Iron Maiden have a ridiculous amount of live albums, and yet I still find myself chasing the occasional bootleg because, apparently I need more of them. I've been seeing a few live bootlegs posted on Instagram recently, and it has really fueled my need to acquire another one. When I saw something from Maiden show up in the Hells Headbangers webstore, I jumped on it.
While Iron Maiden might have around nine live albums, there has been nothing officially released for the Blaze Bayley years. Those five years of the band's history were a dark time, and some fans can't hang with the Blaze albums. I happen to love the raw and dark feel of them, so when I saw Hells Headbangers was carrying a live bootleg from the '98 Virtual XI Japan tour, I was excited to get my hands on it.
I've heard countless times about how weak Blaze Bayley was singing live for Maiden, so I was curious to hear how painful this live set was going to sound. Well, fuck all that because this shit is great. The setlist contains eight songs from the Blaze albums, so it is really cool to hear those songs live, and while I thought that Blaze might be a bit shaky on some of the Dickinson-era songs like Heaven Can Wait, he does the job well.
I love that Maiden haven't completely disowned those two Blaze albums, and will occasionally bring a Blaze song into their current setlist, but man, this full live album from '98 is a real treat to hear.
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