whose best songs were written in the eighties, has stuck at live shows almost exclusively to its most well-known staples and newer material, while some outstanding tracks from their creative peak have been completely overlooked and haven’t been played live in ages — or ever.
This was especially true of the sci-fi-tinged 1986 album »Somewhere In Time«, which already stood out at the time of its release thanks to the innovative use of guitar synthesizers and is now regarded as one of their creative peaks. Apart from the near-anthem live staples »Wasted Years« and especially »Heaven Can Wait« — the latter used at previous shows mostly as a singalong crowd-warmer — nothing else from that album had been heard since the end of the Somewhere In Time tour. Some of those tracks were never even played live during the 1986 tour itself.
Most fans made their peace with the explanation that Somewhere In Time was never among the favourite Iron Maiden albums of their charismatic frontman Bruce Dickinson, who left a slightly smaller creative imprint on it than usual. In general, Maiden have become a pretty predictable — if not outright play-it-safe — band when it comes to setlist imagination, particularly over the last two decades. They’ve been reluctant to dust off a ‘forgotten’ gem from the good old days, while reliably cramming in at least six songs from the latest album, even when some of those tracks were of uneven quality.
Ahead of the new tour — pointedly titled ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ — in support of their most recent album »Senjutsu«, released in 2021, they finally decided to listen to the fans and weave into the setlist both new material and some long-unplayed or never-played-live gems from the aforementioned masterpiece »Somewhere In Time«.
Nostalgia has become a powerful marketing magnet across all popular media in recent years — music, films, TV series, video games — and Maiden clearly know the game well. That calculated commercial savvy aside, one of the key differences between Maiden and some other legendary metal and rock acts that have turned into full-blown corporate institutions over the years is that the English metal champions rarely disappoint live and almost always deliver their best — even if some people still have rather mixed, if not outright bad, memories of their last Ljubljana show in 2007.
So it’s no surprise that, after nearly sixteen years of drought, it was absolutely thrilling news for every Slovenian Maiden fan that the first date of the new tour would land at Ljubljana’s Arena Stožice — and the promise of an ‘unusual’ setlist only stoked what were already sky-high expectations. Even while the scorching sun was still high in the sky, everything was already set for the biggest metal celebration on home turf, so it was no surprise that crowds of local and foreign fans were milling outside the venue well before the sold-out show kicked off. The most devoted fans had been getting into the spirit the night before, when British Lion — fronted by indestructible Iron Maiden bassist, founder, and commander-in-chief Steve Harris — played a show in Ljubljana.
Warm-up duties were handled by Raven’s Age, founded by guitarist George Harris, better known to metal fans as Steve Harris’s son. George and his bandmates put on a completely forgettable show, adding another chapter to what has become a notorious Maiden tradition of poor or wildly genre-inappropriate support acts, particularly when it comes to their mainland Europe touring picks. The eager young lads won over very few people in the arena with their anaemic stew of melodic metalcore, alternative metal, and groove metal, steered by the strained and thin vocals of Matt James. Sadly, this was yet another reminder that sometimes the apple really does fall far from the tree, and that the power of genetics is often overrated — not that anyone was surprised who remembered Steve’s previous (unsuccessful) attempts to give his daughter Lauren and her band a career boost by putting them on as a support act.
Then came the changeover for the main event — a full overhaul of the instruments and stage setup, dominated by Nick McBrain’s enormous drum kit. As Maiden have always known how to do, the stage design was tailored to the historical/samurai-futurist theme, best embodied by the two halves of Eddie’s head — samurai and cyborg. Over the last decade their shows have gained even more spectacle and stage entertainment, to the point where no fewer than three different animatronic Eddies now march out (four, if you count the giant inflatable Eddie head that appears at the close of the main set) — gone are the days of just the one.
Sharp-eyed fans had already spotted long-time Maiden manager Rod Smallwood at the mixing desk before the band appeared — personally keeping watch on the opening night of the tour to make sure everything went exactly right. The moment UFO’s »Doctor Doctor« rang out through the arena, it was clear everything was ready for a time-machine metal journey back into the past and forward again into a present that had by now become the future. The closing strains of Vangelis’s score from the unforgettable Blade Runner finally ‘teleported’ us back to 1986, when Eddie and Skeletor were at the peak of their powers, each learning from the other who made the more successful cross between a living corpse and a cyborg.
