Brave New Playlist (Rock In Rio: Live - Iron Maiden)

Member Name: Brett Bligh

Product:	Rock In Rio: Live - Iron Maiden
Date:	29/03/02 (1054 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A choice live playlist consisting of both sharp new numbers and old fan favourites, the band at the top of their live form for much of the album’s length (with the three-pronged guitar attack particularly strong), a great atmosphere generated by a crowd obviously having a whale of a time.

Disadvantages: A couple of croaky moments for Dickinson especially in The Wicker Man, drums occasionally overpowered, almost every Maiden fan will be able to name at least one favourite song which they thought was unfairly missed out.

Iron Maiden — Rock in Rio (live album)
Year released — 2002
(Recorded live at Rock in Rio festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 19 January 2001).

The line-up —
BRUCE DICKINSON - vocals
DAVE MURRAY - lead guitar
ADRIAN SMITH - lead guitar
JANICK GERS - lead guitar
STEVE HARRIS - bass guitar
NICKO MCBRAIN - drums
(and Michael Kenny - live keyboards)


Ever since Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the fold in 1999, Iron Maiden fans seem to have been growing progressively happier that their favourite band is well and truly back and ready to re-conquer the world after the lean years of the mid to late 1990s. The band’s 2000 studio album ‘Brave New World’ was hailed by most as a big success, the kind of concept album the band had not attempted since 1988’s ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’, an album containing a number of memorable, sustained melodies, new Maiden classics and the hit single ‘The Wicker Man’ — and, most importantly for some, the return of the voice of Bruce Dickinson, the most universally well-loved of all Iron Maiden’s vocalists and the man dubbed the “Air Raid Siren” by the fans.

Maiden soon embarked on a world tour to support this new album. The reaction to the live gigs by the fans was overwhelmingly positive, but by far the most common criticism by those who were dissatisfied were the playlists. More than one internet review that I have read has slated the band for concentrating so heavily on new material and playing scant regard to the fan’s desire to hear their old favourites to which they know all the words. Indeed, one review of a gig in California stated that, so obvious was this reaction even to the band themselves on stage, Bruce Dickinson felt the need to explain live, on the microphone, the fact that Maiden were a band looking to the future and looking to compete with the best modern
metal bands on an equal basis, and not some kind of old men’s reunion like so many of the other recently reformed metal outfits of yesteryear.

This desire to showcase new material is clearly evident on Rock in Rio — of the 18 Maiden tracks on offer, 6 (fully a third) are from the Brave New World album, and many of these songs are clustered in quick succession towards the first half of the set to give the onstage impression that Maiden really is hell bent on playing as little from their early back catalogue as possible.

There are also a number of other 1990s pieces on offer, including a couple of numbers from the Blaze Bayley era including one in particular which I thought was a very surprising choice indeed for the playlist, but towards the end Maiden loosen up a bit and decide that perhaps their long-standing status is not something to be ashamed of after all, providing the audience with renditions of a good few early favourites and the buyers of this album with a good, strong cross-section of Iron Maiden material — which should please just about everyone, from the die-hard early fans who can still remember the sight of Paul Di’Anno strutting around the stage shouting his head off, to the new fans, like me, who really only started listening to the band with Brave New World and who have since had to plough through the back catalogue at a rate of knots, discovering one of the definitive acts in heavy metal for the first time.

But the album begins first of all with a piece not taken from any Iron Maiden album of any period; the INTRO is, in fact, a piece called ‘Arthur’s Farewell’ by Jerry Goldsmith. I think the piece is fairly typical of Goldsmith’s work, a full orchestral arrangement with a bombastic tone. In fact, the first time I ever listened to this album I had only read the back cover, where the track is simply listed as Intro, and I immediately thought this music would be ideal for a f
ilm — the fact that the piece turned out to have been written by one of Hollywood’s foremost film composers did not really surprise me at all when I later read the information inside the CD booklet.

The Iron Maiden set proper does not commence, however, until the second track on the album. As the last few strains of Goldsmith gradually fade away the audience roar noticeably increases, obviously as Iron Maiden themselves storm onto the stage, and the unmistakable opening chords of THE WICKER MAN (Smith / Harris / Dickinson) blare across the stage. This was the hit single and opening track from the Brave New World album, and the crowd love it, roaring with delight virtually all the way through the song and joining in with Bruce’s chorus of “you’re time will come!” and the songs pretty macho “whoa-oh-o-oh” denouement. Reactions to this opening song when listening to this CD may well be a bit mixed — the guitars are spot on, but the drums seem strangely overrepresented (this rendition of the song is very bassy and bottom-heavy), and Dickinson’s voice seams a bit hoarse at times, but overall this is a good opening and a good choice of song — something both instantly recognisable and popular and yet modern and new, showing the audience that this is a Maiden who mean business.

