1988.06.01 - Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, USA

MAIDEN HAS MELLOWED; IT'S 'NO NUKES' NOW

PATRICK MACDONALD

Iron Maiden and Guns N' Roses, last night at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

Incendiary report on the Iron Maiden concert last night at the Coliseum:

-- Showers of sparks - 6.

-- Pillars of fire - 2.

-- Huge explosions - 4.

-- Unauthorized detonations by the audience (unofficial) - 2 cherry bombs, half-a-dozen firecrackers.

That's nothing compared to what the band - and the audience - used to do. The end of the set used to sound like "Victory at Sea,'' with volleys of cannon fire that would knock you back on your feet.

They had about five cannon then; only two now.

Even heavy-metal bands have to mellow, apparently. Not only were there less fireworks than before, Eddie, the band's ghoulish mascot, who looks like a human monster with his skin torn off, appeared only twice: once as a harmless inflatable and, at the end, as a huge puppet holding what looked like a brain in its hand. The thing used to be the size of King Kong; now it's only a head and torso. The set was pretty chintzy, too. It looked like an arctic scene, with pillars of ice. You could see where it folds up.

The band even had Positive Messages. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson spoke in favor of safe sex, safe driving, sobriety and activism. He noted that we have nuclear subs cruising nearby waters - introducing the anti-nuke song "Two Minutes to Midnight'' - and urged people to watch them and study the issue. "Maybe somebody has to have them,'' he lamented, "but it's too bad anybody does.''

Maiden may be maturing in its old (for a rock band) age, but it has learned a lot in its 12 years and it showed. You've got to say this for the band - it is tight and it puts on a good show. The sound, the taped introductions and narrations, the lights, the special effects were all well done.

The English group's unrelenting headbanging rhythms, its sometimes bloody and often convoluted fantasy lyrics and its simplistic moralisms - "the evil that men do lives after them'' - are an acquired taste, but its young fans, who filled the Coliseum about two-thirds full, were energized and united by the admittedly impressive performance.

But Maiden had to put on a good show after the opening act, the hot-as-a-pistol Guns N' Roses, turned on the crowd with a powerful, swaggering performance that showed that GN'R may be the new kings of rowdy, bad-boy rock, replacing Poison.

The band reminded me of the Doors, not in its style of music but in its menacing, sexually charged energy and rebellious attitude.

Lead singer W. Axl Rose is a natural, with easy, liquid dance moves and a voice full of controlled fury.

Although his voice sounded raspy and raw, he actually had a lot of control and used it to good effect. And his songs, especially the graphic portrait of Los Angeles street life, "Welcome to the Jungle,'' and the slow-building blues-rocker, "Sweet Child O' Mine,'' had a searing, mean edge reminiscent of early Rolling Stones.

ludurigan wrote:do you know if this version of "it tastes good" is the full-song version?

Soulmonster wrote:

ludurigan wrote:do you know if this version of "it tastes good" is the full-song version?

Nope, sorry, no idea.