Gig review Iron Maiden Somewhere Back in Time 2008 Mumbai

The stars were all aligned perfectly, this time. This ruddy time The Maiden could not evade me. Heck, a random force even pointed me towards JW Marriott which I gluttonously stormed to get pictures and autographs; to hell with their peace and quiet.

Maiden kicked of their Somewhere Back in Time tour from India which was to revive all the classics of the yesteryears.( when Maiden were younger and had a bit more of adrenaline than they do now) I presume it was geographical reasons, but what the heck, I can thump my chest with pride anywhere in the world and say “India is the starting point for the Beast to start their tour!” Muhahaha.They even got their very own Boeing 757 decked up with trademark Maiden colors and announced their arrival in style. Here are some pics

The path to the gig was set up a bit more elaborately this time with markers near the venue pointing the way. (there was none of this in their Bangalore leg, I was told.) Once there, I could see a flood of Iron Maiden tees eagerly waiting under the blistering sun to witness one of the finest metal acts on the 3rd rock from the Sun.

The Mumbai crowd was horrid to say the very least. Crowd waves erupted at every second minute and I got a taste of the madness in the queue itself. The gates opened at 4:30 and I was happy to be standing in the 10th or so row. That’s what I thought. The crowd waves got really wild and for no good reason.. Mumbai metal heads sure are a wild lot, not to say dumb and tone deaf too.

First to come on stage were Nervewreck who were the winners of Campus Rock Idols 2008 and opening for Iron Maiden was the first prize. I noticed that the sound of the bass was a bit too high for anyone’s liking, not the bands fault. They were fairly decent but still not good enough to open for a top quality metal act like Maiden. I bet there were better local bands in the fray that could do justice to the stage.

Their compositions were average and they got plenty of boos, cans and bottle thrown at them from the agitated crowd. But in all seriousness, they were way better than FTN (That godawful nu-metal band which opened for Maiden last year). Good vocals and riffing, even better soloing and decent drumming along with a tight bass line ensured that at least those who knew music fairly well would appreciate them.

One thing I would like to point out was the supremely kiddish behavior of the crowd. When the band played a clean melody, everybody booed them off. The moment the overdrive kicked in everyone put their arms up in the air and started showing the devils horns. Distortion, of all things is Mumbai’s definition of music. Nice, very nice.

Up next was Lauren Harris and I thought she would up her ante from last years dismal performance. But to no avail. She still could not stretch her voice beyond a single octave and she strictly sounded like some college girl trying a trifle too hard. She knew her music was hardly any good to satiate the crowd and used her body to the fullest to win some brownie points. The only good thing was her guitarist who was a cut above the average vocals and lyrics Lauren was belting out.Everyone knows this and I doubt if there’s any need to say it. She gets to open for Maiden and gets free publicity only because of her father, the legendary Steve Harris. Like father, like daughter? In your bloody dreams.

Thankfully she was pushed down the order, and even daddy dearest decided that Parikrama were a tighter band than Miss Sexy-Chicken-with-wild-flapping-action. They played their usual set and it was good. It would have been better had Nitin Malik, the vocalist, showed an iota of common sense to control the crowd.

The crowd waves were getting really dangerous (someone could have easily cracked a bone had they not been careful) and he was actually encouraging them!! I couldn’t believe it! Since when did this rather nice guy turn so blissfully oblivious to his responsibility of controlling a 50k+ crowd? Shame Mr. Malik, so what if you opened for Iron Maiden “4 times in the last 1 year”? It doesn’t make you any less mortal.By this point I had lost a huge amount of water in my body and I couldn’t take the crowd waves any more. There was no real need to watch Maiden perform from so close, I had gotten close enough to them, in their hotel in any case, I thought. But one part of my brain made me stand where I was. My cerebral matter couldn’t have been more right.It was only a few moments later when all the lights came back and the crowd erupted in an ear splitting scream. Showtime!! I forgot all the pain from the pushing and shoving I endured in the last 5 hours and forgot that I was thoroughly dehydrated. I sang like I did not in a long time as Aces High sliced the BKC air. I screamed for Bruce, I screamed for Maiden, I screamed with Mumbai.

It was really amazing how Bruce had so much energy left even at this age. He was jumping all around the stage and never ever went even slightly off-pitch. He even climbed on the side harness of the stage and sang from there hanging like a monkey!! Talk about showman-ship. Throughout the concert, he sounded mostly like on the CD. I would give an arm and leg to any artist who can still sound so fresh after almost 25 years of ruling the metal charts, the world over.

Even the other musicians, Dave Murray, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers and Nicko McBrian showed no signs of age playing catch up with them as they too did perfect justice to their parts. Dave was in a positively good mood and was playing all his solos with a smile on his face.

The stage was a masterpiece, decorated with Egyptian crypts and trademark Maiden artwork with a Pharoic twist. They were changing the backdrop of the stage at every song and so was Bruce who changed his attire almost after every song. Well, they forgot to change after Rime of the Ancient Mariner when Powerslave started, but who cares, we don’t get dynamic backdrops everyday, you know.

The crowd went positively wild when Maiden played Fear of the Dark and I bet most of the crowd knew only that one single song. They got a mosh pit going too. Wonder what the others from all over India must be thinking at such classy behavior.

Maiden ended the gig with ‘Hallowed be thy name’ and I felt the gig got over a bit early. I was left wanting a bit more and at the end of the day I didn’t really feel like I saw some major metal act. It was pretty much like walking out of any other gig. The crowd waves robbed me and many others all the fun. I also wish the organizers had given better sound. The gig lacked any sort of feel and the music didn’t really touch me. A band like Maiden cannot positively play on above average sound and neither have I emptied my piggy bank to be treated to such lackluster sound. Even iRock sounds better. Damn you,DNA.

Despite everything, the stars still shone with a magical mischief over Mumbai. Up the irons, bretheren!