Living after Death!

Bruce Dickinson's word is worth its weight in gold. We know now. Less than a year ago, on March 17, 2007, on a "hallowed" evening at Palace Grounds, Bangalore, Bruce said much to the delight of the fans, "I know many of you here have waited over 17 years for this day. I promise you wouldn't have to wait for even 17 months to see us again!"
And boy, did he keep his word or what!
India, take a bow! The grand daddy of all heavy metal bands, Iron Maiden kicked off their "Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008" with a magnificient show at MMRDA Grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai on Feb 1.
After all that I claim about being madly in love with Maiden, I had to be there at the front row. Not wanting to take any chances, I was at the venue by 11 in the morning while the gates were scheduled to open at 4 PM.
I've always maintained that concerts of this magnitude should be held in stadiums or befitting venues. What I saw at BKC was little revelation, really. We never learn. There I was amid huge banners and crazy Maidenheads at a place dug up at every imaginable point, with barely any green-cover, dusty, dirty and everything imaginable that would make you scream in anguish. The corporate hub of the city with barely any place to pick up some grub; a search for water would result in nothing short of a hike and you could easily forget small conveniences like a cigarette store and the likes. Yes, the road to heaven was never easy, they said!
The sun blazed, the fans didn't complain. They were there for a reason and seemed motivated enough. The place was jampacked much before time and deservedly so!
Sam Dunn, the anthropologist and documentary film maker, of "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" fame showed up with his crew. The man made an attempt to tickle the funny bone of the Maidenheads already growing increasingly intolerant with little tiffs with the security and the volunteers. Dunn asked, "Is this a Maiden show?" We crack better ones, Sam! And you better feature us in your next documentary.
Rumours ran havoc. A voice from one corner said, "Adrian Smith is here!" and everyone ran where Moses directed them only to hear, not even see, what was later agreed as the band's technicians onstage.
Beat, hungry, thirsty, dirty, I was tempted to try using my PRESS card to gain backstage access but the thought of losing a job is pretty overwhelming. For the unitiated, I really doubt the financial news wire I work for would be interested in a gig review.
The gates were eventually opened a little after 4. Stampede time! I ran like my pants were on fire. No way in hell am I giving up the chance to be in the front row. I was there with friends; who were nowhere to be seen. Little I cared!
I did good. It took me a while to realise, "Whoa baby! There is still a lot of space at the barricade." Unreal!
Parikrama were setting up and by the looks of it, I doubt they were very pleased with the onstage sound. The Campus Rock Idol Winners followed Parikrama for their soundcheck.
Very honestly, after the "FTN" fiasco in Bangalore, there was little I expected from Nerverek, from Chennai. There were enough doubts in people's minds about the band. One said, "they play new-age shit man like FTN" while another said, "they are a progressive band and are good!" All doubts were doubled when the frontman played a riff on his guitar. It wasn't very pleasing on the ear. I'm not a guitarist and chose to keep my trap shut but another dude from the crowd voiced my sentiment, "Change your fucking patch!"
The show began (as the overkilled cliche goes) fashionably late. I had to survive just Nerverek and Lauren Harris, I said to myself! (I'm an obsessed Parikrama fan!)
Nerverek surprised quite a many, including me with their set. The patch was the same but the 4-piece band was all said and done...TIGHT! No, it wasn't a new-age band and it was far from the March nightmare called "Fuck The Name". Seems, the CRI guys learnt a decent lesson this time around. Nerverek's set was ruled with their original compositions, which was very heartening and a cover or two, I couldn't recognise. The songs were fairly decent. The last song, an OC called "Marijuana" deserves special mention. I have always respected frontmen who handle the guitars as well. This guy called Arjun, I think was pretty neat with his guitarwork, rhythm and leads. "Marijuana" also saw a "blink-and-miss" take on "Wasting Love", which got a huge roar from the crowd.
Nerverek, if I may dare say have their heart in the right place. They could do well with some better stage presence (Mr. Bassy, I'm talking to you! Awesome bass solos but man, remember Jack Black in 'School of Rock'? "Loosey-goosey baby, loosey-goosey") The keyboardist seems almost wasted. Get your act up docs, you people are good enough to hit the big league.
Following Nerverek was another nervewreck, or so I thought! Lauren Harris rushed onto the stage with her band. Oh boy! Not again! Harris seemed right out of Ronnie James Dio's nightmare flashing the Devil's Horn at the drop of a hat and more. I always maintained that the guitarist seemed a bad rip off of Zakk Wylde (simply by his looks and stance). I'd refrain from commenting on Harris' performance because I'm way too negatively biased about her. The crowd enjoyed though. I doubt whether they really liked her songs or was it the plain eye-candy bit. I couldn't help but notice old man Steve Harris standing in one corner watching the performance. Daddy Dearest!
