By Andrew Bansal
For the past seven years, March 17 has reminded me of the one concert that took place on this date in 2007, and changed my life forever. Every year, I’ve thought about doing this writeup, but there’s just something about 2015, perhaps the fact that I’m turning 30, or that some of my all-time favorite albums are turning 30, that has put me in a constant quest for nostalgia, and I’m able to recall and reminisce better than ever before. This brings me to finally making an attempt at doing justice to the unforgettable experience that was the Iron Maiden show at Palace Grounds in Bangalore, India, on March 17 2007.
During the latter half of the year 2006, which also saw the release of ‘A Matter Of Life And Death’, I was at the peak of my Iron Maiden obsession. I had been listening to their classic albums on repeat for more than a year at that point, after using all of my allowance and more to purchase authentic, imported copies of the ‘Number Of The Beast’ and ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’ CDs from a music store in the city of Chennai in 2005. The release of a brand new album from them in 2006 was a hugely exciting time for me, and I remember paying upwards of Rs. 500 to buy the CD the day it hit the stores. From then on, the focus shifted from the classics to the new material, and I was thoroughly enjoying the CD. Soon after, I discovered the ‘Rock In Rio’ DVD, recorded during the ‘Brave New World’ tour, and watched it religiously after college classes every day. At that point, no international metal band had ever set foot in India, and I never imagined getting a chance to see Iron Maiden live. I could not believe my eyes when I came across the announcement of the Bangalore gig, and my feelings at that moment are simply impossible to put down in words.
I snagged tickets as soon as they went on sale, not even taking a single moment to think about my finances, or how I was going to travel from Chennai to Bangalore, with whom and where I’d be staying in Bangalore, or what my parents were going to say. The desire to see Iron Maiden superceded everything and everyone else.
I took a train to Bangalore with a friend the day before the show and we stayed at his friend’s house for the night. We reached the venue quite early the next morning, and there were already people camped out, waiting for the (flood) gates to open. Folks from various neighboring countries had also traveled to attend the event, and as temperatures were rising hour by hour, the atmosphere was building itself up to epic levels of intensity and anticipation. Sometime in the early afternoon, the gates opened and a mad rush ensued, to get to the barricade and catch a spot in the front row. I managed to grab a few inches of the barricade, and stood in the front row, facing stage left, for the next nine hours. The thought of leaving this spot for any reason never once crossed my mind.
The show started in the late afternoon as Indian band F.T.N. took the stage. I do not remember any of their music but I clearly recall them getting booed off the stage as the crowd was having none of them whatsoever. Next up was a much more established and renowned Indian band called Parikrama, who put on a decently entertaining show to take us into dusk, and as we got respite from the heat due to cooling temperatures, those in the crowd close to fainting were handed a much-needed second wind. Main support for this monumental gig was provided by Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris’ daughter Lauren Harris’ band, which also featured current Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner at the time. Her band didn’t generate a positive response at all, and our wait for Iron Maiden turned restless. At last, the moment arrived. The customary ‘Doctor Doctor’ pre-intro was played on the P.A., the lights went out, and then came the intro Iron Maiden were using for the AMOLAD tour. As soon as the intro ended, time stood still. Within one second, the curtains concealing Iron Maiden’s stage setup were taken down, and all members of the band appeared on stage, the opening riff to ‘Different World’ coming across like a big bang, a giant explosion, and Bruce Dickinson taking a huge leap from near the drum riser, flying over the monitors to land perfectly near the edge of the stage. That moment is my definition of heavy metal, and I will never forget it.
It was almost as if that one moment was the longest, because the rest of the concert flew by us before we even realized that it was over and done with. Iron Maiden played a good chunk of the new album and a few of the classics, ‘The Trooper’ drawing the biggest response as Palace Grounds sounded like a battle ground full of 38,000 soldiers. The people that had bought the cheaper tickets were held behind the second barricade, which was quite a distance away from the stage. But during ‘The Trooper’, many of them jumped across to the front section as I felt a huge thrust from the now more densely crowded area behind me. Keeping nearly 38,000 people behind me and not getting brushed aside from my spot was no easy task, but I held on.
At some point during the set, most probably during ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, Bruce climbed up the pillar supporting the roof of the stage on the left side, to get a better idea of how many people he was performing in front of, and the look on his face just said it all. The band had no idea what to expect and were clearly blown away by the level of passion and excitement they were feeling from this crowd.
This was the very first concert I attended, and I could not have imagined a better introduction to the world of live music, which I now find myself deeply buried in. But it was this show that started it all, and no matter how many thousands of shows I end up seeing in my lifetime, this Iron Maiden gig will remain at the top of the table as my favorite one. Eight years ago but still feels like yesterday.
Set List:
01. Different World
02. These Colours Don’t Run
03. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
04. Wrathchild
05. The Trooper
06. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
07. For the Greater Good of God
08. The Number of the Beast
09. Fear of the Dark
10. Run to the Hills
11. Iron Maiden
Encore:
12. 2 Minutes to Midnight
13. The Evil That Men Do
14. Hallowed Be Thy Name