Live & Dangerous 8: Iron Maiden & Airbourne

So then my favourite band play Cardiff again and the capital is full of metal heads showing their support for the metal legends. On entering the Motorpoint Arena who can feel this was going to be special; Maiden had not played Cardiff since 2006's controversial A Matter of Life and Death tour. The stage was set for openers Airbourne, being and opening band for a band like Maiden must be a daunting task but Airbourne did well playing a rocking set that didn't vary much from the one they played at Sonisphere. Even though the set was the same I thought Airbourne were better in Cardiff as there was no break in the set for Joel O'Keefe to do his Spiderman routine, this left more time for rocking which is always a bonus. 8/10

With their set done there was just the waiting game to play, 20 minutes later the familiar opening strains of UFO's Doctor Doctor found the crowd in fine voice before a pre-recorded version of Satellite 15 complete with Sci-Fi video came across the big screens. This gave way to first track The Final Frontier which is a big, powerful and intricate track that encompasses what the current incarnation of Maiden are about. This was followed by another newie the single El Dorado, then came the classic 2 Minutes To Midnight which really got the crowd going before the epic The Talisman ebbed and flowed encompassing light and shade giving a musical break from the relentless Maiden gallop. After some Bruce banter with a returning solider that led into the patriotic Coming Home this was then followed by the melodramatic and still Spinal Tap-esque Dance of Death that resulted in a mass jump-along. The Red jacketed Eddie appeared and the barrage of The Trooper had the crowd going mental before the Brave New World duo of The Wickerman and Blood Brothers had the faithful rocking and emotional respectively. The new and suitably epic Where the Wild Wind Blows was the final track from the last 10 years that Maiden played. The set was then rounded off by Iron Maiden classics including the mass sing-alongs of Fear of the Dark, Hallowed Be Thy Name and the classic punky stormer of Running Free. Yes these were the same final songs that Maiden have closed with for a couple of years now but you can't argue with quality. Again Maiden show why they are the biggest metal band on the planet and also why they can sell out a venue like the Motorpoint Arena with ease, next time Maiden return they should follow Bruce's advice and give them a bigger shed to play in, because they'll probably sell that out as well. 9/10