The first time I saw Paul Di'Anno was last year at the Transmission Room. The support band was World War IV if I remember correctly, and in places they reminded me of Incubus or RATM or something... just generally awful.... yeah, it was pretty cool to see some Iron Maiden songs, and yeah, the Australian backing band Killrazor were pretty tight... but Di'Anno had no presence on stage. I put this down to him having a busted knee and not being able to move. And the crowd were awful. Just awful. No moshing. Just like women in their late 40s standing at the front of the stage. I was stuck for quite a while standing behind some guy in a Motley Crue shirt. Who was just standing there. I dunno, for me metal doesn't work without a mosh-pit... or metal isn't working if the crowd doesn't feel the need to mosh... Di'Anno was kind of rude and obnoxious...
Fast-foward to 2010 and I guess a year had passed, and with this being a "30th Anniversary of the first Iron Maiden album" tour, where he would do every song off that album (and I really like that album), I was willing to give him another try... especially since Razorwyre were opening for him...
I got there early enough to see Dying of the Light. Although their music was technically competent and perhaps other people might like it if they were into that sort of thing, I found it very slow, and boring, and really offering nothing to me. When they played one faster song, I almost got excited.
Razorwyre (or Gaywyre) I had been hearing a lot of good things about, and I have to say they lived up to their reputation. Later that night I was telling anyone who would listen that they blew Paul Di'Anno off the stage. It's great that NZ finally has a world-class thrash metal band. Sure, they're derivative of all the big thrash bands of the 80s, but that's why they're great. I especially loved the vocalist's range. I will be seeing them again.
Paul Di'Anno then. Well, he did play all the songs off the first Iron Maiden album, which was interesting... but very early in the night I realised I'd made a mistake. There can only be one Iron Maiden, and I saw them in a packed stadium, not in some tiny pub with less than 100 people in it. You know that thing singers do, when they get the crowd to sing part of the chorus or something? When the 20 people down the front couldn't sing the lines he gave them loud enough for him to hear (I know, surprising, right?), the crowd was met with jibes like "Oh, I didn't know this was a gay bar" or "Oh, looks like another audience just like Melbourne" By the time he started playing AC/DC's Highway to Hell (after some big spiel about visiting Bon Scott's grave), I left the pub shaking my head. I won't be fooled again.
setlists:
Thirsty Dog show
Transmission Room show
<>
5 years ago
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