Iron Maiden - Toronto - October 16, 2006 - Air Canada Center

My wife and I had the privilege to see Iron Maiden at the Toronto show at the Air Canada Center on Monday. It was the first Maiden show I got to see, and I've been a fan since I was a kid.

After the first couple songs, I realized "holy crap, they're gonna play the entire new album, aren't they!" and then Bruce said it, and I was so pumped! The new album is so great - not that the older albums aren't, because they are. I even loved the Blaze albums. But I think that AMOLAD is freakin amazing and it was truly awesome to see that a band can play an entire album live these days, and do it sounding great too. The small amount of talking that Bruce did really hit home with me too - reality shows and today's manufactured pop bands are garbage.

I was very sad to see the comments on the internet from the people who hate the set list, as if what they think should mean anything to Iron Maiden. The band has been playing the same old songs for so long, it is a breath of fresh air to see them actually support their new material. I want to hear new Maiden live, it's great. I am glad that it happened this way, and I was not expecting it, because the Rock in Rio DVD has a lot of the older stuff on it, and most "fans" would bitch and complain about not having it their way. Thankfully, Iron Maiden wanted to do something different. And it worked great.

It was a great show, and I went with four people in total. One of the guys I had to convince to come with us. He had said that he didn't like Iron Maiden (which I knew from a few years ago I tried to show him some older stuff), but we convinced him anyhow.

When it was over, I knew he had a change of heart, but I asked him passively what he thought. He said it was totally not what he was expecting, they put on an amazing show, and he even got the new album. That is how awesome this concert was.

I hope I can get to more Maiden concerts in my lifetime, and I hope they never quit. They are one of the few bands who never sold out, and do what they want to do. Next time I can see them, I'll have a better ticket, hopefully right on the floor in the thick of it all.

If somehow, someone from the Maiden camp reads this, please: come back to Canada as often as you want! We love you.

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