Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Postojna, Slovenia
Concert date: 07/28/2007
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: 12€
Mr. Paul “Softich” Di’Anno hardly needs an introduction. Di’Anno left an indelible mark on metal by lending his pipes to two cult albums by an even more cult band, Iron Maiden’s Iron Maiden and Killers. He got kicked out of the band soon after for drug and alcohol abuse, and the two records remained NWOBHM gems forever. For the next twenty years Paul didn’t really do anything worth mentioning. He bounced around quite a few outfits, from Praying Mantis, Killers, Battlezone and Gogmagog, and finally decided to go solo, with backing bands all over the world. No need to point out that Paul has been living off old Maiden glory for years, right? However much he denies it himself, his gigs and albums, both dominated by the lion’s share of Maiden classics, speak for themselves.
Di’Anno is back in Slovenia for the third time. His first shows here (Metelkova, Rock Otočec) left a pretty bitter taste, so this time I headed to Postojna with a healthy dose of distance and skepticism. Paul is playing four shows here on this run (three, really, since the gig in Šešče pri Žalcu, announced for today, sadly got cancelled), so let’s see how he did in Postojna. Our crew rolled into Jazzy klub in Postojna early in the afternoon, since we had an interview lined up with Di’Anno, and after that there was nothing left to do but kill the time until the official start at nine with beer and gig stories.
Well, of course, Murphy’s law kicked in and things got complicated again. The Italian band Lost 4 Found, who were supposed to play as the support act, vanished into thin air again (they didn’t play in Bled the day before either), so a local band I’d never heard of stepped in. They started at eleven and played, sadly, pretty mediocre music, and on top of that threw in one of the most worn-out, chewed-up covers around here, none other than Bandiera Rossa. An hour of their set dragged on slowly, but eventually the moment came when they had to give up the stage to Lady’s First from Bled. In a few years together the guys have racked up quite a bit of live mileage, and it shows on stage, but this time things obviously didn’t go entirely to plan. Probably that’s down to only about 20 people standing in front of the stage. Still, the guys ran through a few originals decently, adding a cover of Metallica’s Creeping Death and an Iron Maiden double, The Trooper and Fear of the Dark. The covers were played decently, even if the three-part harmonies limped and, hey, you simply don’t play bass with a pick…
Around one, Paul’s backing band, the Italian Children of the Damned, finally began blazing through the fantastic opener Ides of March, and to its sounds Mr. Softich himself came huffing onto the stage, visibly in a good mood. Scratching your head about this softich thing? That’s what Lady’s First called Paul, and of course Paul had no clue what it meant until none other than our Jani enlightened him that softich means… ahem… “soft friend”. Some 50 people did finally squeeze in below the stage, and Di’Anno and his boys were already relentlessly tearing into Wrathchild, then straight into the incredible Prowler and the first Di’Anno song of the night, Marshall Lokjaw, which a few people surprisingly even knew. Hearing cult Maiden classics like the next one, Murders in the Rue Morgue, from the mouth of the original singer was certainly priceless for some, me included. Paul even surprised with excellent vocal form this time. He could’ve let out a bit more growl, but the old man gave it his all, reached for the high notes, and nailed the mid-range of Remember Tomorrow too. Unchanged as ever, Paul of course couldn’t skip his ex-wife (I don’t know which one in the line-up), the “puta madre”, to whom he dedicated The Beast Arises and A Song For You, and he also vented his rage at the USA, Bush and his lapdog Blair. Paul also nicely remembered the ailing Clive Burr, who is suffering from a severe form of multiple sclerosis. Then Paul spotted one of the Lady’s First members in the front row, pointed at him, grabbed his crotch and shouted “softich!”. A few people in on the inside joke cracked up, while everyone else just exchanged weird looks. Paul’s band tore through more eternal NWOBHM classics, Killers, Harris’s first epic Phantom of the Opera, and Running Free, which they left the stage with. To my great sorrow they skipped the excellent ballad The Living Dead from the album of the same name, but I was slightly consoled by a superbly played Transylvania, with which Children of the Damned proved their masterful command of their instruments. Di’Anno then remembered his punk roots with the Ramones classic Blitzkrieg Bop, and finally said goodbye to us with Sanctuary.
Personally, my first encounter with Paul left a good memory, since it was a fun night, lifted by excellently and confidently played Maiden classics. Some people still prefer Paul’s raspy vocals to Bruce’s operatic ones, and that’s exactly the charm of hearing these songs with Di’Anno. Yeah, there’s no denying that Pavle leans hard on the old glory, but as long as he plays the Maiden songs this decently (after all, he contributed a lot to them as a writer too), then as far as I’m concerned, let him live off the old glory. And a big hello to you, softich!
Text: Rok Klemše
Photo: Jani Lah
Setlist
1.Ides of March
2.Wrathchild
3.Prowler
4.Marshall Lokjaw
5.Murders in the Rue Morgue
6.The Beast Arises
7.Children of Madness
8.Remember Tomorrow
9.Impaler
10.Faith Healer
11.A Song For You
12.Killers
13.Phantom of the Opera
14.Running Free
–.–.–
15.Transylvania
16.Blitzkrieg Bop
17.Sanctuary
