Eddie Rips Up London

Seems that whenever I post a live bootleg record here, it makes me want to rush out and buy another one of them. After posting about the Megadeth boot earlier this year, it didn't take me long to head over to the Hells Headbangers store and see what I could pick up next.

Iron Maiden live boots are an instant buy for me. I own 10 or 11 Maiden bootlegs, and will not hesitate to buy a new one if the cover catches my eye. I just can't say no to a good looking Eddie cover... especially since the bootleg fan art tends to look better than what Maiden puts on their studio covers.

Back in 2005, I was really getting back in to heavy metal after distancing myself from that style of music through the 90's. Iron Maiden was touring and playing only the early shit, from the self titled album through Piece Of Mind, and made a stop in Massachusetts. At that time, while I was starting to listen to more and more metal, I was not going to see the bands play live... and after the band came and went, I deeply regreted not going to that show. Fun fact, after that Eddie Rips Up The World tour in 2005, I've seen Iron Maiden play every tour since then (with the exception of them touring for The Final Frontier album when they didn't play Massachusetts that time around) for a total of six times... with my seventh time coming up in a couple of months when Maiden hit Massachusetts for The Future Past tour.

All of this is to say that I'm happy to finally have a live boot from that 2005 tour. I love all eras of Iron Maiden, but man, this setlist of early songs is just so good. Makes me wish that they would do another tour playing this older stuff.

Wicker Single

With their Eddie mascot and some killer artwork, Iron Maiden should have a winning formula when it comes to selling records... so it boggles my mind that they don't take full advantage of this when it comes to singles. Of the 14 singles that Maiden have released since reuniting with Dickinson, only about half of them have seen a vinyl pressing. Some albums like The Final Frontier and the latest, Senjitsu, don't have any of their singles available in the vinyl format. They create some great artwork, and then release the singles only digitally. Seems like such a missed opportunity.

Last summer I started looking at what I was missing for Maiden singles, especially those singles post-2000 since I'm only missing a small handful of them. The biggest hole was the band's first single that they released for the Brave New World album in 2000, The Wicker Man. Sure the only vinyl release was on 12 inch picture disc, so it was guaranteed to sound like shit, but that cover art is just too good to ignore.

Great looking record. Now I just need to get the Different World picture disc, and that sould complete my quest for the post-2000 singles.

This Is Boston, Not LA

I have a hard time walking away from a live bootleg record. They just look fucking badass, and that goes double for Maiden boots.

The latest live boot from Maiden that I picked up was from the Ed Hunter tour in 1999. I already had a live record from the Los Angeles date on this tour, so I might have ordinarily walked away from this one. However, this record was from Maiden's Boston show at the Orpheum (where I saw Testament, Nuclear Assault and Savatage eight or nine years earlier)... and with Eddie on the cover with an SSD shirt and standing on the steps from The Kids Will Have Their Say cover, I couldn't resist grabbing a copy.

This was Bruce's return to the band, and thier first tour together in six years. They were touring on their greatest hits release, Ed Hunter, and had yet to get in the studio to record Brave New World, so the band had a few songs from the Blaze Bayley era in their set. It is always so cool to hear Bruce sing songs like Futureal and Man On The Edge as I think that this was the only tour that he sang them.

This puts me at nine live bootleg records for Maiden. I still desperately need something from the Piece Of Mind and Somewhere In Time tours!

Senjutsu

Iron Maiden were dropping hints that we would soon be seeing a new album from them back when I caught them live on the Legacy Of The Beast tour back in 2019. Coronavirus threw a wrench into the works for a lot of bands as we rolled into 2020, and I'm pretty sure that Maiden put the brakes on thier plans to release that new album, and waited a year or so until things had calmed down a bit. Over this past summer, Iron Maiden started dropping hints around this thing called Belshazzar's Feast which lead to the announcment of the new album, Senjutsu, and the lead off single, The Writing On The Wall. I got sucked into the hype machine that Maiden were fueling big time, and could not wait for the album to drop.

It had been six long years since Iron Maiden had released their last album, Book Of Souls. Well, I make it sound like a long time, but 5 or 6 years is a pretty standard release schedule for this band. Either way, I was so hyped up that by the time the vinyl for Senjutsu arrived, I should have taken the day off from work because all I wanted to do was sit and immerse myself into this record.