Long before the show, fans had been buzzing with speculation about the setlist and which song Maiden would open with. Those of us who hadn’t been dreaming too wildly but had quietly hoped it would be »Caught Somewhere In Time« — the magnificent opening track from »Somewhere In Time« — guessed right. The intro to the futuristic classic — played for the first time since the 1986 tour — was a touch stilted: Maiden hadn’t brought along the guitar synths used back in the mid-eighties, and there was a timing issue with the transition into the song’s crushing opening passage, but that slight bitterness dissolved within seconds as the song kicked into gear and all six members of the band appeared on stage for the first time.
All three guitarists — Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers — took their standard positions and traded their designated solos with precision and gusto, while the eternal driving force Steve and the ever-game-for-stage-antics Nicko held down the rhythm, both still in excellent shape. Bruce strode on stage in a futuristic get-up — long coat and goggles — looking not unlike Doc Brown from the second instalment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was immediately clear that the vocal abilities of this 65-year-old metal veteran — who had most recently appeared locally at the Cankarjev dom not all that long ago — are nothing short of staggering, and that he’s capable of pulling off virtually any demanding old track from the deep Maiden catalogue. After the imperfect opening moments, they quickly made us very happy with a powerful rendition and a solid live version of one of the finest songs in their discography.
The perfectly fitting follow-up of the nostalgic »Stranger In a Strange Land« — back in the setlist for the first time since 1999 — delighted everyone who had spent years at Maiden shows longing for more »Somewhere In Time« material and had long given up hope of ever hearing certain songs from that era played live. The animatronic Eddie made his first appearance of the evening, matched to the »Stranger In a Strange Land« single artwork, in which the band’s mascot had been transformed into a cyborg-zombie version of the now-92-year-old Clint Eastwood in one of his cult spaghetti westerns.
It wouldn’t be Maiden if their set didn’t include at least five songs from the current studio album, and this evening was no exception. »Senjutsu« is, despite the samurai stamp of its artwork and some of its tracks, a pretty uneven album — containing some good moments and some that are overly drawn-out, if not outright tedious — as the live versions of several new songs confirmed. Among the better »Senjutsu« moments is »Writing On the Wall«, already introduced on the previous tour and one of the more inspired Iron Maiden singles of the last twenty years. It held up well live too, mostly thanks to an excellent chorus. Before the song, Bruce got a laugh out of us with a short anecdote about his visit to the toilet in Bled Castle, which he remembered for a certain piece of writing on the wall.
Less interesting, despite their futuristically-themed lyrics, were »Days of Future Past« and the slightly drawn-out »Time Machine«, both played for the first time on the current tour. Just as there was a danger that part of the crowd might sink into mild gloom and conclude that the brilliant opening of the concert had also been its peak with no more surprises to come, Maiden turned it around with a cracking rendition of the always-fun, always-energetic »The Prisoner« — a »The Number of the Beast« (1982) staple they hadn’t played since 2014.
»Death of the Celts«, also making its live debut this evening, unfortunately falls into the same category of overly drawn-out »Senjutsu« tracks despite some promising moments — and the crowd’s energy did dip noticeably during it. As far as Scottish patriotic anthems performed by one of the most quintessentially English bands in the world go, the »Virtual XI« (1998) staple »The Clansman« remains the better choice by comparison.
Maiden quickly put things back on track with two fan favourites, though somewhat predictable choices. Both the »Seventh Son of a Seventh Son« (1988) evergreen »Can I Play With Madness« — back on the setlist after nine years — and the previously mentioned »Heaven Can Wait«, unplayed live since 2008, gave the crowd a proper jolt before apathy could set in. During »Heaven Can Wait«, Bruce squared off against a futuristic cyborg Eddie using some kind of ‘laser’ cannon, while Eddie fired back with a ‘laser’ pistol launching feeble little ‘celebration’ rockets — so there was absolutely no room for boredom during these stage inserts, which has long been one of the key hallmarks of an Iron Maiden concert.
The epic »Somewhere In Time« gem »Alexander the Great« is the track that has commanded extraordinary reverence among most Maiden fans for a very long time. Until recently it topped the list of Iron Maiden songs never played live, despite deserving a live outing for more than twenty-five years. For reasons unknown, it was never played even during the Somewhere In Time tour itself.
