Midwest BEAT Magazine

      Iron Maiden's recent and much anticipated appearance in Chicago at the UIC Pavilion was satisfying and disappointing-all in one breath. It's not that the band (excellently supported on a knockout metal bill that included Halford and Queensryche) didn't deliver the goods, that's for sure. Moreover, some 20 years after they first burst onto the world stage with the watershed album Number of the Beast and tour, its hard to discern which is more amazing-the freshness and vitality of that album that is still evident when you listen to it today (the earmark of a true classic)-or the fact that Iron Maiden themselves have continued to sustain that energy and innovative spirit that set them apart from the crowd from the start. (All this while also maintaining their lofty and unusual position as world wide rock/metal
icons.)

      Indeed, the current album, Brave New World, which features the returned
classic lineup of Bruce Dickinson/Adrian Smith, has been widely heralded as the band's best effort in years, and may be their best ever. Furthermore, though most navel-contemplating Americans remain unaware of it, the new album, like most of its predecessors, went to #1 in many countries, while the band itself continues to spread its fan base to more exotic locales around the globe.

      And certainly, Iron Maiden--workhorse masters of the boards that they have always been---gave the crowd the knockout energy, power, and musicianship that they first became famous for, and which their audiences know they can always expect.   But the downside of the night was actually the audience itself, which showed a surprising lack of enthusiasm considering most of them were eager to see the headlining Maiden, who---many have also been hoping---will once again lead the charge for the (cycle popular) metal cause.

    I could not believe that this was a Chicago Maiden audience, so blasé was the response, even to the classic Maiden numbers like "Iron Maiden," "Number of the Beast," "2 Minutes to Midnight," and "Hallowed Be Thy Name." The band, still fit as fiddles physically and artistically, were giving it their best effort to stir up the groggy crowd, particularly Dickinson, who could've won the NCAA's Cheerleader of the Year award this night. (Though he was beginning to get a little testy about the crowd stupor by the end of the show.)   Granted, the Pavilion was hot and steamy, but perhaps what went awry most this night with this particular crowd was the fact that the majority of them were 30 through 45 years old. Perhaps I should have expected this from what I saw at the Yuppie Italian restaurant near the venue where I stopped in before the show: The place was chuck full of Maiden aficianodos, but you would never have guessed it from appearance, clothing, age, or demeanor, as it might as well have been a group of Dental Floss Salesmen from Montana.

     Still, this was Chicago---for heaven's sake! And Chicago, home of the notorious Chicago Mutants (credited on many a Maiden album), has always been a major American stronghold for Iron Maiden in the past. This was so even during the '90s when the grunge movement and the media burnout and public backlash against '80's "hair" pop metal bands (of which Maiden was never a remote participant) gave the entire genre a lack of credibility and--subsequently--popularity over here. But--at least until now---many Chicagoans, like a few other urban/industrial/working class areas of the US, knew better than to throw the baby out with the bathwater, thus a large hard core Maiden following has always remained intact around the shores of Lake Michigan.

      After the show, bassist/founder Steve Harris was frank in his own
disappointment and befuddlement with the audience at this show. Was the sound the problem, he wondered? (No, Steve, the sound was great--exceptionally clear, even from the far side of the stage where I stood.) Had the audience come to see Halford and Queensryche instead? (No to that, too, Steve; as far as I could tell, the bulk of the crowd was there exclusively to see the mighty Maiden once again.)   So, we finally concluded, it must have been the median age of the crowd, which was far older than their Chicago audiences had been in the past, and far older than Maiden is used to playing to in other regions----especially in other countries where their fan
base continues to grow new seedlings. There's just no substitute for youthful enthusiasm at a concert, that's for sure.

      However, I should add that Maiden did play six songs off of the new album, as they usually do. Harris, like the rest of the band, believes it is important for a band to have the courage to show faith in their new material by playing it live. And, anywhere else in the world, this would not be a mistake, as their new numbers ("Brave New World," "Wickerman," "Ghost of the Navigator," "'Blood Brothers," "The Mercenary," and "Dream of Mirrors") are as powerful and dramatic (not to mention artistically superior) as anything they have ever done, live or on record. Yet, after this show in Chicago, it was said that even this consummately individualist and self-confident band was considering changing their set list for the remainder of the American tour after the lukewarm audience response. That is until the next night when they played in Milwaukee---and the crowd there blew them away!

    All I can say is, what has happened to us, Chicago!? Have we lost all our upcoming youth to the Eminem/Britney Spears media machine forever (perish the thought), and have the rest of us gotten old before our time in our suburban cookie-cutter rocking chairs? You tell me!