9/10

The second night in London and the final show on The Final Frontier World Tour. My 28th Iron Maiden show.
What a show!! We followed the same procedure as the the night before. At the O2 it was an Exclusive Pictorial Preview Of The Forthcoming Book Iron Maiden ‘On Board Flight 666′. We didn`t visit the expedition but had a few photos of the creature at the entrance - Eddie himself from Somewhere Back On Tour.

This time we had standing tickets so we entered the arena a bit earlier. Spectrum and Telenor Arena, you should go to O2 to learn a few things…We bought beer and went for some spots in front of the sound desk. There were quite good view even on the floor. The show kicked off and we knew straight away we were in for one of those special night. I have never heard Steves`s bass this loud, or Dave so focused, or Nicko`s drumming so thunderous. Bruce was spitting out the words as like it was the last time. Blood Brothers magic and very emotional..When Running Free ( with crowd wave and everything) started, I knew it was the last time I would witness Maiden in a loooong time. After the show Mortis and Ida managed to get a drum skin even we were quite far back in the crowd.

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The end celebrated with the “Ring Of Brian”

Thanks Maiden for some fantastic shows. I will be looking forword to next time. Thank also to you fellow Maiden fans out there!!

9/10

After two great shows in Oslo and Helsinki, I was really looking forward to the two shows in London. Saturday being the last show on the tour and the last planned show so far. When will be the next time no one knows..

First off – by coincidence – we landed next to Ed Force One at Gatwick – which I was sure had been repainted! It wasn`t. Fisrst time I had seen this tour plane.

We arrived thursday having no special plans that day. For non-Maiden related photos go here.
We had a great warm up night in Fino restaurante in Soho ( finalist in Gordon Ramsey show!?) , then lagers and white wine in Covent Garden and finally Camden Town.

After another trip to Camden early on friday we prepared for Maiden. We used the tube to Greenwich where the amazing London O2 Arena was located. I have never seen anything like it really. Great place, the arena itself, cinemas, childrens stuff, bars and restaurantes everywhere. We looked around and bought something to eat and drink in Tesco and headed for a grass pitch. I met Torgrim Øyre and had a chat with him. One of the famous “Brødrarne Hardrock” was also present. We took a few photos with the arena and Docklands area in the backgound.

The first night we were seated. Great seats though. And as the show started everone was on their feets anyway. Standing with great view is what it was!!! And room enough to play the airguitars.. The show was one of the best I`ve seen. I have problems with rating the shows these days. All are great. Again The Talisman and Coming Home were my faves. The apparition of the Eddie from behind the stage was also spectacular. I haven`t seen it so clear so far. He was massive with those fingers coming out first. Bruce repeated his tale about the norwegian mass murder and the rest about how Maiden`s house was open for all religions. Great show in Maiden home town.

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After the show we were exhausted, but a burger got us going and I and Mortis had a few pints and a metal bar.

Concert rating: 9/10

After a amazing night in Oslo, Mortis and I travelled to Helsinki on thursday. Helsinki greeted us with sun and 32 degrees. We met up with Thomas and Ronny at the “hotel”. The first night we spent in city center looking around and drinking beer. We were most of the time at Rocks. The next day we also did some sightseing.

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The hot weather continued. We visited a metal shop and then had good lunch and beer at a place next to Rocks. Then it was time to get ready for the preparty organised by the qrazy finns. We arrived in fantastic settings 2 pm. There were 100 fans present from 18 different countries. There were beer, food, raffle and a accustic set by the Coverslaves. They also performed at the aftershow at Rocks and that set was really setting the place on fire. Great to hear those “rare” tracks seldom or never to be played by Maiden themselves. I talked to a lot of people at the preparty. Pitkät Viikset…
I`ll let the photos from the preparty speek for themselves. Thanks to Ilvis and the Crazy Finns for this experince. It was very well organized, cheap and a lot of fun. I will remember this as one of my best Maiden experiences!!!

