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IRON MAIDEN
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| Another Band | Another Iron Maiden show | Concerts by year |
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Iron Maiden are very big in Scandinavia and after seeing the Ullevi DVD from the 2005 tour, I wanted to see them there. As Swedish shows were sold out, I planned a trip to Norway. I visited a few places in the country (including Spitzberg and the far North) before attending the 2 shows of the Somewhere Back in Time Norwegian Tour, in Trondheim (July 22) and in Oslo (July 24). |
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Oslo is an amazing city. I think I've never seen so many people with Iron Maiden clothes walking the streets of any city in the world. There was even a lot people selling t-shirts in the streets (unofficial ones, of course). Lots of bars and pubs were holding warm-up parties and aftershows before and after the concert. There I met Andrew and Ross from the UK, two Metal Travellers who came to see Maiden in Oslo. |
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The Valle Hovin is a speed skating rink during winter and a stadium for concerts and events during the summer. Other bands having played there include Metallica, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. I took the subway to Helsfyr, had a couple of beers in front of the venue and got in. |
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This time I saw the opening act, Avenged Sevenfold. They delivered a very good show, much better that the one I saw at the Graspop Festival in Belgium a few weeks earlier. I managed to get to the first pit and on the left side of the audience I found Andrew and Ross from the UK, and met a few other Metalheads, which you can see on the picture above on this page. |
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The audience went mad when "Doctor Doctor" started; a lot of people were singing the lyrics. Then the screens began to show the film of the tour with " Transylvania" as a soundtrack. Finally, the most awaited moment came as we heard Churchill’s voice saying “We shall go on to the end…” |
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This is even more amazing when you know that Norways whole population is about 4 700 000 inhabitants... This means that about 1% of the Norwegian population has seen Iron Maiden in 2008! Amazing, they really like Metal in Norway. |
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The backdrop changed and we all knew what was coming next: “The Trooper”, with Bruce Dickinson dressed with a 19 th Century military Uniform and waiving the British Flag. To introduce the next song Bruce talked again about the huge Somewhere Back in Time World tour, which has taken the band to 4 continents, and told us that there hasn’t been a single Wasted Year! |
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And after that, the Devil’s statue appeared on the left side of the stage for “The Number Of The Beast”. There was a lot of fire and pyrotechnics during that one. It was followed by "Run To The Hills”, that was sung very loud by the whole Valle Hovin! Time to talk about birds and albatrosses! Norway is a country with a long sailing tradition, so it was again very special to hear “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” there. This 13 minute-long song is great and the performance very theatrical, with a ship’s deck as a backdrop, Bruce dressed with a cape, the lights coming down the stage during the middle break, and fireworks and other visual effects during the solo. And when it’s over and you still can’t believe what you’ve just heard, they hit with another epic song, “Powerslave”, where there’s also some fire on stage and Bruce wears his famous bird mask. |
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Of course we had a lot of jokes by Bruce Dickinson. This time it was about people seeing the show for free from a tower crane just outside the venue , where some construction works were ongoing. He told the audience twice to say "Hello!" with our hands to this people. He also stated that the band will come back soon with a brand new album. |
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I’ve never seen as many people on stage during “Heaven Can Wait” as in Oslo. There were some 40 persons over the whole stage between Steve Harris and Adrian Smith. Usually they stay around Steve Harris but here they were all over the stage. Of course everyone at Valle Hovin was singing! After “Can I Play With Madness” Iron Maiden played the only song not belonging to the 80’s: “Fear Of The Dark”. |
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There’s no backdrop but a black curtain when they play “Fear Of The Dark”. |
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Time to meet Eddie, who is coming as a mummy out of his sarcophagus. |
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Time for the encores, starting with “Moonchild”, one of the biggest surprises of the tour. It was followed by “The Clairvoyant” with Eddie showing up again as in the “Somewhere In Time” cover, and finally ending with “Hallowed be Thy Name”. |
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The best crowd I’ve ever seen for Maiden was Colombia, and Poland in 2005 would be second, but the performance of the band in Oslo was the best I’ve seen on this tour. Ross agreed with me on that point, and he’s also seen a few shows from this tour. |
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Setlist Iron Maiden Oslo, Norway, July 24, 2008: |
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