The band follow this up with tracks 2 and 3 of the Brave New World album, GHOST OF THE NAVIGATOR (Gers / Dickinson / Harris) and the title track BRAVE NEW WORLD (Murray / Harris / Dickinson). These two songs are more lengthy than The Wicker Man — which was, after all, written as a single — and feature more prolonged purely guitar-instrumental introductions before the drums and vocals kick in, but both songs are popular nonetheless with both being greeted by huge roars of applause at their inception, and clapping and cheering throughout. Indeed, at the start of Ghost of the Navigator, Dickinson provokes som
e synchronised clapping and chanting from the audience with no effort at all, and as an extra bonus his voice has noticeably improved and the drums are at a better volume (actually, throughout the album, Dickinson’s voice is considerably better when he *sings* rather than trying to shout and scream).

All three tracks played so far are from the latest album, and there has been absolutely none of the cold reaction occasionally reported on the Internet to these choices, but just before Rock in Rio starts to become an in-order play through of Brave New World, Maiden change tack completely and come forward with WRATHCHILD (Harris), a very old song from Maiden’s second album, ‘Killers’, originally released way back in 1981. This rendition features a couple of short guitar solos the original did not have (possibly the benefit of having three lead guitarists now compared with two when the original was recorded?), but in general Maiden seem intent on capturing some of that punk grit from what Dickinson describes as the “Jurassic period” and they succeed well, with the crowd absolutely screaming “Wrathchild!!!!” at the appropriate moments in the chorus. The band then choose to plump for an utterly safe option from 1984’s fan-favourite album ‘Powerslave’: 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (Smith / Dickinson) is one of numerous favourites from that album, and the audience reaction is predictably delirious, especially since Dickinson starts to issue his trademark “Scream for me” requests during this song.

A chant of “Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!” goes up from the crowd and the frontman takes the opportunity to introduce the next song, BLOOD BROTHERS (Harris), yet another song from the Brave New World album which Dickinson explains is written about the brotherhood of heavy metal fans who have supported the band and kept them in the limelight for so long. Blood Brothers is a much slower song
than most of what Maiden have played so far but the crowd seem well up for it and roar the chorus, especially when Dickinson allows them to do so unaided.

When I read the playlist for this album and saw that SIGN OF THE CROSS (Harris) had been included I have to admit that I was very surprised. Taken from 1995’s ‘The X Factor’ album which was, shall we say, less than universally popular, Sign of the Cross has always struck me as a song which has a good central section and chorus, but which is surrounded by too much other material of utter irrelevance to be good overall — in effect, 3 minutes’ good music stretched out to a ten minute running time. And here the band have chosen to play all ten plus minutes, recorded monk chants and all! This was something that I expected to go down like a cup full of sick — if I had to choose an X Factor song for Maiden to play live it would be the much shorter and more populist ‘Man on the Edge’, but then again who asked me? — but surprisingly the assembled fans do not seem to mind, and Dickinson handles the vocals reasonably well given that this song was written for Blaze Bayley, a singer whose vocal style is thoroughly different.

The set speeds up again, however, with the next track THE MERCENARY (Gers / Harris), another solid number from the latest album, and then THE TROOPER (Harris), a classic Maiden single (and memorable video) from 1983’s ‘Piece of Mind’. It is at this point, with the crowd suitably riled up after two nicely belted out faster pieces, that it is time to change to disc 2.

DREAM OF MIRRORS (Gers / Harris) is the last track in the set to be taken from the Brave New World album; an epic masterpiece of a song which many are already hailing as a genuine Maiden classic, Dream of Mirrors starts slow and gradually cranks up the pace, and it is a song which genuinely takes up ten minutes of time, rather than having to be s
tretched into it, which eventually builds into a shattering crescendo before calmly settling down again to a seemingly effortless ending which mirrors the opening (no coincidence?) excellently. As soon as the song gets underway the audience are clapping for all they are worth and humming along to the instrumentals, and they frequently sing along throughout the length of the piece. Dickinson here provides some of his best vocals of the entire album, and the track as a whole is quite simply an absolute success.

THE CLANSMAN (Harris) is another Blaze-era song taken from 1998’s ‘Virtual XI’, but this is a much more obvious selection for the playlist since this song seems to have been written much more with Dickinson’s operatics in mind than with the low-toned powerblasts provided by Bayley on the studio recording. Dickinson himself obviously likes this song, giving it a verbal introduction which states its Scottish overtones to this largely Brazilian crowd and explains that, essentially, The Clansman is a song about freedom. This track is yet another tremendous success, showing that The Clansman — and perhaps by extension the entirety of Virtual XI — was in fact a classic, marred by an original singer whose voice was simply inappropriate to the music at hand.

