Happy Late Night, my Darling,
Well.........wow. I have been to some loud concerts in my life, but tonight was one of the loudest if not thee loudest when pure force of sound is taken into consideration. With Iron Maiden, not only do you have the band, but their fans too. I had not been to a Maiden concert in 28 years, and they played big arenas back then too, but in the years since, the fans have become fanatical. Maiden is their band, and one of the catch phrases that singer Bruce Dickinson has always used has been "Scream for me (insert name of city)".
So tonight, when he yelled that out, "Scream for me, Los Angeles"!, it sounded like pandemonium.
Bruce yells it out a lot, in between verses of a song, so the music is always going when he yells "scream for me", and you get the combined roar of the music and the crowd, and it was positively deafening.
Music to be performed as you are storming into World War Three, with crowd cheering you on.
I jest, of course, about that part, because Bruce (a talker in concert) always makes short speeches about togetherness, like tonight : "It doesn't matter what color you are, or if you're Bruce Jenner or what you believe in - if you're an Iron Maiden fan then you're family". That's the IM philosophy, and that's why the fans feel and act like a unit. All that matters is the music, and they (we) all love it. But having not been there at IM shows for the past three decades, I have missed that growing experience of family. Everybody's got an IM shirt on, everybody sings along....I mean, it was intense.
I think it was The Heaviest Metal Show I've ever been to.
I realise that I say something of that nature about every show I go to - lol - but because the technical aspects of rock concerts have grown exponentially from the earlier days, now you have sound that's off the charts, that sounds like WW3 as I said. I don't mean that sound wasn't good in years past - it was great and even incredible in the 70s. And the loudest concert overall that I've ever been to will always be Cal Jam, just because of the sheer amount of sound equipment used. But that was an outdoor show, where the sound can expand.
So indoors in an arena like The Forum, the sound is held within. And when it's turned up to the max with a band like Iron Maiden, then simple "loud sound" becomes "force of sound".
Even David Gilmour at The Hollywood Bowl was very loud, in decibels. But it was loud in a milder way.
At any rate, enough about The Loudness. What I am really trying to convey is The Force of the music.
Now, Grimsley texted me that he walked out. I can simultaneously understand that, and also think "well too bad". I saw a Dad standing near me who had his little girl on his shoulders, and I thought, "well, that kid is gonna remember this for the rest of her life", much as I will never forget California Jam, my first concert.
This rock n' roll thing is getting interesting at this point. Bands we have loved for our whole lives are retiring.
We fans never could have imagined that. Rock bands don't retire! We're all forever young. Rock music and especially rock concerts are in the moment. Nothing is more "be here now" than a rock concert.
Yet the musicians are indeed getting older. You'd never know it by the shows they've been putting on in recent years, many of which are peak efforts for various bands, career highs.
And with some of them, or really all of the bands that I've loved for decades that I've seen recently, it's like they've been saving the best for last. And now, with the sound technology being what it is, a band like Iron Maiden can put on a concert that sounds like the end of the world, in pure Force Of Sound.
This is how our era of rock winds down, with Monolithic shows. Bands going out in a Supernova.
Bruce remarked at the end that "you never know if we will make it back to North America".
Bands always used to say, "see you soon", or "see you next time". But we aren't in that era anymore.
Now we are going out with a bang.
If Iron Maiden ever do come back this way, absolutely do not miss them, even at the expense of your hearing. :)
See you in the morning, Sweet Baby. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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