What was a bigger pleasant surprise was the Mumbai crowd. Generally termed unforgiving and unruly, this one had to be seen to be believed. Unlike Bangalore, there were barely anyone jeering the opening acts, nor was there a lewd remark thrown at Lauren Harris. On the contrary, both Nerverek and Harris were cheered enough. Take a leaf out of this book, Bangalore!
Parikrama was next and I couldn't wait. Neither could the crowd because they knew they were minutes away from what they had come to see. Frontman Nitin Malik didn't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. He roared, "Let us rush through our set and we are coming right down there with you guys to enjoy what we've come here for!"
Kudos to the band who've hit it big time and deservedly so. It was their fourth appearance with Iron Maiden. Sweet dreams are made of these! There was a new face (a young Srijan Mahajan) behind the drums. All familiar fun man Dilip Ramachandran has moved on but Subir Malik, band manager and keyboardist says, "He still jams with us on weekends."
They literally had to rush through their set as their onstage time was cut. Subir later confirmed, "They (DNA) cut our time from 45 minutes to 30 minutes". Such a shame because as usual of Parikrama, they held their own onstage. "But It Rained" had the crowd singing along every word and an overwhelmed Nitin couldn't help but yell into the mike, "Thank you, Mumbai!"
A shorter set deprived fans like me of one of the crowd favourites, "Open Skies" and a new track "Life is Certain" but I, for once, enjoyed whatever bit I got of my favourite Indian band. Sonam Sherpa was his usual tight self on leads ably supported by Saurabh Choudhary on rhythms. Chintan Kalra didn't fail to entertain with his bass antics. Imran on violins did his usual special appearances and boy, he was incredible, to say the least!
The crowd got its regular dose of the usual favourites like "Rhythm & Blues" and 'The Lord of the Rings' inspired "Tears of the Wizard". Did anyone miss Saif Ali Khan and his tattoo? No offences!
Soon we all knew the moment had arrived. The lights were switched off and busy feet onstage were quickly finishing the set up. I, for once, couldn't wait to see the much talked of Powerslave inspired stage and the rest of the 30,000 (The show did sell out! What did you expect?) was no different!
A restless crowd saw a tiny incident with the middle section of the front row getting into a brawl with the security. A voice boomed into the microphone. Cheers followed only to hear a request, "Please move back!"
Sam Dunn continued capturing footage and interacting with the front rowers. Call me a woman or a spaced out fan of his work, I couldn't help pulling my cell phone out and squeaking, "Sam! Smile!" Sam obliged further embarrassing me!
In front of the barricades were the press guys with the "Access All Area" tag dangling! Lucky dogs! Hey, I'm a journalist too, remember? Damn the stock market! There were a few familiar faces who exchanged pleasantries but I couldn't help but think that all they had in their minds was, "Na-na-na-na-na...Me here, you there!" Aaaarrrggghhh!
And suddenly, Winston Churchill's voice boomed and we listened in disbelief! "...we will never surrender!" and amid deafening roars jumped onto the stage with the familiar opening riffs of "Aces High" the old men of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Did I say this before...UNREAL????
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! It is really happening, isn't it? In an absolute daze, I didn't know whether to head bang, simply stare, pull my phone out to create bootlegs or to throw caution to the winds and start sobbing. I decided to do it all! I was the blessed one and so were each one lucky enough to be there!
One familiar number followed the other and we couldn't care less that our national cricket team had just been plummetted down under that very day! There were "Two Minutes to Midnight", "Revelations", "Run to the Hills", the all familiar "The Trooper", "Powerslave". Backdrops changed, Bruce Dickinson went through a few costume changes while we simply were awestruck and pinching and telling ourselves, "Is this really it and NOT SOME CRAZY DREAM?"
The security dude who by then had got pretty friendly with a few of us came up and said, "John Ibrahim aayela hai!". Indeed there was the actor standing right in front of us but no girl went weak in their knees and no dude stared in envy. I was curious though and found him all smiles and singing along to "Run to the Hills". I smiled to myself!
