Location: Belgrade / Kalemegdan / Serbia
Date: Tuesday, 17.06.2013
In April 1988, Iron Maiden set out on what was, up to then, one of their biggest tours ever, the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour, in support of the then-new peak of their discography, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The colossal tour, which ran for more than half a year and saw the band without a doubt at the height of its powers, wrapped up after 98 shows, and its testament became the live record Maiden England, which the band recorded in Birmingham in November 1988. Two years ago, Iron Maiden decided to revive this important chapter of their history with the Maiden England World Tour 2012-2014. The tour wheels started turning in June 2012 in the US, and now the end is just around the corner: the heavy metal giants will play the final show of the tour on July 5 at the Sonisphere festival in Knebworth. At one of the last dates, Iron Maiden stopped in Belgrade once again, in the idyllic setting of the Belgrade Fortress at Kalemegdan, which actually sits right in the middle of the city yet is cut off from it, offering plenty of quiet corners. One of them lies beneath the walls at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, but this time it was anything but quiet, it was damn loud, since the crowds were already pouring in toward the stage.
At half past seven, the Swedish troublemakers Ghost led the gathered congregation into an orgy of satanic heavy metal. To the sounds of an evil symphonic intro, all five Nameless Ghouls marched onto the stage, followed by the head of the Ghost church and star of the stage, Papa Emeritus II, who immediately reaped a roaring applause and whistles of approval. Ghost kicked things off by plunging us into year one, the year of the Antichrist’s birth, Year Zero, and wrapped Kalemegdan in a thick, ominous atmosphere of retro heavy metal, or rather rock, laced with devilish, occult themes. This is backed up by the stage presence of the instrumental ghosts, and even more by the papal audience of Papa Emeritus II, who steals all the attention with his sweetly deceptive voice and theatrical gestures. He won over the Serbian crowd even more with his many addresses in Serbian. Unfortunately the vocals were mixed pretty poorly and the blasphemous lyrics didn’t come across as well as they usually do, but the instrumental five-piece did shine, especially the guitarists with their simple but powerful riffs and the drummer, who squeezed a truly huge sound out of a minimal kit. Ghost got a pretty warm reception, which for an Iron Maiden opening act is more the exception than the rule, and it’s really interesting to see that the Swedes have managed to popularize Satan, Lucifer and evil so much that young and old alike sing along to lines like “Lucifer/We Are Here/For Your Praise/Evil One” and the like. Ghost bid farewell to Kalemegdan, which was slowly sinking into darkness, with the hit from the album Infestissumam, Monstrance Clock. Papa Emeritus II for Pope!
While the stage was being prepped for Device, Pilatus entertained with aerobatics among the clouds, and as day turned to night, the Kalemegdan walls were lit up, which gave the show an absolutely stunning backdrop. The crowd erupted when the classic herald of the show, the UFO anthem Doctor Doctor, boomed out of the speakers, and the last brakes came off at the line “Seven deadly sins/Seven ways to win/Seven holy paths to hell/And your trip begins”, as our hour-and-a-half journey kicked off with a spectacular opening with the unforgettable Seventh Son classic Moonchild. Iron Maiden have already got us used to (and spoiled us with) nothing but top-notch performances, and the Belgrade one was no exception. From the first note the band charged into a fierce show full of heavy metal acrobatics, crowned with phenomenal energy from absolutely everyone on stage. That’s exactly the trait that raised Maiden among the greats, where they remain to this day, even though the band members are getting seriously close to the autumn of their lives. And though they’re well along in years, Bruce, Steve, Adrian, Dave, Nicko and Janick can outdo guys half their age with their left hand. The flawless performance was interrupted only by a slightly botched harmonic intro to Can I Play With Madness, but otherwise there’s simply no room for mistakes in a Maiden live set, even though something is going on onstage the whole time; not just the youthful rampaging, but the constant swapping of backdrops, the stunning light show, pyrotechnic blasts and, of course, Eddie! The immortal mascot shows up in no fewer than three incarnations this time; during Run to the Hills he dances with Janick in the form of General Custer, during the most epic part of the show, the ten-minute-goosebump-raising-and-orgasm-inducing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Eddie the scribe rises up behind Nicko, and to close out the main set during Iron Maiden the most imposing Eddie appears, the one from the cover of the Seventh Son album.
Compared to the first leg of the tour, the band shook up the setlist a little this time. Instead of Afraid To Shoot Strangers we got the stunning Revelations, they closed the show with Sanctuary instead of Running Free, and sadly, for some unknown reason, the excellent The Clairvoyant got dropped. Still, Iron Maiden raced from hit to hit in top form, both instrumentally and vocally. Bruce is the one who proved the years do him no harm at all, since he’s still capable of an incredible vocal performance, with his velvety mid-range voice as well as the high “air raid” siren screams. Only on Aces High (understandably) can he no longer reach the extremely high notes, so they’re simply tuned lower, which doesn’t bother anyone. As for the instrumental five-piece, wasting any words is pointless, since the interplay of their instruments is polished to perfection, which shows best in the finest moments of the show, the unforgettable epic Phantom of the Opera, and even more in the timeless moments of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, where during the instrumental passages, the interweaving guitar harmonies and Bruce’s flawless vocal delivery (with a little Danzig-style ponytail, hehe), shivers were racing all over my body. Once again the goodbye came too soon, this time with an extended Sanctuary, and for the farewell the still-obligatory Pythonesque Always Look On the Bright Side of Life, and whistling along the way back to the car with the impressions of an excellent show, even though a five-hour drive is still ahead of you, and then eight hours of grind after that, it really is easier to look on the bright side of life.
author: Rok Klemše
photos: Nina Grad
GHOST:
1. Year Zero
2. Con Clavi Con Dio
3. Prime Mover
4. Stand By Him
5. If You Have Ghosts
6. Ritual
7. Monstrance Clock
IRON MAIDEN:
1. Moonchild
2. Can I Play With Madness
3. The Prisoner
4. 2 Minutes To Midnight
5. Revelations
6. The Trooper
7. The Number of the Beast
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. Run to the Hills
10. Wasted Years
11. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
— encore —
14. Aces High
15. The Evil That Man Do
16. Sanctuary
