Iron Maiden Concert-- 6/13/2017--in Nashville, TN

Iron Maiden, and opening act Ghost, entertained Nashville on Tuesday night (and I was present).  Ghost opened the show, with a roughly 45 minute set, playing the following songs:

1. Square Hammer  
2. From the Pinnacle to the Pit
3. Ritual
4. Cirice
6. Year Zero
7. Absolution
8. Mummy Dust
9. Monstrance Clock

The whole Satan "Schtick" was a bit much.  I wasn't really offended, because I couldn't understand most of what was being said.  I just thought the costumes and make-up were silly, more than cool.  There was a moment when the lead singer was asking the crowd if they would sing along....Lead Singer: "will you sing the song with us"........Crowd: "YESSS!!!".......Lead Singer:  "Will you sing the song for Satan".........Crowd: "?".........Lead Singer: "That one not so much, huh?"

The Ghost music was good.  It had a pretty good groove, I thought the bass player and the drummer were particularly good.  After a few songs though, It felt sort of repetitive, and I actually felt myself getting bored by the 5th or 6th song.  (This may be down to the fact that I was there to see Iron Maiden and didn't really know much about Ghost.  A co-worker made the comment that she had seen Ghost in person and they scared the $%#@ out of her.  I wasn't scared, just ready for them to wrap it up, so Iron Maiden could have the stage.)

After roughly 45 minutes of breaking down the Ghost set and putting up the Iron Maiden stage...the real show began.  Iron Maiden played a total of 15 songs, they are as follows:

If Eternity Should Fail

Speed of Light

Wrathchild

Children of the Damned

Death or Glory

The Red and the Black

The Trooper

Powerslave

The Great Unknown

The Book of Souls

Fear of the Dark

Iron Maiden

Encore:

The Number of the Beast

Blood Brothers

Wasted Years

Iron Maiden may be getting older, but they can still put on a great show.  Bruce had the crowd eating out of his hand all night and the musicianship and vocals were spot on, and top notch all night.  Nicko's drumming being a stand out for me.  The dancing of Dave and Janick could use a little work though (Janick jumping around in a fit of hyper activity and Dave was doing some weird two-step waltz thing).

Adrian Smith has always been a favorite guitarist of mine and it was great to see him in person and watch him play his solos to perfection.  Steve Harris did the Steve thing, he looked and acted exactly like every video clip I have ever seen of Maiden.  Steve is an amazing bassist.

Overall I thought it was a great show. 

The return of Mike Mesaros! 


After 12 years away, Mike returned to play a gig with his old band The Smithereens.  The Smithereens were one of the GREAT bands of the 1980's and 1990's, they have been active as a band for more than 30 years and still have the power to excite an audience.  Mike left in the mid 2000's to "raise his kids"....adding that "it just didn't make sense for me to be going on the road anymore."


Mike plans to play at least four shows with the band this year and there is talk of doing some new recording...possibly for a new album.  (As a Smithereens fan, I hope that is true.)


If you have never listened to the Smithereens, do yourself a favor and download some of their music.  Any of their albums are worthy, but Especially for You, Green Thoughts and Blow Up (my personal favorite) seem to be the stand-outs.  They recorded an excellent version of Tommy, that I still enjoy listening to. 


WELCOME BACK MIKE!!!