Iron Maiden must be one of the more frustrating bands out there. I mean, you know that they aren't going to give us another Piece Of Mind, or even another Seventh Son, but you still hope for a couple of tracks that harken back to those glory days, but that isn't who Maiden are anymore. While, I still absolutely love all the post-2000 reunion albums I still keep hoping to hear the band with a bit of fire. So with my first listen of Senjutsu I was pretty disappointed...and while Bruce's vocals sound better than they did on Book Of Souls, my overall initial impression was that the entire one hour and twenty two minutes of this new record was stuck at the same slower to mid-pace throughout and I was tired of it by the end. I think that part of my initial exhaustion was due to the three ten minute Steve Harris epics that end this record. Repeat listens definitely had me appreciating Senjutsu more and after a few more spins I was really liking the first half of the record.

I'm starting to warm up to this record with more and more listens. I don't think this one is going to ever rank very high in their discography for me, but I still enjoy it...and it's Maiden so it will still get plenty of spins.

I only go to Walmart to buy Iron Maiden records.

Seventh Bootleg Of A Seventh Tour

Iron Maiden have a ridiculous number of live albums. Since reuniting and releasing Brave New World in 2000, Maiden have basically released a live album after each tour. When I picked up their latest for the Legacy Of The Beast tour, I found myself wondering how many times I'll actually listen to it before I die. Based on the number of live albums that Maiden have, and combined with how little time I actually spend with live albums, I'm guessing that if I listen to that thing five times it will be a surprise...yet, I can help but buy them when the band releases them. As if the number of official live albums weren't enough, here I am still hunting down live bootlegs.

This latest live bootleg from the Seventh Son tour brings my count up to eight for Maiden (nine if you count the live CD from the Piece Of Mind tour). Bootlegs these days look amazing and even if they sounded like shit, I'd still feel compelled to buy them based on the album artwork alone. The last few that I've picked up have ended up getting framed to hang on the wall because I love the look of them so much. This latest one may end up framed as well.

The sound quality for this live show in Indianapolis from 1988 is great for a bootleg. Such a cool selection of songs. While this tour did get an official release with the Maiden England '88 album, and that setlist is stronger with the inclusion of Still Life and Killers, this is still a cool live set to own. The bootleg quality makes it sound raw, and Bruce's between song banter is always entertaining.

Killers World Tour '81

I love Iron Maiden bootlegs. The thought of owning these raw and unedited live recordings is exciting and it gives me a charge when I add one to the collection. Truth be told though, once I buy it and give it the initial spin, it gets filed on the shelf and it is quite possible that I'll only pull it out for a listen once every ten years...if at all. It seems that I enjoy the concept of owning live bootlegs more than actually listening to them. This leads me to the problem that I experienced when I picked up the latest Maiden bootleg that was released by Heavy Metal Heroes.

I love the Heavy Metal Heroes bootleg releases. The covers look great and the packaging is top notch, so it is a thrill to grab them when I see them. When I saw that Hells Headbangers distro recently had an Iron Maiden live bootleg from the 1981 Killers tour, I didn't hesitate to add it to my cart. These things tend to sell for $60 and up on eBay, so when I can grab them from Hells Headbangers for half that price, I consider myself to be damn lucky.

This live recording from Berlin sounds great, and it is really cool to hear these songs live with DiAnno on vocals. The only problem is that I have this exact same fucking recording on a bootleg that I picked up five years ago. The packaging is obviously different, but I guess that it speaks volumes on how little I pay attention to what I'm actually buying for Maiden bootlegs. "Oh cool cover. I'll buy it."

If I'd known that I already owned the bootleg vinyl for this recording then I most likely wouldn't have bothered with this release...but now that I have it, I'm not sure if I want to let it go and flip it on eBay.

Nights Of The Dead

One of the last big concerts that I went to, before Covid shut everything down, was Iron Maiden's Legacy Of The Beast tour. That show was so much fun. The setlist was fantastic and the stageshow was amazing. Damn. I miss shows. We are talking about Iron Maiden, so of course they released a live album to document the tour.

Honestly, I'm not sure that we needed another live Maiden album...I think this is number nine in their discography... but since I had such a great time seeing this tour live in Massachusetts last year, of course I was excited to pick up the album release... and really... it's Iron Maiden, so I was obviously going to buy it. I'm not a fan of the Eddie cover artwork, but I can't say enough good things about the packaging for this live album.

