Post by DAVE HURRY on Mar 3, 2008 11:34:31 GMT
DAY SIX
Sunday 2nd March 2008 1:30 PM
Hotel the Pera Hill, Istanbul
We've now done all four gigs, and all of us wish there were more. That said, it's nice to have a bit of a lie in this morning. Initially we were booked into another Istanbul hotel tonight, but our friendly promoter types sorted it so that we could stay put. Meaning that I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to! I'd like to have a look round the city, but the Devil Bug that's been threatening all week has finally blossomed into one fuck-off cough / blocked nose / sore throat / lost voice type man-flu. I can quite happily stay in bed all day!
Last night's gig was very good - we topped Ankara and delivered an EIGHT song encore! I must admit I was flagging slightly by the time we rolled round to Wrathchild, but at the end of Hallowed I could have quite happily gone on for a few more. The venue was a big V shaped type place, and it actually had Marshall stacks for myself and Adrian "Lord have mercy, it's the Luxury Tramp!" Swift to use! Speed "magic lanyard" Harris was delighted to see an Ampeg (albeit half the size of his own) onstage for him. Soundcheck was a bit hard, as we were being told to turn everything down onstage to the point where all we could hear was Nicko "he looks like the village paedo" McBrain Jnr. We hit the stage at midnight and to be honest the crowd seemed hard to please. Firat had suggested that Istanbul is less starved of good live music than the other cities we've played, and that the reaction would probably be delayed. He was right - I didn't feel any real warmth from the crowd until "Fear of the Dark". The onstage sound again left something to be desired, but it had sounded good out front so I wasn't too worried. What did worry me is that on my side of the stage, there was little lighting (blocked by flown PA) and I couldn't see what fret my left hand was on! This resulted in some Brown Chords in "Aces High" before I found a spot of light. The rest of the night was largely mistake free from me, and the encore was again spectacular. Nicko slotted in some extra parsnips to make up for last night, causing smiles onstage (we all love a bit of parsnip). We stuck the following songs into the encore (before I forget);
22 Acacia Avenue
Children Of The Damned
Die With Your Boots On
Wrathchild
We have been adding "Phantom Of The Opera" into the encore of each show over here, so the encore has been four songs long anyway. We also gave Turkey it's first live taste of "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" last night, which went down well - I've seen plenty A Matter Of Life And Death t-shirts at these gigs, so Maiden are obviously as popular here as they've ever been. It seemed fitting to have a twenty-two song, two and a half hour show to round off the tour.
After the show it was back to the hotel for a couple of brews and kip. As I said at the start of today's diary, we all wish there were more gigs to do. There is talk of coming back in December and doubling the length of the tour, as Firat reckons there's a few more cities we could throw in. That would be pretty special!
7:30 PM
Back at the hotel
We went out for a wander this afternoon to see the city. We called Firat to see if he could show us round any nearby historic bits of this huge city, but unfortunately he wasn't about today. We walked up and down the main shopping street, stopping occasionally for a coffee / ice cream / guitar shop. The buildings all along this street looked old and majestic; a sharp contrast to the modernised world at ground level. There were a few indoor markets where the interior of the old building could be seen above, and it seemed a shame to me that these buildings had been reduced to selling rip-off sunglasses to tourists. Such is modern life.
I don't know what the plan for tonight is - I heard Pizza Hut mentioned for dinner. We've had a few days of eating the local food, but now it seems we're firmly back in the west (we've had two Burger Kings since arriving in Istanbul). I've been wandering around lost in my own world a bit today - the sheer amount of people and the modern shopping surroundings kind of numbs me a bit. I had some good musical ideas out of it though, so it's not a complete loss (though I'm bound to have forgotten them by the time I get back to my recording equipment). I thought of an arrangement for a riff I've been trying to use for ages, and I even came up with a chorus for "What's Your Name (Kenny Twelvepence)?". How productive.
Sunday 2nd March 2008 1:30 PM
Hotel the Pera Hill, Istanbul
We've now done all four gigs, and all of us wish there were more. That said, it's nice to have a bit of a lie in this morning. Initially we were booked into another Istanbul hotel tonight, but our friendly promoter types sorted it so that we could stay put. Meaning that I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to! I'd like to have a look round the city, but the Devil Bug that's been threatening all week has finally blossomed into one fuck-off cough / blocked nose / sore throat / lost voice type man-flu. I can quite happily stay in bed all day!
Last night's gig was very good - we topped Ankara and delivered an EIGHT song encore! I must admit I was flagging slightly by the time we rolled round to Wrathchild, but at the end of Hallowed I could have quite happily gone on for a few more. The venue was a big V shaped type place, and it actually had Marshall stacks for myself and Adrian "Lord have mercy, it's the Luxury Tramp!" Swift to use! Speed "magic lanyard" Harris was delighted to see an Ampeg (albeit half the size of his own) onstage for him. Soundcheck was a bit hard, as we were being told to turn everything down onstage to the point where all we could hear was Nicko "he looks like the village paedo" McBrain Jnr. We hit the stage at midnight and to be honest the crowd seemed hard to please. Firat had suggested that Istanbul is less starved of good live music than the other cities we've played, and that the reaction would probably be delayed. He was right - I didn't feel any real warmth from the crowd until "Fear of the Dark". The onstage sound again left something to be desired, but it had sounded good out front so I wasn't too worried. What did worry me is that on my side of the stage, there was little lighting (blocked by flown PA) and I couldn't see what fret my left hand was on! This resulted in some Brown Chords in "Aces High" before I found a spot of light. The rest of the night was largely mistake free from me, and the encore was again spectacular. Nicko slotted in some extra parsnips to make up for last night, causing smiles onstage (we all love a bit of parsnip). We stuck the following songs into the encore (before I forget);
22 Acacia Avenue
Children Of The Damned
Die With Your Boots On
Wrathchild
We have been adding "Phantom Of The Opera" into the encore of each show over here, so the encore has been four songs long anyway. We also gave Turkey it's first live taste of "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" last night, which went down well - I've seen plenty A Matter Of Life And Death t-shirts at these gigs, so Maiden are obviously as popular here as they've ever been. It seemed fitting to have a twenty-two song, two and a half hour show to round off the tour.
After the show it was back to the hotel for a couple of brews and kip. As I said at the start of today's diary, we all wish there were more gigs to do. There is talk of coming back in December and doubling the length of the tour, as Firat reckons there's a few more cities we could throw in. That would be pretty special!
7:30 PM
Back at the hotel
We went out for a wander this afternoon to see the city. We called Firat to see if he could show us round any nearby historic bits of this huge city, but unfortunately he wasn't about today. We walked up and down the main shopping street, stopping occasionally for a coffee / ice cream / guitar shop. The buildings all along this street looked old and majestic; a sharp contrast to the modernised world at ground level. There were a few indoor markets where the interior of the old building could be seen above, and it seemed a shame to me that these buildings had been reduced to selling rip-off sunglasses to tourists. Such is modern life.
I don't know what the plan for tonight is - I heard Pizza Hut mentioned for dinner. We've had a few days of eating the local food, but now it seems we're firmly back in the west (we've had two Burger Kings since arriving in Istanbul). I've been wandering around lost in my own world a bit today - the sheer amount of people and the modern shopping surroundings kind of numbs me a bit. I had some good musical ideas out of it though, so it's not a complete loss (though I'm bound to have forgotten them by the time I get back to my recording equipment). I thought of an arrangement for a riff I've been trying to use for ages, and I even came up with a chorus for "What's Your Name (Kenny Twelvepence)?". How productive.