I thought I'd get one more Maiden post up here before suspending Beast-related blogging for a spell.
The band has released quite a few video albums over the years, but I'll just focus on those in my own meager collection, starting with
This is a collection of all of Maiden's official music videos, most of which feature the band in concert. Then there's "Two Minutes to Midnight," which is probably the best of the lot:
"Run to the Hills" is a memorable video, and I almost included it here. It intersperses footage of the band performing the song with footage from the silent-era film Uncovered Wagons, a decision neither approved nor endorsed by the band. I mention it mainly so I can segue into this improbable cover of the song by a Michael MacDonald impersonator:
"Visions" is a fun walk down memory lane. The CGI for the title menu screens is awful and takes a small eternity to finish. There are some fun hidden extras:
"The way to discover them is actually pretty simple. On the first disc, playing the sixth track ("The Trooper") 3 times – 666 – will lead you to an unreleased video of "Man On
The Edge". On the second disc, playing the sixth track ("Hallowed Be Thy Name") twice, then the fourth track (i.e.,
"Wasting Love") once – 664 – will unveil an interesting Camp Chaos * version
of "The Trooper". You don't even have to watch the videos entirely, but
simply press "next" to eventually go to the hidden bonus tracks.
Likewise, playing "Hallowed Be Thy Name" 3 times on the second disc will
lead you to the 666 door and you will hear Nicko saying "No! 664! The
bloke next door!" before being taken to the right place."
* Bob Cesca (founder of Camp Chaos Studios) later left animation for the more cartoonish world of online political punditry.
Next:
The first disc is a concert from the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour... tour.
There are bizarre sequence of icebergs crashing into the ocean between some songs.
The second disc features some videos and The History of Iron Maiden, pt. 3. The first part of that is on Iron Maiden: The Early Years, and the second on the Live After Death DVD. I'm not sure if there's ever been a pt. 4, but pt. 3 only covers 1986 to 1988, so plenty left to cover - hope they get round to it.
Also included is 12 Wasted Years, a compressed version of Maiden's history from inception through the Seventh Son album. Steve and Dave revisit some of their early haunts like the Ruskin Arms and the Marquee.
Backstage at the Marquee.
Paul Di'Anno is interviewed and is a good sport about departing the band on the eve of their superstardom.
Promo for "Women in Uniform"
Bruce, before leaving to herd sheep or go deep-sea fishing in the Baltic or whatever activities one wears such a sweater for.
I quite like this shot of Derek Riggs.
Keith seems like a cool bloke from this and elsewhere, but keep this image in mind everytime you see Candace Swanepool or Adriana Lima in a Maiden shirt. It kind of blows my mind. How far we've come!
Just thought the name was funny, given his job.
Eddie, moments before Bruce lobotomizes him and the band batters his corpse with their guitars.
"You Are Number Six."
The month the McMillans bid Auf Weidersehen to Deutschland after 6 long years.
15 years after performing on P.I.T. the band released Rock in Rio (2001:)
My version is actually a bit different, featuring a pop-up photo that conveys the magnitude of the crowd. But I couldn't find a good image of it online, nor do I feel like digging the packaging out of storage to snap a picture of it.
Disc One is the concert, and disc two has some Day in the Life Of... type extras.
Eddie looks particularly demonic on these title screens.
The Rock in Rio event is a bit like the World Cup of metal, though it has never strictly been confined to just hard rock. In recent years, reflecting changes in taste perhaps, the artists have ranged from Shakira and Miley Cyrus to Slipknot and Rage Against the Machine.
At the Copa...
Copa-cabana!
Not in Brazil, obviously, but on the way.
On their day off, Janick and Steve go to see a Cup Final between Vasco da Gama, a Brazilian football club that uses Eddie as its mascot, and São Caetano.
They appear to have enjoyed themselves.
I know little about CR Vasco da Gama but naturally this Eddie connection makes them my favorite Brazilian team.
And finally, my personal favorite:
Produced, written and directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn
If you came to learn the inside scoop of this, you're out of luck, I'm afraid.
This documents the band's "Somewhere Back in Time" tour. As Bruce explains, the cost for doing this tour traditionally (rent two planes - as well as their own crews - for personnel and equipment) would have been too prohibitive, but by piling the everyone and everything onto one plane, operated by themselves, they were able to do it fairly inexpensively. And play places they'd never played previously. (To rapturous audiences.)
Steve brought his son (pictured) and three daughters along.
An Indiana Jones style air map is used throughout.
The lights of a thousand cellphones seem to have replaced cigarette lighters at concerts.
Sydney
Self-proclaimed "Iron Maiden Fan Number One." Challenge accepted.
From here they traveled to L.A. where Lita Ford, Lars Ulrich, and Tom Morello all showed up for the concert.
From L.A. to Mexico City.
Nicko and his wife undergo a shamanistic ceremony underneath the Pyramid of the Sun.
Nicko has got to be the happiest drummer on the planet. Always upbeat.
Things always get a little strange when Maiden heads to Brazil.
And this time is no exception.
This guy - a local priest - has 162 Maiden tattoos and builds his sermons around their lyrics.
CR Vasco De Gama joins the band on stage.
This young lady sings along with "Powerslave." Not uncommon during concerts, of course, it's just kind of funny to see her belting out "Enter the risen Osiris - risen agai-ayay-aaiiin!"
From Chile to New Jersey.
And from there to Toronto.
And that's all she wrote.
The music over the end credits is Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Nice touch - that's what always plays when the lights come up and the crowd files out at Maiden concerts.
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I've had a blast revisiting all of this over the past few weeks and screencapping all the above.