Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast World Tour-Toronto Oct.11/22

One thing that I always thought was cool was the fact that when it comes to Iron Maiden in North America and in particualrly Southern Ontario and Québec they have never opened for any act in there 41 years of touring here.

They have always headlined (since 1981) so knowing that and the fact that Toronto is one of those cities last year (December 2021) when the tickets went on sale for this show my daughter pounced and as an early Christmas/Birthday/Retirement gift she bought not only my ticket but also my good pal’s Tbone and Metal Todd there tickets as well! (I have to add that my whole family contributed with flight and lots of spending cash for me to buy albums!)

Now three years ago my pal Metal Todd flew me out to Vancouver and we caught Maiden there and what a mindblower of a show. (review of that is somewhere on this site) Back than who knew that world would shut down a few months into 2020.

So what a shocker that Maiden decided to add a slew of North American dates and return back to Toronto where they  already sold out two shows  back in the summer of ’19.

Fast Forward to October 11th 2022…

Tbone I have known since 1975 and we have seen a ton of shows together expect for Maiden. I decided we needed to rectify this problem so I got him a ticket and told him he was going.

Metal Todd I have not seen since 2019 as he’s a very busy man in B.C so I figured getting him a ticket he would come and he did!

So off to the show and the Scotia Bank Arena which was packed. 12,000 plus and what can I tell ya all but the fact that Maiden did not disappoint.

The only real difference was the order of the setlist and the dropping of four songs from 2019  ( “Two Minutes To Midnight”,”Where Eagles Dare”, “The Wicker Man” and “For The Greater Good of God”).

Which ones were added? Keep reading friends!

Pretty cool to hear the crowd chanting “Maiden Maiden” before the classic UFO track “Doctor Doctor” was pumped through the speakers as the boys were about to hit the stage.

The new songs added were the first three songs from the current “Senjutsu” album. (the title track, “Stratego” “The Writing On The Wall”) kicked off the show.

I have to add that the three new songs really came alive in a concert atmosphere.  There is Steve Harris and the boys kicking off with a huge epic number in “Senjutsu”.  How about that Samurai like Eddie hitting the stage and this  was only the opening song. How many Maiden tours has Eddie prowled the stage on a opening number?

“Stratego” soared at a decent clip as Bruce Dickinson and his voice were in fine form as the man was a bundle of energy as he proves once again he is the best frontman in any genre of music. Bruce needs no vocal helpings and no teleprompter to guide him along.

Amazing…

“Writing On The Wall” has Adrian with his acoustic guitar (or as Bruce calls it a plank) opening this killer track that had  Bruce leading the crowd on a sing along during the catchy chorus…

“Can’t ya see the Writing On The Wall”

From there the set changed over to the Cathedral like stained class back drop that you have to see it live to get that full effect which led right into the classic “Revelations” which is one of my all time favourite tunes. I love Nicko McBrain’s driving drums when they come out of the solo and yup there is Bruce working the crowd as he always does.

“Blood Brothers” (new song added) had Bruce talking about everyone being “Blood Brothers” and getting along. Cool Celtic like vibe within in this track which has some great soloing from Janick Gers when he’s not busy doing his aerobic workout.

“Sign of The Cross” has Bruce singing the  first of two Blaze Bailey songs  of the set that that he wasn’t part of and as Bruce does, he makes it his own. This tune is epic as it builds up, breaks down and builds up. As an added measure there was  a ton of fire and pyro blasts from the top of the lighting rig raining down.

From their “Flight of Icarus “is such a killer track along with Bruce and his flamethrower body pack igniting the crowd once he got the kinks worked out as at first it was sputtering grey smoke and not fire. He persisted and when he got it working you could hear the crowd roar. A true performer in the sense he didn’t get mad he just got on with it. As with any Maiden show, I love it when Adrian and Dave Murray rip out those back to back  solo’s like it was 1983 all over again!

The next couple of tracks that came up were “Fear of the Dark” and “Hallowed By Thy Name” which considering the age of these songs Maiden performs them at such a high level that you would think they recorded them last year not four and two decades ago respectively.

“Number of The Beast” and the epic “Iron Maiden” slayed the crowd as there was yet more fire, umm let’s see a ton of fire during the Beast number and of course Eddie popped up behind Nicko’s drum set.

“Scream For Me” Toronto said Bruce and we obliged all night long!

Maiden left the stage and returned for Encore 1 which featured a three pack of tracks those being “The Trooper”, the second  Blaze era tune that being “The Clansman” and of course “Run To The Hills”!

And in the twist of things. Where “Ace’s High” opened the 2019 show it was now the set closer complete with the spitfire zipping and dipping over the band’s heads!

“Within Temptation” a dutch band opened the show and were quite good as they got their message across and played a tight set and kept there 40 minute set moving along nicely. To my ears they sound like a version of Evanescence on speed.

Wowzer’s! What a ripping show and I can honestly say that I have been fortunate to have caught Maiden four times live in the last 10 years and they never disappoint!

I’m thinking this one in Toronto may be my favourite time catching them as T.O is such a strong market for the band on this side of the pond. Being part of that atmosphere was pretty friggin amazing.

Course having Tbone and Metal Todd along for the ride was awesome as well! (thanks to those two guys as well for taking all the photos that night).

(hanging out at the soundboard was Maiden Manager Rod Smallwood, Sam Dunn (who produced the Maiden Documentary Flight 666) as well there are photos of RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson and Adrian Smith floating around social media sites as well…

UP THE HAMMERS!

 

 

 

Advertisement