Photos in this gallery wihout Kjagen.com watermark are from pro photographer Aku-Axel Muukka. Thanks

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All of the party walked to the stadium. The atmosphare was great. The Olympic Stadium looked impressive. After a grillimakkara outside we went inside. Listened to the Alice Cooper set while standing in line to buy beer. The poor beer organization was a bit of a surprise since everything else in Helsinki was great organized.  Anyway, after the Cooper set we lined up in front Doug Hall. And when Maiden hit the stage we had perfect sound straight from the start. The concert was one of the best I`ve seen. Every guitar solo and vocals were so clear and defined. The concert did not suffer from the daylight througout the gig. I thought Bruce was not at his best in Oslo, but in Helsinki it was a joy to watch the big screens when he belted out the classic lines. Highlights of the show this time was The Talisman, Blood Brothers and Wickerman.
And after the show we went straight to Rocks and to the afterparty without standing in line ( arranged by the Crazy Finns) And that was a great way to finish the trip.

Thanks to Finland for a great trip and experince. We`ll be back for more.
See some of you in London!

Kjagen, july 2011

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My rating 8/10
The real leg of The Final Frontier World Tour. After a preparty at a pub in Fornebu area, we headed for the arena. Our seats had been cancelled because of one of the sections had poor view, and it wasn`t even the section we had tickets for!!?? Very strange. We had to make our way to the middle of the arena with 20 minutes to go..Standing was great, but I want the money in return as we didn`t get what we`d bought.

The show kicked off and it was great. Great audience too. It was the hottest indoor show I`ve been at and it was clear that Bruce suffered a bit from it. In their diaries Rod wrote that they could barely breath during the show. The intro was great indoors with no nordic outdoor sun. Highlights of the show was The Talisman ( a powerhouse live) and Coming Home ( great solos). And The Trooper even though I must have heard it 20 times now.

But the highlight of the day was after the show at Andy`s Pub.
Adrian and Janick were all of a sudden in the pub. After a while outside where Adrian was having a cigarette I kindly asked for a photo. And it was a photo with Adrian with a beard!!!!! How many got that? It was for fun.
Later we had a photo with both Janick and Adrian. What a night. 

Night rating 10/10..

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Welcome to my concert reviews section. I`ve posted reviews with over 1300 photos from my 23 Iron Maiden concert experiences.
Enjoy. Please comment in the guestbook!!

We arrived in a sunny Bergen the day of the show. We checked in at Jacobs Apartment in the city centre. Great place. We had a apartment for 5 people for just 1850 nkr. I recommend this place, specially room 309… There were no room available in Bergen on the 11th august elsewhere. We headed downtown, had some nice fish food on the fishing harbour. Then we took a stroll to the venue, Koengen, Bergenhus festning. It looked and sounded great. There were sound tests going on, Annie Lennox.. The rest of the day we enjoyed beer and food. There were Maiden shirts everywhere.
The concert itself rocked. One of the best I`ve seen.  The sound was quite good already from the start and it was great after a few tracks. The crowd were loud and didn`t mind the rain halfway in the concert. The rain added to an fantastic atmosphare. Highlights were Brave New World, No More Lies ( this one really rules on this tour), Blood Brothers and Running Free. All tracks sounded great really. I think it was a very special concert.

Some reviews
Bergens Tidende
Vg
Aftenposten

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We arrived in Dublin on thursday. Both of us had visited Dublin before so we new what to expect. I wanted to visit the Guinness Storehouse once more and did so. We had three great days in Dublin, it`s a vibrant city with soul and we`ll visit again for sure. For us it`s better than Rome, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki,Oslo and maybe London. I`ll add a few photos from the rest of the trip later.

Friday was the we`d waited for. Having read all the great reviews from North America, I had great expectations. About 4 pm we headed east down the streets towards the docklands. Having planned nothing this time, meet ups and so on, we entered a hotel near the arena, full of Maiden fans and a Maiden menu.. I had a few drinks there and chatted with with a scotsman who I`d met before.

Then we headed to the arena. The O2 Arena ( former The Point) was an impressive sight, old and new blended in style, this is also typical for other bulidings in Dublin. It had the best facilities I`ve seen so far in a concert venue. Beer and stronger stuff all over the place and toilets to match a opera.. We were going to see the show seated this time, and the seats in block E, row 27, were perfect. I actually got the standing tickets i bought initially swopped into seated. Great service from ticketmaste.ie.  Almost right in the middle. It seemed sold out, 12 -13 000.