This evening, the dreams of every fan who had given up hope of ever hearing Maiden play live that unforgettable epic about the rise and fall of antiquity’s greatest military commander — who met his premature end in Babylon after conquering most of the known world — were finally fulfilled. Bruce delivered the whole thing with authority, despite the song’s considerable vocal demands, while every instrumentalist also gave everything — through the individual guitar solos included. This magnificent, epic drama about one of the most extraordinary and still-enigmatic figures in human history had finally received its premiere in Ljubljana. It was unquestionably the highlight of the entire evening, and for a long time afterwards many people couldn’t quite believe their biggest concert wish had finally come true after all these years. Anyone in the crowd who still harboured doubts that Maiden were capable of pulling off certain long-‘forgotten’ classics had to keep their mouth shut after this.
The closing stretch of the main set was considerably more predictable — Iron Maiden simply have to play at least some of their most famous staples, even if certain ones are pretty worn-in by now. »Fear of the Dark« from the album of the same name falls into that category — it actually felt slightly anticlimactic after the phenomenal »Alexander the Great«, though Bruce (who put on a hood for the occasion) and the band did their best to conjure the track’s trademark sinister and mysterious atmosphere. During the anthem »Iron Maiden« — the obligatory closer of the main set — Bruce donned a leather jacket, joined in the opening section on stage by a katana-wielding samurai Eddie. At the climax of the evergreen, the giant samurai Eddie head inflated in the backdrop, marking the end of the main set.
In the encore, somewhat surprisingly, Maiden played the epic »Hell On Earth«, which is unquestionably among the »Senjutsu« highlights — and even those who don’t think much of the new album had no regrets about its inclusion. This excellent track, which came across even better live than in its studio version, also captured the zeitgeist beautifully, accompanied by a flood of flames and a post-apocalyptic backdrop dominated by a toppled Statue of Liberty with Eddie’s head. The most notorious »Peace of Mind« (1983) staple »The Trooper« — slightly less British-flavoured this time around, without Bruce’s customary Union Jack-waving — was also present, though some wouldn’t have missed it terribly if they’d played another forgotten eighties gem in its place.
The encore wrapped up with the somewhat expected »Somewhere In Time« single »Wasted Years«, bringing the total count of tracks played from that album to five — an all-time record. This live staple — not exactly a rarity, but still an excellent and wonderfully nostalgic track, last played live six years ago — was nonetheless a well-chosen ending to a fantastic evening by every measure. The band took their leave of the ecstatic crowd to the sounds of the Monty Python song »Always Look On the Bright Side of Life«, grinning all the way — and for a while after the lights came up, the audience still didn’t want to go home. It was great to see the band and the crowd truly merge into one on several moments during the evening. The band members quickly felt the positive energy flowing between stage and audience, and even Bruce — who can be pretty cutting when a crowd doesn’t bring the right enthusiasm — was visibly pleased. The less positive side of the evening came at the end of the show, when a wild brawl left one concertgoer seriously injured — he had been trying to grab Nicko’s drumhead and barely escaped with his life. This kind of violent incident simply should not happen at concerts, but a longer comment on that belongs in a different conversation.
Wonderful feelings stayed with us long after the end of this unforgettable musical journey through time — Ljubljana had finally welcomed back a brilliantly on-form Iron Maiden after a very long wait, and etched its name into metal history with the world-premiere live performance of the unforgettable classic »Alexander the Great«, which was without question the highlight of the night. One could go on at length about how there were again slightly too many new songs, not all of which are in the same quality bracket, and how replacing »Fear of the Dark« and »The Trooper« with, say, »Sea of Madness« and »Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner« — or at least extending the show with a couple more surprises — would have been welcome. But it has to be said: Maiden exceeded even some of the wildest expectations on this evening, and for everything they delivered on the opening night of the current tour, they deserve an outstanding rating.
Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Denis Paradiž
Setlist:
- Caught Somewhere in Time
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- The Writing on the Wall
- Days of Future Past
- The Time Machine
- The Prisoner
- Death of the Celts
- Can I Play With Madness
- Heaven Can Wait
- Alexander the Great
- Fear of the Dark
- Iron Maiden
——BIS——- - Hell On Earth
- The Trooper
- Wasted Years
Setlist je bil odlicen. Fear of the Dark, The Trooper in Death of the Celts bi lahko bili kandidati za zamenjavo, vendar je vsak od teh vseeno igral svojo vlogo, prva dva za zadovoljitev bolj casual obiskovalcev, drugi pa za promocijo novega albuma, kar je razumljivo.
