Iron Maiden - Death On The Road
Performance
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Iron Maiden - Death On The Road
Performance
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"In the autumn of 2003 Iron Maiden performed their most theatrical and spellbinding shows to date on the spectacular Dance Of Death world tour". So says the back of Iron Maiden's excellent new DVD Death On the Road, and it pretty accurately sums up what you get inside. After more than thirty years of proudly flying the heavy metal flag, Iron Maiden are still one of the most electrifying metal bands in the world and are still dishing out some of the best new music of their career. In my opinion, Dance Of Death was merely a good album sandwiched between two great albums, 2000's Brave New World, and last year's A Matter Of Life And Death. Although the album in its entirety isn't one of Maiden's best, there are definitely a few great songs to be found, and fortunately you get to hear them on this DVD. I only wish they had waited until the Matter Of Life And Death tour to record this video. At the pace they have been on lately, they probably did record that one too - just don't let Steve Harris anywhere near the damn editing board! We'll get to that point later. Although Dance Of Death was my least favorite of the last few Maiden albums, most of the songs they selected to play absolutely rip in this concert. Six of the sixteen songs performed were taken from the new album, and they all sounded much more impressive live. As usual, the stage show was very modest and...ahhh who am I kidding. The stage setup for this tour was pure Spinal Tap. Designed as a medieval castle, with huge ramps for Bruce Dickinson to run around like a maniac, rotating Eddie backdrops, and two giant Grim Reaper statues on each side, it all looked pretty damn incredible. Death On The Road was filmed on 24 November 2003 at the Westfalenhalle Arena, Dortmund, Germany, during Iron Maiden's Dance of Death world tour. The official U.S. release of the DVD was delayed nearly a year due to various production glitches, but finally made it to store shelves early this year. So far, my copy has been glitch free. The concert begins in dramatic fashion as the arena lights are killed, swirling spotlights illuminate the crowd, and the gothic strains of "Declamation" fill the air. When the stage lights kick in, the band immediately tears into Dance Of Death's opening track, "Wildest Dreams", and you get your first awesome glimpse at the enormous stage. "Wildest Dreams" is a balls-out rocker that is easily one of the best songs on the album, and made for a killer show opener. Speaking of killer, the show then turns full-circle taking you all the way back to 1981's Killers album with the short but explosive "Wrathchild", which was followed by the evening's only Seventh Son representation, "Can I Play With Madness". They could have played that entire album, and it would have been perfectly fine with me. A requisite performance of "The Trooper" soon follows, whipping the loyal legions into a frenzy, and making this one hell of an intense start to a concert. From there, they dive straight into more of the new material including Dance Of Death's two monster epics; the title track, and "Paschendale". Each song clocks in at over ten minutes here and were easily two of the show's highlights. "Paschendale" is a remarkable song that tells the story of a soldier who fought and died in one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. The performance begins with one of the evenings most intense lighting and sound effect sequences, as stage hands dressed in WWI army uniforms recreate the horrific battle field scene, complete with barbed wire fences and dead soldier props. Bruce Dickinson sings the entire song in a WWI era wool trench coat and infantry helmet. Now that is dedication! They dramatically close out the first set with the title track from their 1980 self-titled debut album, Iron Maiden, and it is here where they unleash the first Eddie on the worshipping crowd. Near the end of the song a monstrous, 20-foot, Eddie puppet, dressed as the Grim Reaper, rises menacingly from behind the drum kit pointing his Bruce Dickinson-sized finger at several unsuspecting victims in the crowd. Only Maiden could pull this off and make it look so cool. They show nearly three minutes of the crowd pleading "Maiden, Maiden, Maiden..." before the band eventually answers them with an encore set. Surprisingly, they open the encore with Dance Of Death's closing track, and their first ever entirely acoustic song, "Journeyman". I had pretty much overlooked this song on the album, and you wouldn't think that it would work so well to kick off the encore set, but it did, and it was absolutely stunning. Have no fear, the old guys haven't gone entirely soft on us yet, because they immediately followed with two Number Of The Beast classics; the title track, and "Run To The Hills". The "real" Eddie makes an appearance during "Number Of The Beast", lumbering around the stage and mainly terrorizing the three guitarists as they hammer out those brutal riffs. Death On The Road captures another great performance from this legendary metal band, and I highly recommend picking up this DVD - but now for the bad part. Once again Steve Harris was allowed to edit the thing, and once again he nearly ruined the entire experience. As with the incredible Rock In Rio DVD, Harris found it necessary to show about ten different camera angles within the span of, oh, ONE SECOND!, throughout the entire performance. What's funny is that there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the DVD that warns "The live concert footage contains prolonged periods of fast flashing imagery and light patterns which may cause a small percentage of people who suffer with Epilepsy to have seizures". No, it is not so much the flashing lights - it is Harris's goddamn ADHD editing style that will give you a seizure! Please, leave the next one to a professional Steve - I wouldn't want to see a video editor up there playing your bass parts. Aside from that, the rest of the production values were very good. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and PCM stereo mixes are provided, and they come on two separate discs. This is the first time I have seen that done, and it was completely unnecessary, especially since all of the special features were piled onto a third disc. I guess "three disc set" sounds more impressive than "two disc set" when you are asking for twenty dollars of our hard earned money. The surround mix was good, but not nearly as impressive as the Rock In Rio DVD mix. Again, the three guitarists were each mixed into their own channels; Murray left, Smith center, and Gers right, matching their positions on stage, but the guitars lacked some of the in-your-face crunch of its predecessor. The bass and drums were disrespected by this mix as well, which is a crime when you've got Steve and Nicko playing up there. Dickinson definitely was the star of this sound mix. The picture looked excellent and captured the mood of the show brilliantly. The show was performed in an indoor arena and was very dark compared to the much brighter, outdoor stadium performance that was captured on Rock In Rio. The special features disc contains a wealth of excellent footage including two lengthy documentaries, which feature band and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes footage of the tour, and the writing and recording of the Dance Of Death CD. Also included is a collection of fan interviews, the Dance Of Death EPK, the "Wildest Dreams" and "Rainmaker" promo videos and more. I think I am enjoying Iron Maiden even more now than when I was a teenage metalhead being blown away by their Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind tours. You can probably count on one hand the number of metal bands who are still putting out great albums and tours 30 years into their career, and Iron Maiden lead the pack. Up the Irons! Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - August 2007 |
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Running Time: 106 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - January 2007 |