We got seated quite late and after some Maiden chanting from the floor, Docor Doctor was played through the speakers. Then the great space inspired intro started. Yes, it was to happen again. Adrian entered and played the Wickerman riff to an exploding crowd. After the opening crowd noise had calmed a bit, I did notice some sound issues. And these problems continued for 4 tracks. Nothing much, but enough to stop the, at least the seated crowd, from explode. I guess these things are easiar to spot when you are seated, you see and hear everything. At the floor all sorts of things were going on. It seemed pretty tough, large groups of people falling over and even some mosh-pits..During Dance Of Death the sound got sorted, the distorted bass sounds disappeared and Bruce was clear and the guitars defined. Actually from The Reincarnation Of Ben Breeg, I think I`ve never experinced such loud and clear sound. It isn`t a real maiden show before the Nickos drums is clear and loud. The rest of the concert was really, really great, one of my best, and the audience was into it. The highlights of the concert for me were Blood Brothers ( the track was dedicated to R.J.Dio and I dedicated it to another person.), No More Lies ( not my fave, but this time it ruled) and Running Free. Dave Murray was on fire this night and was soloing right in the front in the middle of the stage. We also had our eyes on Steve and Bruce, 53 and 55 year olds?? On the final track Running Free the band was served Guinness on stage while playing. Great. 

Thanks Ireland and Maiden for a great trip and concert.
Looking forward to Bergen, although I doubt a outdoor show can top this..We`ll see- maybe 22000 fans from Bergen will rock !!??

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Setlist:

1.The Wicker Man
2.Ghost Of The Navigator
3.Wrathchild
4.El Dorado
5.Dance Of Death
6.The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
7.These Colours Don’t Run
8.Blood Brothers
9.Wildest Dreams
10.No More Lies
11.Brave New World
12.Fear Of The Dark
13.Iron Maiden

Encore:

14.The Number of the Beast
15.Hallowed Be Thy Name
16.Running Free

When news arrived on a fourth leg on Somewhere back In Time tour, I didn`t think of it at first. I thought 5 concerts was going to be it. Then I started asking friends, but nobody were interested in a Serbia trip. Then I decided going all by myself. I decided to just one night and stay at a hostel being midweek and all.

I arrived at Belgrade Airport 10 am the same day as the concert. I met some other norwegians who I shared a cab with to the city centre. The area along the motorway and towards Belgrade looked quite dull I have to say. The dull weather didn`t help neither. Well well I thought. This is also an experience. I went to the Happy Hostel and saw bombed buildings on the way, bombed by NATO the cab driver said..

I “checked in” to the hostel, about 12 euros for a night..
Then headed straight down to the Rebublic Square. I asked my way there and walked for about 15 minutes.  everything looked the same. Soon Maiden shirts were popping up from everywhere. I chatted to Rory and his irish friends. Also with some finns and swedes. We had a meetup photo and the square. Then some of us decided to go to pub and have food and beer. We were at a restaurant with irish, swedes and more. I had Gurlasj. Quite good in fact.

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Then we headed to the arena which looked quite impresive. It was fairly new, built for the Melody Grand Prix. This time used for some very different music. We stood outside and chatted with people from all over the place. Macedonia, Serbia amongst others. Then we went inside, not  as strict guards as I was told and the camera ++ was with med inside. i bought the leg 4 tee and some beer.

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It was great atmosphere in the arena and there`s not much too say about the concert really. Maybe a top 5 for me so far. This was one of the first times I`ve been to a tour/new leg concert, so I didn`t know what the setlist was going to be. Children of The Damned, Powerslave and ROTAM were the highlights.

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After the show I went back to Happy Hostel in a taxi with the Irish. Me and one of the Irish went to a pub and had a few beer. Then we jogged back in the rain to sleep.