The thing that made this tour so special was the track listing. To hear some deep tracks... like The Clansman, Sign Of The Cross, and For The Greater Good Of God... as well as some older classics that haven't been in the setlist for a long time... like Flight Of Icarus, Where Eagles Dare and Revelations... this setlist was entertaining as hell.

The live photos on the inside of the triple gatefold look great.

Got to have all the tour dates listed so that I can find the one show that I went to.

The dust sleeves show the three themes that Maiden used for this tour, War, Religion and Hell. Each theme had songs that fit the subject matter and with a stage set that matched. Each theme gets its own slab of colored vinyl and the dust sleeve has cool writing about the songs and what was happing on stage at the time. These details take the packaging here to the next level. Quality.

Goddamn you, Iron Maiden, for forcing me to buy from Walmart.

Virtual XI Japan Tour

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.

Legacy Of Brazil

One of the last great shows that I went to, before COVID-19 brought everything to a screeching halt, was Iron Maiden last August for the Legacy Of The Beast tour. The stage show was amazing and the setlist was fire, as they included a number of songs that I'd either never seen them play live before or songs that they haven't done live for years.

When I saw someone on Instagram post a photo of a bootleg from the Legacy Of The Beast tour, I started my desperate search to get my hands on a copy. I checked eBay and a number of overseas sellers had the record available for around $70 which was disappointing, but I did find one seller with an auction starting at $50. Even at $50, I thought it was too expensive, but I was so desperate to get my hands on a copy, so I placed a low bid and hoped that no one else made a play for it.

Immediately after placing my bid, I remembered that Hells Headbangers distro sometimes carries Maiden bootlegs, so I quickly checked their store and sure enough, they had the record available. $30. Fuck. Not wanting to miss out on this great price, I quickly ordered one and then just hoped that I was outbid on eBay. Thankfully, it all worked out, as seconds before the auction ended, someone came in and placed a bid higher than mine.

This bootleg delivers the goods. The sound quality is great, and the packaging is absolutely stunning.

From the amazing cover art, to the gatefold packaging with some great photos from the tour...bootlegs are some next level stuff these days. Boots didn't look like this when I was a kid.

The OBI strip shows that there are three other records in the Legacy Of The Beast series for shows in Sweden, France and England. They all look great, but I think that I'll just stick with this one from Brazil...especially since Maiden announced their official live record from their Mexico shows on this tour, which will be released next month, and of course I'll need to get that one.

From Fear To Eternity

Iron Maiden released their From Fear To Eternity album back in 2011, and while I generally don't care about "best of" albums, that cover art looked so damn good that I wanted one for the collection. About 8 years later, I finally grabbed a copy.

From Fear To Eternity is a compilation that captures the "best" Maiden tracks from No Prayer For The Dying to The Final Frontier, and is kind of a companion record to the Somewhere Back In Time comp, which is the best of Maiden from 1980 through 1989. As I mentioned, I tend to leave the Best Of albums for your grandmother, and isn't anything that I'd be interested, but hey, I do love me some Iron Maiden.

The songs on this three record set are all great, and while there is definitely a division between Maiden's classic era of the 80's and the later day stuff, I'm in love with each, and looking at the track listing here gets me excited to listen to some of the more recent albums again. I'm not too excited about the picture disc format here, but really, who cares, it's not like I'll be spinning this very often...it is more of a collection piece for the completist.

Bootleg Of The Beast

My buddy, Sandwell, is the king of Iron Maiden bootlegs. Dude has got some killer ones, and whenever he picks up a new boot, I get seriously jealous. Sometimes the Hells Headbangers distro will get some bootlegs in stock, so I make sure that I do a random search for Dio, Slayer and Iron Maiden whenever I'm in their webstore...and when I stumbled across one for Maiden a couple months ago, I quickly grabbed it.

Iron Maiden has released a ton of live albums over the course of their career, but they do have some holes that haven't seen an official release. One of those tours that did not get documented with a live album was the Ed Hunter tour in 1999. This was the first tour that Maiden did after reuniting with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, but before they entered the studio to record the Brave New World album. The band kept three songs from the Blaze Bayley era in the set for this tour... The Clansman, Futureal, and Man On The Edge... and I hadn't heard Bruce do a couple of those songs, so I was very excited to hear them here.

