Bay Area Backstage
Iron Maiden Oakland Arena
The Book Of Souls Tour
Iron Maiden is surviving and thriving in a fickle metal market.
If you caught the Latest Iron Maiden Gig in Oakland you were witness to the power of raw metal in its purest form.
What do I mean?
Bands that are metal in the scene today were weaned on the tit of this band literally.
When Iron Maiden hits that groove its pure power and has always captured me.
All the various themes and Eddie costumes were so cool
The Art and of course the Beloved Mascot Antagonist Eddie!!
Is what initially caught my attention.
Catching them live in 2017?
My 16 year old self was freaking out and giving me the thumbs up.
The Almaden Iron Maiden Un Official Hooligan Pit crew roll call
Michael Magic Steve Kerman Chris Oliverio-Cuddy- Jp The Crazy Eskimo Chand-Hector the Red Heckler- Jim Yates- Doug Rumsey- and Honorable Mention Lichti, Frank Martinez and Tuommi LoL
We were always in the Pit and getting brutalized but it was worth it.
Get there early and hold your stake of the front row.
like a team weeding out assholes with elbows and sometimes fists to keep said square foot of ground in the front row.
We won and lost battles in the pit- they were mini wars of testosterone driven madness.
Yeah ,My 16 year old self was slagging me for not mixing it up in the pit but as an older and somewhat wiser man I now leave that to memory.
I had a great time and enjoyed the tunes and still do.
If you get a chance go get their Latest "The Book Of Souls" Its a thrill ride of an album and It sounded great live.
Added bonus for me - the friend in the crew who took care of the Bay Area Backstage crew with passes and old school hospitality.
Seen Backstage? Baseball Royalty.
Rickey Henderson was backstage and for an Oakland A"s fan thats pretty amazing and unexpected.
I imagine him stealing bases to some old school maiden now and its a welcome addition to my Metal and Baseball memory bank.
Iron Maiden will continue to sell out arenas and stadiums with support from who and what counts.
The Fans- they were always there and will always be there.
Support from the powers that be?
On occasion you might hear a song or two on the corporate radio dial. But it was pretty much a statement back in the day- they were underground.
To wear the shirts and have a mullet lol made you part of the team.
You were instantly labeled as dangerous but at the time its what drived the industry.
At that time you had no Internet No cyber outlets just wacky mix tapes or saving money to but the record or Cassette.
The MTV dial early on did play their videos but then they regulated it to a metal show.
So again bucking trends and Selling Out Shows,
Thats where we come in bridging that gap- the underground -Bay Area Backstage will always support Iron Maiden.
The band is cool because they are outsiders who never needed Radio or TV and their fickle trends.
The ability to weather trends and make their sound heard across the land
Thats what iconic bands do and Iron madien is one of those Bands.
They could call it quits and be regarded as rock royalty.
13 июл 2017