Up early and took a taxi with Charlotte from England and ? from Austria. Had a long trip back with a few hours in Dusseldorf. Chatted at the airport with a fellow norwegian. He was going to Mexico also…Maybe next time

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Early the day after the Trondheim show, I travelled south to my Brumunddal where I now live, and tsayed the night. The next day my brother and myselv drove to Oslo. We parked just ouside Valle Hovin.  We teamed up with Mortis and his friend and the chef!! and a girl. There was a football match just like in 2005. The Maiden team against a norwegian celebrity/musician team.

In goal for Norway was the old Tottenham goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt. Stig Inge Bjørnebye, former Liverpool back, played for the Maiden team. It was very hot, about 30 degrees. I don`t remember the score, but I think they quit early because of the heat..

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No photos with any band members this time as they disapeared to Valhall once the game was over. We got some photos with the old nationalteam players though. I was interviewed by NRK Sports on the way to the FTTB. Never saw anything of it. It was supposed to get aired or at least show up on internet. But I don`t know.
We headed over to the FTTB area. My brother and me got one each from two board members, Cyrus and one from Telemark, thanks a lot. The telemark guy joined us for the rest of the time before the show.
Once inside we had a lot of beer to make sure the body was full of fluids, it was hot. Every minute hoards of people, a lot of whom were teenagers, came running in and to the front. We stayed at the back until about 15 minutes before the show. I thought the special guests, Avenged Sevenfold was quite good. They even played the intro on Flash Of The Blade

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It was time for Maiden.  We had decided to get to the very front this time, and we almost managed. 3 -4 rows before the barrier it stopped however. The pressure in front of the stage was real tensed this time. I never saw any official audience numbers. It was sold 25 000 before the concertday, so my guess is about 32 000. It seemed pretty much full, and I`ve been there with 40 000.  Anyway the show kicked off, and it was great right from the start. It was the first show on this tour so close to the stage, and you always get a kick out of that. It was a very sweaty 2 hours and the pressure from the crowd behind was constant throughout the concert. As always highlights were Powerslave and ROTAM. I rate this show as the third best of the 6 gigs I saw on Somewhere Back In time Tour. Bruce was in top shape vocalwise and showwise. He also made the effort to make the crowd cheer at a man working 80 m above the ground in a construction crane close to the stadium

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After the gig we had to change clothes as they were soaked. We drove home with ears ringing, but very satisfied.
We said hello to Doug for the last time this time around. Never saw him in Belgrade seven months later.

For almost a year we`d been looking forward to the day Maiden was to play our home town. When it was announced, it was quite special. Some days, 1 or 2, I had to go and see if the stage was on its way. I got these photos from the building process.

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About every single person I knew in Trondheim and elsewhere was going and my brother wa also coming up north. The concert day arrived and we were very up for it. First some Maiden albums at home, then 100 m down to Solsiden to have beers. The weather was great and  there were Maiden shirts everywhere. A lot of fans were outside Blæst were there was a competition i think.

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We hired a taxi with a scotsman, I don`t remember his name, but he had been a few places on this tour.
At Lerkendal we hooked up with some other friends and lined up for FTTB. I talked to some of the imocs I knew and Dave Pattenden. More beer at the pub outside the stadium. Once inside it was all about enjoying the event and we chatted to numerous people from all over. Greetings to the fans from Bruce Air. Fun talking to you.

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Lerkendal was beginning to fill up. It was sold out, about 24 000 people inside. It was the biggest concert and largest concert audience ever in Trondheim. Ozzy 2007 sold 15 000 tickets. What`s great about First to The Barrier is that you can walk about and then claim your place in the pit minutes before the concert starts, if that`s what you prefer.

The concert started and it was great once again. The crowd was also very much into it and the Trondheim crowd is not famous for being carried away, the football audience that is anyway. The concert was better than Stockholm I think, but did not reach the hights of the two classic shows in Paris`s Bercy.
After the show we walked to say hello to Doug Hall again. As always he chatted with us. This time he shared something very personal which had happened to him just a few days before the show. “The show must go on”. 

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Towards the city centre after the gig, the streets were full! We did manage to enter Blæst after some time.

Next up was Oslo 55o km south.