This double live record is a true bootleg, and not something that was released as a live radio broadcast, but the sound on this is still really good. This is a great recording, and it is always fun to listen to Bruce's un-edited rants and between song banter.

Nice gatefold packaging with the tour dates listed.

Running Free

The place that I work, offers a sabbatical program that provides employees four weeks of paid time off. The thought is that it gives people that have invested some time in the company the chance to unplug and pursue some personal goals so that you are refreshed and prepared to come back to work with new energy. I applied this year, and was selected to participate, so I couldn't be happier to use the month of October to hike some mountains, and spend a bunch of time reading and listening to records. That said, I have a backlog of about 28 posts for this blog, and it would be nice to finally get that cleared up this month...you know, so that I'm using my time off wisely.

When I first started to get into collecting records around 2005, I got it into my head to try to collect all the Iron Maiden 7 inch singles. I made a pretty good run at them but eventually let it incomplete and focused on records that were more important to me at the time. Given my obsession with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal this year, and especially targeting some early singles from that scene, I figured that it was a good time to get back to Maiden.

Outside of the self released Soundhouse Tapes, the first Maiden single with EMI was for Running Free b/w Burning Ambition. With the b-side a non-LP track, I've never really been that familiar with it, so it was great to give Burning Ambition a spin.

Everything about this single is perfect. The single cover art, the black and white live photo with Eddie the 'ead as the stage prop, plus those custom center labels. Damn. If you were a metalhead back in 1980, even then you had to know that Iron Maiden were destined for big things.

I'm still missing some of the early Maiden singles, but it feels good to get Running Free into the collection.

Bootleg Fugitive

I love Iron Maiden bootlegs, so when I was recently in the Shadow Kingdom webstore, and scrolling through the list of Maiden records available, I hit the brakes hard when I came across a couple of record covers that weren't from their regular catalog. While these weren't the live bootlegs that I was hoping for, they still held my attention enough for me to drop one of the two into my cart before checking out.

The two albums were from the No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark era. Nothing really special here, and they just capture the b-side to the singles from those albums. The first one, titled The Assassin, captured the cover songs that Iron Maiden released between 1990 and 1992, but I went for The Fugitive, which is a bunch of live b-sides...and I was itching for some live Maiden.

The majority of the songs on this record are live recordings from the No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark albums, which just happen to be the two Iron Maiden albums that I pay the least amount of attention to. Seriously. I listen to the two Blaze Bayley albums more than these two. Which isn't to say that I don't like those records, I just really love Iron Maiden, and when things shake out, something has to end up on the bottom.

However, listening to these live versions of those songs has me all excited to reach into my collection and listen to those studio albums very soon.

Rock In Portland

Sandwell is the live bootleg king. I can't touch that dude when it comes to the bootleg game, and every time he pulls in another haul, it just influences me to want to hunt some down as well.

When I saw pictures of his latest Iron Maiden bootleg shopping spree, there was one that caught my eye more than any of the others. I set out frantically searching for a copy to buy. After a few minutes in a panic, desperately trying to find one for sale, I was able to lock one down on eBay, and with little regard to cost or shipping fees, I hit that Buy It Now button.

Portland, Maine isn't going to be well known for it's Metal scene. We did okay through Metal's peak in the 80's, and we had some great shows that came through town, but it wasn't uncommon for a touring band to hit Massachusetts, and call it good.

So when I saw that Sandwell had an Iron Maiden bootleg that was recorded in my hometown, I had a burning need to get one of these into my collection.

The show was recorded in 1982, and was a couple of years before my time...as I didn't start going to shows until Maiden came through town for the Powerslave tour in early '85. Still, to see the Cumberland County Civic Center's name on the album, and thinking back to how many concerts I saw there over a five year span...damn, it feels cool to see the name in print on something like this.

Live Souls

I saw a number of concerts this past summer, and one of the highlights was seeing Iron Maiden live for the sixth time. The past two times they have come through Massachusetts have been for their nostalgia tours of Somewhere Back In Time (2008) and Maiden England in 2012. Both shows were amazing, and I was happy to catch each of them...but Maiden haven't hit Massachusetts on a tour for an album since 2006 with A Matter Of Life And Death. For some reason, we tend to get skipped on those album support tours...which made it even more exciting when it was announced that Maiden were making a stop on their tour for Book Of Souls.