As the opening strains of THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (Smith / Dickinson / Harris) are played, the experienced Iron Maiden fan may well come to the sudden and surprising realisation that this is the first (and it will be the only) song to be played from the almost overwhelmingly popular 1988 concept album ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’. This is a song which manages to combine a catchy central tune, a lively upbeat rhythm and some impressive guitar solos (here well executed) with some surprisingly sombre and tender lyrics to form what is basically a regret-tinged love song, an ode to a nameless woman from the Middle Ages whom the narrator is never to see aga
in — especially, it seems, if he values his life. Needless to say, the crowd go ballistic for this song and chant, clap and scream all the way through to FEAR OF THE DARK (Harris), one of Iron Maiden’s most popular songs from the early nineties and the title track of their 1992 album. The enthusiasm that the band has instilled in the crowd during the previous track simply continues through here unabated, as the crowd vocally accompany Dickinson along the deliberately sedate introductory stage of the song before simply roaring as the main section of the song, which is basically a thrash metal number, kicks in. Dickinson’s vocals here are basically spot on and the occasional croakiness of earlier on seems an age away, although one of the guitar solos three-quarters of the way through does not seem to go quite to plan (probably Janick Gers storming around the stage like a mad man and deciding to improvise again).

At the time of writing it is 22 years since the release of this band’s self-titled first album, and of the band’s current six members only two were present in the line-up responsible for recording that debut: Steve Harris, bass player and the band’s founding father, and the long standing lead guitarist Dave Murray. Despite that, tracks from that first album remain popular and this one in particular, IRON MAIDEN (Harris), seems to turn up on just about every live performance the band give. This song was really written for the unconventional voice of Paul Di’Anno, a man whose voice personified streetwise punk aggression but which lacked the refined feel of Bruce Dickinson who here refuses to simply shout across the fast-paced, harsh beats of this classic as his predecessor did. Personally, I have always thought this song sounded strange and occasionally a bit daft coming from Dickinson, but the fans obviously love it and I would have to admit that the drumbeat on display here is absolutely *made* for headbanging
of the kind likely to cause painful neck injury. At the end of this track Bruce engages the clever little ploy of wishing the crowd goodnight … they of course are having none of it, and want more, much more.

Given that there are 4 tracks left on the CD, the listener will hardly be surprised when Maiden comply with the demands from the mob, and here the band romp through two of their most popular tunes ever, one straight after the other. Whether the band like it or not, their early 1982 album ‘The Number of the Beast’ has remained probably their most popular album with the fans to this day. The title track THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (Harris), which served as one of the singles from that album, has the fans going right from the famous opening monologue — even if the song does suffer from the same kind of overly bassy sound which slightly marred The Wicker Man much earlier — and fan favourite HALLOWED BE THY NAME (Harris) not only maintains the pace throughout its not inconsiderable length but in this case provides one of the most outstanding recordings on the album all round.

Following this, the band venture back to their debut album a second time for SANCTUARY (Harris / Murray / Di’Anno), with Dickinson pausing halfway through to get the crowd chanting alternately as two separate halves. This song features an extra little bridge section I do not remember from the original, which is quite effective. As the band try to leave again, the crowd demands yet more, and so the six-piece begins its last track of the night, the Number of the Beast classic RUN TO THE HILLS (Harris), a tale about the treatment of the American Indians when white settlers started to arrive in the New World, told from perspectives of both natives and settlers.

Going slightly off-topic, the live performance of this track — which, by the way, is eclectic and an excellent finish to the set — is likely to be familiar to some alread
y, as it has been released quite recently (March 11 2002; it entered the charts at #9!) as a single in aid of the Clive Burr Multiple Sclerosis Fund. Clive Burr, who was the drummer with Maiden at the time of this song’s original release, has recently announced that he is suffering from the debilitating disease MS, and obviously his medical future is unsure. Hence the charity single (and three charity gigs in Brixton), and hence the recent appearance on Top of the Pops (which I missed). Even if you intend to purchase this album, I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing the single as well, not only since it contains in its two discs some rare and quite good 1982 live performances (of ‘Children of the Damned’ and ‘Total Eclipse’ on disc 1 and ‘22 Acacia Avenue’ and ‘The Prisoner’ on disc 2), and not only because there are enhanced multimedia videos on there as well, but also because it is for a damn good cause. Direct donations to this end can also be made via www.ironmaiden.com.

As well as the 19 standard music tracks, these two discs also contain enhanced footage. Disc 1 contains video of the live performance of Brave New World, whilst disc 2 has a little mini-featurette entitled ‘A Day In The Life’. Both of these are taken from the forthcoming ‘Rock In Rio’ double DVD and, if these two items are anything to go by, that DVD will be a truly compulsory purchase for any fan of Iron Maiden or heavy metal in general.

All in all, Rock in Rio is an excellent live album, featuring a thought-provoking playlist, some extremely good performances from the band, including some flawless guitar riffs, and an electric atmosphere which is really generated by the sound of such a huge crowd obviously having a damn good time. Of course, nearly every Iron Maiden fan will be able to name a classic which they thought ought to have been included (although I, for one, have never been fond of ‘
Bring Your Daughter … to the Slaughter’ and was glad of its absence), but the set already comes in at two hours long and should contain more than enough from each era of the band to please most people if not everybody. At the end of the album Dickinson tells the assembled fans, “You’ve had yourselves a great night”, and they had.

Not counting the ‘Best of the Beast’ compilation, Rock in Rio is Iron Maiden’s 16th official album — and it’s a big success.

Probably their best live album since ‘Live After Death’ way back in 1985!

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