Post by DAVE HURRY on Jul 9, 2008 19:57:03 GMT
HI-ON RUSKIN ARMS!
The weekend began in earnest when 4.30pm rolled around and I legged it out of work on Thursday 3rd. I'd just come back from a fantastic short break in Stockholm and while I was feeling relaxed, I was also dead nervous about the new (well, new for us) songs we were going to roll out at the fanclub show the next day. We were playing songs I'd never played before, and three songs Maiden have never aired live. It was set to be a great show, but I'd booked the band a little rehearsal to smooth over the new songs.
I met up with Nicko "leggit before they load the van!" McBrain Jnr at Dartford station and we wandered back to my gaff via Tesco for pizza and beer pickup. We had a little time to kill before the rest of the boys showed up, so we settled down in front of a film and I tried desperately to stay awake. 7pm came and went, and I called the van to get a classic "We're at Heathrow...are we close?" response. I then surmised they were close, and 15 minutes later the Van of Wonder appeared. We piled in and headed off to M5 Studios, a small rehearsal space on an industrial up East Hill.
Adrian "we went over Tower Bridge and you were there!" Swift needed to drag his gear inside in order to get his fancy footwork rehearsed with the full band, and Mr McBrain Jnr wanted to use his kit. Half an hour in and we were ready to go. The songs we needed to rehearse had some harmonies that needed working out, but we didn't come up against any major roadblocks. Before we knew it the rehearsal was up and it was back to Hurry Heights for nourishment and booze. We entertained ourselves with some archive Hi-On footage, and Mr Swift and I enjoyed a David Gilmour DVD. When I finally hit the sack at 4am, Speed "are you sure you're only 24?" Harris was feeding his Facebook addiction watching 80s videos. Funnily enough, he was still at it when I got up six hours later!
After a few cups of coffee had been consumed, Bruce "don't mouth the words!" Dugginson wandered off with Nicko to grab breakfast supplies. He don't half cook up a storm, boys and girls - sausage and bacon butties all round. Mmmm, lovely. After I'd made a few copies of our Tavistock DVD for the boys, we chucked ourselves in the van and drove off to the Ruskin Arms, once a regular drinking hole for the metallers of the East End and the spiritual home of Iron Maiden. Fanclub head honcho Laz was already there, along with the support bands. We set up and soundchecked, which was a fairly painless experience. The soundman was a very familiar looking fellow, but it took a good long time before I realised who he was. Speed and I recognised him from a gig years ago at The Cauliflower in Ilford. That was a blast from the past!
The Ruskin Arms was where Maiden played some of their earliest gigs, and it must have been quite something in it's day. The area seems a bit run down these days, and the dead pigeon upstairs ("this....is an EX pigeon!") seemed testament to this! However, there was a great atmosphere around the place all day. Lots of great fanclub types from all over the world (75 or so from America!) graced our presence, and there was a free bar for us lot. Superb!
Showtime rolled around, and we kicked some serious botty. Our setlist went like this...
01 Caught Somewhere In Time
02 The Evil That Men Do
03 Sea of Madness
04 The Trooper
05 Infinite Dreams
06 22 Acacia Avenue
07 Flash of the Blade
08 Children of the Damned
09 Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
10 Deja Vu
11 Alexander The Great
12 Stranger In A Strange Land
13 2 Minutes to Midnight *BY REQUEST FROM THE AUDIENCE*
14 Fear of the Dark
15 Iron Maiden
-----------------
ENCORE #1
16 Where Eagles Dare
17 Number Of The Beast
18 Phantom of the Opera
19 Hallowed be thy Name
-----------------
ENCORE #2
20 Run To The Hills *BY REQUEST FROM THE AUDIENCE*
Which is a bit fucking killer!!! So many favourites in there, and Alexander The Great went down a storm in particular. Highlights for me were Flash of the Blade and Deja Vu, two songs I really adore but had never made much effort to learn until this gig! Where Eagles Dare was also good fun, but I destroyed the solo by somehow getting my whammy bar caught under my guitar lead. How the hell that happened, I don't know! Still, with the extra delay pedal provided by Mr Swift, the sound was spot on - even if a little out of tune!!! All in all, a rocking show. We received nothing but praise.
After packing down it was off to the digs at Heathrow, staying with the travelling fanclub members. Our good friend Melvin came to visit, which is always a joy - I believe it was his first trip over this side of the channel, as he normally only pops up (or should that be 'throws up'?) in Europe. I kipped down around 4.30am and got some well-earned sleep.