I love those nostalgia tours, but man, I was really looking forward to seeing something new! New stage designs...new Eddie walking onto the stage...but the most important piece were the new songs that they would be playing. Iron Maiden aren't going to rest on their laurels, and for this tour they had the setlist stacked with six new songs. It made for an amazing and memorable show.

I went through a small obsession with Iron Maiden live albums recently. Live At Donington. En Vivo. Death On The Road. I'm not usually a fan of live albums, but Iron Maiden are one of the few that I'll make an exception for, and this Live Chapter of The Book Of Souls does not disappoint.

In typical Maiden fashion, the packaging is top notch...full of new live photos and artwork. Great package through and through.

Iron Maiden Remasters: Live

I don't know if there is another band that releases as many live albums as Iron Maiden. Since reuniting with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, they have followed up every studio album with a live one documenting their latest tour. For a while, I was kind of tired with the live album cycle and felt it was unnecessary. Lately though, I've been more like, "Fuck yeah! More Iron Maiden live!"

I'd initially missed out on the Rock In Rio vinyl when it was released back in 2002. Iron Maiden came back with a vengeance, touring for Brave New World, and refusing to just play the hits. Playing a full six new songs from their last album, plus as an extra treat, we get Bruce singing two songs from the Blaze-era with Sign Of The Cross and The Clansman...this live album shows that Iron Maiden aren't just fucking around.

I initially passed on the initial picture disc pressing, because at the time the price for a triple LP seemed ridiculous to me, as I had grown accustomed to $15 CDs. Over the years, prices jumped up well over $100, and I was left with regret for passing on it the first time around. Just when I started to entertain the idea of putting up the cash to finally own the vinyl, Maiden pull through with these vinyl remasters, saving me a lot of money and from having to own another stupid picture disc.

Death On The Road was another live Iron Maiden that I didn't bother with on vinyl at the time, and resigned myself to only buying the CD when it was released in 2005.

Once again, Maiden include six new tracks from their latest studio album in their set, and throw in a bonus song from the Blaze-era with Lord Of The Flies, making this another live album you can't miss.

Flight 666 captures Maiden on their Somewhere Back In Time tour, which was one of their nostalgia tours that basically only covered their career up to the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album. No new songs here, just a setlist full of songs from Maiden's classic era.

The En Vivo album finds Iron Maiden out on the road, supporting their Final Frontier album. Sadly, Iron Maiden did not bring this tour through Massachusetts, as I would have loved to have seen this setlist full of their "reunion era" songs. The band still squeeze in enough "hits" for the fans, but for me, this was all about the five songs from the new album, Dance Of Death and Wicker Man.

These albums are a perfect time capsule for what Iron Maiden were doing out on the road at the time, and I can't get enough.

Iron Maiden Remasters: Studio

A couple of years ago, Iron Maiden started reissuing their back catalog on black vinyl. This covered the band's first eight albums...from 1980's self titled debut, through Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son that was originally released in 1988. This was the band's classic period, and since I have my original pressings, I paid no attention to these reissues.

When there was talk earlier this year, that Maiden were going to finish their vinyl reissue campaign, that was when I sat up and started paying attention. I love the Maiden "reunion" albums, which started with Brave New World in 2000, but up until 2015's Book Of Souls, the band annoyingly would only release the vinyl option on picture disc. It was maddening, but as the only option, I stepped up to buy them every time. To finally have a regular black vinyl option, was like a gift from the gods.

Of all the "reunion" era albums, when all is said and done, Dance Of Death is probably my favorite. There isn't a weak spot on this album, and I still never tire of it. Shame about that cover art though.

Dropping the needle on the black vinyl, and comparing it with the initial picture disc pressing for this record, the improvement in sound quality was obvious, and reaffirmed my stance that picture discs are garbage.

With each new Iron Maiden album since reuniting with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, I would inevitably think that it was my favorite since they'd gotten back with together, and A Matter Of Life And Death was no exception. I placed this one above Dance Of Death and Brave New World when it was released in 2006, but as time has marched on, this one probably ranks last in my list of the "reunion era". That is no knock on the album, as I love all Maiden records, it is just the one that I reach for the least.

The last studio album in the Maiden reissue campaign was 2010's The Final Frontier. It has been a blast revisiting these records, and now I'm torn if I should bother to keep those picture discs.