PAUL DI ANNO & COVERSLAVE
Divan du Monde - Paris, France
November 11, 2011

11.11.11... November 11 2011.
That was a special day!
It was not The Number Of The Beast, but Paul "The Beast" DiAnno was back in Paris on this day.

A little coincidence, just like Iron Maiden played in Paris on 9.9.99, September 9 1999, Paul DiAnno was in Paris on 11.11.11.

Since last year, there's been a love story between Paul DiAnno and France:
Paul did two French tours in 2010 and he was back in 2011 for a few more gigs.
Last year he did't play in Paris so I attended the shows in Santeny, Vitry Le François and Vauréal.

This tour was called Running Free Again Tour, as Paul was free to tour again after some time in jail...

Paul DiAnno's backing band was not The Stars like in may 2010, but Coverslave.
Coverslave is a well-known Belgian and French Iron Maiden tribute band, who were also the opening act.

The guys from Coverslave played Maiden tunes for almost two hours: first they played post-1981 songs with their own singer, and then they were joined by Paul DiAnno for a second set.

I'm not really into tribute bands, but I think Coverslave were good on stage. They played well and had a good singer. Unfortunately, the sound wasn't really good.
They don't bring only music, but also added some visual effects to show.
They had a backdrop with the Live After Death cover during their set. When DiAnno came on stage, it was replaced by the cover of The Early Days DVD.

Also during The Trooper, a guy dressed like the Trooper character came on stage with a flag.

After a 20 minute break, the original Iron Maiden singer came on stage with the mythical The Ides Of March intro, followed by Wratchild.

He is still crazy on stage, moving as much as he can and joking between the songs.
The sound was quite bad during Coverslave, but much better when DiAnno came on stage... I don't know what did the sound enginner did, it just didn't sound like it was the same band.

The setlist was exclusively made of songs from the first two Iron Maiden albums.

It was a real pleasure to hear some songs that Maiden don't play anymore, such as Prowler and Charlotte The Harlot.

I saw Purgatory was on the setlist but sadly they didn't play it. I hope next time they will, this tune is a very underrated metal hymn.

Nevertheless, Paul DiAnno's solo carrer was not covered at all. When Paul DiAnno is in town (whatever town in the world), everyone expects him to play some old Maiden songs, there's nothing wrong about that.
But not playin any original songs? I don't think that's fair after such a long carreer.

Back in 2010, Paul played a few songs of his own, like Marshall Lockjaw or The Beast Arises and I think he should continue to do this.

Several times during the evening, Paul stated that his throat was hurting and apologized for not being able to sing well.
He even said it twice before inviting Stéphane Graziani from Coverslave for a duet on Sanctuary and Iron Maiden.

Well, maybe it wasn't Paul's best performace, but it's good to see someone giving it all despite being ill.

Moreover, I love Paul's sense of humour. He even adressed bass player Stéphane Sauvage as "Mr Steve Harris" on stage.

At the end of the show, I had the impression that I didn't see a Paul DiAnno concert, but a Coverslave concert with Paul Di Anno as a special guest.
What is sure is that it was a nice evening dedicated to Iron Maiden!

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Setlist Paul Di Anno – Divan du Monde, Paris, France – November 11, 2011

Paul Di Anno Links:

Paul Di Anno & Coverslave Line-up (Running Free Again French Tour 2011):