Up in the morning for breakfast (sorry lads, didn't want to wake you!), I found meself a table amongst the fanclub types and earwigged their conversations about the night before. The joy of me being in this band is that I'm virtually unrecognisable with me wig off and me specs on, hence I got to eavesdrop on some honest opinions of the gig the night before. All of which were glowing reviews! As I suspected there were some people still gobsmacked that we pulled out some of the songs we did, especially Alexander The Great. Went very nicely with me egg, bacon and sausage I can tell ya!
After a particularly lazy coffee filled morning we ventured to Twickenham to see the real thing. I hadn't seen Maiden since the A Matter Of Life And Death tour came through Earls Court in December 2006, and to be honest that show was ruined by some arsehole in the row behind me threatening to bottle me if I didn't sit down. Twat, who sits down at a Maiden gig? Ruining your cup of tea was I? I was looking forward to this show immensely. We pottered around the stadium watching the support acts and sampling the beer. By the time Maiden hit the stage I was pretty psyched up. It felt very odd watching a band play this setlist - we've been playing it since February!!! Poor old Speed couldn't help himself - he was machine-gunning from an invisible bass for a large proportion of the evening!
Through Speed's connections with Maiden's crew we found ourselves backstage enjoying Maiden's bar after the show. I managed to say thank you to Dave Murray himself for selling me his amp, which was very nice. Next time I must get some wine tips from him - he seemed to be enjoying the red stuff a little! All the Maiden boys looked a bit swamped with people - rather than feeling starstruck, I spent most of the night reflecting on how much I'd hate being surrounded by freeloaders! Still, I'm sure there were more real fans around the place than leeches. Or maybe there weren't! I did get to meet Mike from Oceansize, a band I enjoy and have seen a couple of times live. A very nice lad who went to university with our very own Mr Dugginson, he ended up coming back to my gaff and hitching a Yorkshire-bound Hi-On bus the next day. Once again I wound up kipping down at 4.30ish - three very very laaaaaate nights on the trot! Sometimes I need to remind myself that I'm not 18 any more!
The whole weekend was very enjoyable - I got to play a top gig, see a top gig, and drink a lot!
Until we meet again...
Dave "never ever gets a hangover!" Hurry
The weekend began in earnest when 4.30pm rolled around and I legged it out of work on Thursday 3rd. I'd just come back from a fantastic short break in Stockholm and while I was feeling relaxed, I was also dead nervous about the new (well, new for us) songs we were going to roll out at the fanclub show the next day. We were playing songs I'd never played before, and three songs Maiden have never aired live. It was set to be a great show, but I'd booked the band a little rehearsal to smooth over the new songs.
I met up with Nicko "leggit before they load the van!" McBrain Jnr at Dartford station and we wandered back to my gaff via Tesco for pizza and beer pickup. We had a little time to kill before the rest of the boys showed up, so we settled down in front of a film and I tried desperately to stay awake. 7pm came and went, and I called the van to get a classic "We're at Heathrow...are we close?" response. I then surmised they were close, and 15 minutes later the Van of Wonder appeared. We piled in and headed off to M5 Studios, a small rehearsal space on an industrial up East Hill.
Adrian "we went over Tower Bridge and you were there!" Swift needed to drag his gear inside in order to get his fancy footwork rehearsed with the full band, and Mr McBrain Jnr wanted to use his kit. Half an hour in and we were ready to go. The songs we needed to rehearse had some harmonies that needed working out, but we didn't come up against any major roadblocks. Before we knew it the rehearsal was up and it was back to Hurry Heights for nourishment and booze. We entertained ourselves with some archive Hi-On footage, and Mr Swift and I enjoyed a David Gilmour DVD. When I finally hit the sack at 4am, Speed "are you sure you're only 24?" Harris was feeding his Facebook addiction watching 80s videos. Funnily enough, he was still at it when I got up six hours later!
After a few cups of coffee had been consumed, Bruce "don't mouth the words!" Dugginson wandered off with Nicko to grab breakfast supplies. He don't half cook up a storm, boys and girls - sausage and bacon butties all round. Mmmm, lovely. After I'd made a few copies of our Tavistock DVD for the boys, we chucked ourselves in the van and drove off to the Ruskin Arms, once a regular drinking hole for the metallers of the East End and the spiritual home of Iron Maiden. Fanclub head honcho Laz was already there, along with the support bands. We set up and soundchecked, which was a fairly painless experience. The soundman was a very familiar looking fellow, but it took a good long time before I realised who he was. Speed and I recognised him from a gig years ago at The Cauliflower in Ilford. That was a blast from the past!