Velja pa omeniti katastrofalno akustiko Stozic in neprofesionalno, ce ne na momente celo malomarno delo tonske ekipe. Na mestih dvorane, kjer bi moral biti zvok najboljsi, vecinoma sploh ni bilo mogoce razlociti igranja posameznih clanov banda, temvec se je vse skupaj zgostilo v neko “muddy” fuzijo akusticne zalosti. Bruceov vokal je bil vecinoma potisnjen prevec v ozadje, porezani pa so bili tako nizki kot visoki rangi tonov.
Kdor je skrbel za ozvocenje in nasplosno tonska ekipa, niso bili kos takemu kovu koncerta in niso znali ustrezno prilagoditi opreme za tonski spekter banda.
Poleg navedenega je bil tudi band malce v formi, ki je pogosta za zacetek turneje. Bilo je precej napak, igranja izven ritma, kitare so pri dolocenih komadih vidno izgubile uglasitev. Sem pa preprican, da bodo Maidni to resili v nadaljnjih koncertih in prisli v vrhunsko formo tekom turneje.
Turneja je must see, so pa verjetno lahko veseli tisti, ki so oklevali do zdaj, saj bodo po vsej verjetnosti videli Maidne na drugih lokacijah v precej boljsi formi in predvsem z boljsim ozvocenjem.
Uh, bilo je kar hudo. Čeprav Maidni ne spadajo med moje top bande, pa zame nikoli ni bilo dvoma, da gre za največji metal band. Energija, ki jo možakarji vlagajo v vse, kar počnejo, je preprosto nenadkriljiva.
Žal sem si tokratni koncert ogledal od precej daleč, tam nekje pod streho, doslej namreč nisem bil vajen, da je treba navaliti na karte prvi dan prodaje. Zvok tam gori pri nas je bil še kar soliden, razen med Prisonerjem, ko se je zdelo, da jim je Sharon izklopila kabel za napajanje kitarskih ojačevalcev. Da se razumemo, zvok je bil bolj ali manj slab, daleč najslabši med vsemi Maiden koncerti, ki sem jih videl, ampak še vedno veliko boljši, kot na mojem doslej edinem obisku v Stožicah, na škorpijonih – takrat sem bil tik pod odrom in tam je bil zvok katastrofa.
Band seveda odličen, le priznati moram, da se vedno znova vprašam, ali Janick tudi kaj igra, ali samo pleše. 🙂
Setlista dobra, seveda bi si sam želel manj Senjutsuja in morda kakšen komad več iz prvenca, ali pa s Peace Of Mind. In ne vem, zakaj sem imel občutek, da je nekako zadnji hip odpadel še en dodatek.
Definitivno Up The Irons.
Palce dol pa za najnovejšo sramotno potezo pohlepnega upravitelja Stožic, namreč kavcijo v obliki nepovratnega zelenega žetona. Česa podobnega nisem videl še nikoli nikjer, pa sem marskaj obredel. Če smo že Slovenci navajeni, da se oblastniki lahko delajo norca iz nas, pa je treba upoštevati, da je več tisoč obiskovalcev prišlo iz sosednjih držav in so gotovo bili navdušeni nad novim davkom. Argumenti upravitelja, da ne gre za kavcijo, ampak za trajnostni prispevek, je seveda bullshit, ker je nekdo, ki je spil samo en pir, plačal enako kot oni, ki jih je spil 10.
Sicer pa moram reči, da je seveda fajn, da sem po koncertu hitro doma, ampak po drugi strani pa mi je koncertno nomadstvo tako zlezlo pod kožo, da mi kar nekaj manjka, če se ne peljem vsaj 200km daleč. Naslednja postaja – Kiss v Munchnu čez dva tedna.
Hej Matija, dejansko. Tole z zelenimi knofi je tak ultra nateg in poniževanje. V Nemčiji, Avstriji, skratka vseh normalnih državotvornih institucijah, kar nategunsko podjetje Slovenija nikoli ne bo, dobro vedo kaj je to “Pfand”.
Že na Bryanu Adamsu decembra lani, sem naletel na dve skupini obiskovalcev koncerta iz Avstrije, ki so zmotno mislili, da dobijo evro nazaj za vsak žeton, ko bodo nehali naročat pivo.
To je možno samo v tem zavoženem slovenistanu, ki mu ni rešitve. Smo balkanci in to bomo ostali. Kralji nategunstva in prevar.
Glede Maiden, bom jaz itak še dve praški reportaži pripravil, taki fenovski. Pač enkrat junija, po dopustu. Tud jaz sem spremljal ljubljanski koncert ‘pod stropom’, komaj sem dobil dve karti.