"Fear of the Dark" was a surprise because I thought they were only going to play stuff till "The Number of the Beast" but I guess, it is too important a track to be missed. We hummed ala Rio, Dormunt and the likes and we found that we are still a long way to go to beat those guys. :-)
They played the legendary "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" while I received a text message from a buddy that said, "Dude, we are actually watching Rime being played live! Can you fucking believe it?". Yeah dude, I sure couldn't! There was "Powerslave" with Bruce donning the Egyptian mask while we chanted the familiar lines..."Tell me why, do I have to be a powerslave?"

Songs like "Iron Maiden", "Heaven Can Wait", "Can I Play With Madness" (not necessarily in that order) followed; each of which making me thank God I'm alive!
"Iron Maiden" saw Eddie in his "Somewhere in Time" avatar take stage and the manic crowd went a step further in insanity. Janick Gers fooling around with Eddie and his stunts with the guitar were a sight to behold.
Bruce was his usual self, running all over the place, climbing pillars, talking to us, reaching out in his own special way to every single person in the audience. He made us dance to his tunes like the rats and the pied piper. He made us believe that Bangalore was great but we were better. He made us believe that Iron Maiden will return again!
Herein, I'm reminded of a certain Brian Fair from the band Shadows Fall who said, "Anytime I've ever felt tired, I thought, 'Man, you can't be tired. Bruce (Dickinson) is up there running around for an hour and a half, covering 30 miles a night on the stage — I have nothing to complain about.' " Words never spoken any more true!
The band took the usual break and came back to the our added delight and Bruce, being his humourous self introduced the band. He pointed to a couple of blokes in the crowd and asked, "What's your name?". My mate, Gunjan swears it was him Bruce spoke to and I'm pretty sure Gunjan would have sleepless nights thinking about it for some time.
They then broke into what was my personal highlight of the evening. They played "Moonchild", a song I haven't heard them doing live in ages and so confessed Bruce as well. It was a flawless exhibition as was every other number. I looped the song on my MP3 player and have been reliving that magic eversince.
And then was heard "The Clairvoyant" and they ended the set with the inevitable and most fitting "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and I couldn't hold my cell phone steady anymore. There was the legendary, "Scream for me, Mumbai!" and that was all he had to say for me to totally break down. Yeah! Call me a wimp but it was way too fantastic!
The set ended and so did an almost two-hour long dream. We were tired sure but could we have gone on for two more hours? You betcha!
Songs like "Alexander the Great", "Flight of Icarus" and "Caught Somewhere in Time" were sure missed but I guess we shall wait for another dream run for that.
Cut to reality, there were a few blatant things that stung. It was not the usual chemistry between the bandmates onstage. Adrian Smith looked visibly upset off and on. It was a weird abrupt way the gig came to an end. There was a good 15 minutes still left for the 10PM deadline, much to delight of the local cops. There was no signature bow that the band took, no picture with the crowd in the background while Bruce seemed in an obvious hurry to get off stage while the rest had already left. Nicko McBrain was sweet enough to stay back the longest hurling drumsticks by the dozen to the crowd.
Subir Malik to the rescue who solved the mystery more or less a couple of days later. Malik said, "The sound was very bad. We thought it was bad for us, but even Maiden's sound was fucked. Really strange, man."
The guys who weren't lucky enough to be amongst the front rowers confirmed what Subir said later. "We could barely hear stuff man! It was real sad", they said.
DNA Networks have to pull up their socks in more ways than one. The onstage sound was far from being flattering in Bangalore; very evidently the lesson wasn't learnt well enough.
Another thing that was a real eye sore was the management of the event. I already said about the inconveniences the venue was plagued with. Add to that, there were not enough public transport available. I myself had to walk all the way from Kurla to BKC in the morning. There was drinking water and the sodas available but the price at which they were being sold made me sigh!
One of the biggest fuck up to me was the way there was just one EXIT for 30,000 people. It was an absolute bottleneck. This was the very thing that happened in Bangalore as well where the turnout was even higher. One can imagine what happens when so many people get restless. Dust everywhere, tired bodies ready to drop; have mercy DNA!
Somehow I managed to get out but without my mates whom I couldn't get through thanks to the jammed cell networks. I quickly dashed to the merchandise store half hoping to find everything sold out. Didn't I say I was blessed? I finally got myself an OFFICIAL IRON MAIDEN shirt and proudly showed off the '2005 Maiden Holdings' to anyone who cared to see!
After all the hurt, it was a day to be cherished. Tedious? Yes! Inconvenient? Oh yes but something to hold on to? Oh fuck, yes!!!!
Indeed, we will "Remember Tomorrow" and will be 'caught in this time forever'. There could be nothing indeed, nothing like 'Living After Death'!!!! UP THE IRONS!


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All things bright and Biprorshee