The Ruskin Arms was where Maiden played some of their earliest gigs, and it must have been quite something in it's day. The area seems a bit run down these days, and the dead pigeon upstairs ("this....is an EX pigeon!") seemed testament to this! However, there was a great atmosphere around the place all day. Lots of great fanclub types from all over the world (75 or so from America!) graced our presence, and there was a free bar for us lot. Superb!
Showtime rolled around, and we kicked some serious botty. Our setlist went like this...
01 Caught Somewhere In Time
02 The Evil That Men Do
03 Sea of Madness
04 The Trooper
05 Infinite Dreams
06 22 Acacia Avenue
07 Flash of the Blade
08 Children of the Damned
09 Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
10 Deja Vu
11 Alexander The Great
12 Stranger In A Strange Land
13 2 Minutes to Midnight *BY REQUEST FROM THE AUDIENCE*
14 Fear of the Dark
15 Iron Maiden
-----------------
ENCORE #1
16 Where Eagles Dare
17 Number Of The Beast
18 Phantom of the Opera
19 Hallowed be thy Name
-----------------
ENCORE #2
20 Run To The Hills *BY REQUEST FROM THE AUDIENCE*
Which is a bit fucking killer!!! So many favourites in there, and Alexander The Great went down a storm in particular. Highlights for me were Flash of the Blade and Deja Vu, two songs I really adore but had never made much effort to learn until this gig! Where Eagles Dare was also good fun, but I destroyed the solo by somehow getting my whammy bar caught under my guitar lead. How the hell that happened, I don't know! Still, with the extra delay pedal provided by Mr Swift, the sound was spot on - even if a little out of tune!!! All in all, a rocking show. We received nothing but praise.
After packing down it was off to the digs at Heathrow, staying with the travelling fanclub members. Our good friend Melvin came to visit, which is always a joy - I believe it was his first trip over this side of the channel, as he normally only pops up (or should that be 'throws up'?) in Europe. I kipped down around 4.30am and got some well-earned sleep.
Up in the morning for breakfast (sorry lads, didn't want to wake you!), I found meself a table amongst the fanclub types and earwigged their conversations about the night before. The joy of me being in this band is that I'm virtually unrecognisable with me wig off and me specs on, hence I got to eavesdrop on some honest opinions of the gig the night before. All of which were glowing reviews! As I suspected there were some people still gobsmacked that we pulled out some of the songs we did, especially Alexander The Great. Went very nicely with me egg, bacon and sausage I can tell ya!
After a particularly lazy coffee filled morning we ventured to Twickenham to see the real thing. I hadn't seen Maiden since the A Matter Of Life And Death tour came through Earls Court in December 2006, and to be honest that show was ruined by some arsehole in the row behind me threatening to bottle me if I didn't sit down. Twat, who sits down at a Maiden gig? Ruining your cup of tea was I? I was looking forward to this show immensely. We pottered around the stadium watching the support acts and sampling the beer. By the time Maiden hit the stage I was pretty psyched up. It felt very odd watching a band play this setlist - we've been playing it since February!!! Poor old Speed couldn't help himself - he was machine-gunning from an invisible bass for a large proportion of the evening!
Through Speed's connections with Maiden's crew we found ourselves backstage enjoying Maiden's bar after the show. I managed to say thank you to Dave Murray himself for selling me his amp, which was very nice. Next time I must get some wine tips from him - he seemed to be enjoying the red stuff a little! All the Maiden boys looked a bit swamped with people - rather than feeling starstruck, I spent most of the night reflecting on how much I'd hate being surrounded by freeloaders! Still, I'm sure there were more real fans around the place than leeches. Or maybe there weren't! I did get to meet Mike from Oceansize, a band I enjoy and have seen a couple of times live. A very nice lad who went to university with our very own Mr Dugginson, he ended up coming back to my gaff and hitching a Yorkshire-bound Hi-On bus the next day. Once again I wound up kipping down at 4.30ish - three very very laaaaaate nights on the trot! Sometimes I need to remind myself that I'm not 18 any more!
The whole weekend was very enjoyable - I got to play a top gig, see a top gig, and drink a lot!
Until we meet again...
Dave "never ever gets a hangover!" Hurry