Mi pa zvok ni deloval napačno, tud Brucea se je dobro slišalo. Fušev pa ogromno. A bodrilna novica. Že na naslednjem praškem koncertu jih je bilo manj, na tretjem špilu se pravi 31. 5. 2023 (znova Praga) pa še manj.
Pogrešam pa McBrainove rollinge, ki so na Somewhere In Time komadih v živo postali precej poenostavljeni, medtem ko mi pajac Gears od nekdaj ne sede in mi tako ali drugače že a priori kvari Maiden koncerte.
Hecno je opazovat Harrisa, kako v delih koncerta skupine teka od enega do drugega kitarista in jih dejansko ‘opominja’ kaj morajo storiti, da so pri stvari, …. turneja je na začetku in še vedno se kar precej ‘uvežbavajo’. Sem pa prepričan da bomo naslednje leto deležni še drugega dela evropske turneje 😀
Kapo dol za Kiss. Midva imava dons Scorpions v Brnu, potem pa nazaj v Prago (najprej spotoma v tamkajšnji klub Futurum na Voivod) in pol finale 10. 6. 2023 na Kiss (02 Arena) 😀
Se veselim tvojih komentarjev tudi v bodoče 😀
Evo, včeraj sem si v Munchnu ogledal Kiss. NIsem fan, ampak pred upokojitvijo sem si jih po več izpuščenih priložnostih vendarle odločil ogledati. Zakaj to omenjam pod reportažo Maiden? Ker gre za podobno velik koncert. Po mojem prepričanju namreč band spoštovanje do gledalcev in tudi samospoštovanje med drugim pokaže tudi z izbiro predskupine. In tu so Kiss zadeli v črno z Airbourne. Nisem Airbourbe fan, sicer vem, kakšno glasbo igrajo, vendar nimam nobenega albuma niti ne poznam naslova nobene pesmi. Ampak fantje so v večerni pripeki udarili na polno, direkt v žilo, publika je bila navdušena. Igrajo pa seveda take sorte umazan rock’n roll, da je tako njim kot publiki jasno, kaj hočejo in zakaj so tam. Za razliko od The Raven Age s trpečim in napornim metalom, pri katerem ne veš, kaj naj počneš, naj skačeš, ali pač potrpiš in čakaš, da mine. No , seveda pa tudi pri The Raven Age tako oni kot publika vedo, zakaj so tam.
Daleč so časi, ko so nam Maiden za ogrevanje pripeljali Anthrax ali pa Waysted z mladim pevcem veličastnega glasu Dannyem Vaughnom.
Hej hej super,
Na RL bo report s Kiss koncerta v sklopu turneje tih zadnjih 50 koncertov ever, pripravljen z njihovega praškega koncerta 11. 6. 2023, ko so nastopili v O2 Areni.
Samo časa ni. Oziroma te ‘fan’ reporte (beri: kupljena vstopnice + fotke s smart phoneom) bom priložnostno štukal v dnevni update v prihajajočih dneh…
Pred Kiss so v Pragi nastopili Dirty Honey – cool glam rock revival band.
Airbourne sem gledal ene dvakrat. Nikol me niso posebno vzdražili, ker preočitno kopirajo AC/DC, imajo pa ‘bestialno’ odrsko energijo in to šteje, ko prideš na njihov koncert 😀
Kako je v Münchnu? Vem da je vseskupaj precej drago postalo v solo režiji z avtom.. ampak vseeno. A še kej ‘sitnarijo’ okol tega krepa s Covid-19 plandemijo … po pravici povedano me je minilo potovati v Nemčijo na koncerte prav zaradi tega, kar se tam dogaja vse od marca 2020 dalje.
Me pa matrajo mal Maiden 31. 7. 2023,… ampak je to bolj utopija. Bom počakal na kakšne dodatne termine za Evropo v letu 2024 😀
Točno tako sem doživel Airbourne, kot si jih opisal. So pravzaprav idealni za predskupino na velikih koncertih.
Meni je Munchen vedno bil kul, tudi živel sem tam nekaj let. Je super kraj za živet. Mene sicer Covid ukrepi nikoli niso motili, ampak zdaj jih več tako ali tako ni. Maske nosijo samo še kitajski turisti, tako kot pred pandemijo.
Drži pa, da postaja pot v Munchen draga, sploh v naših letih, ko raje prespim, kot da bi po koncertu takoj šel za volan in ves skrokan pičil domov.