After a relatively brief intermission where I spent most of my time cataloging the various band T-shirts on display, (While I was flying the KNAC.COM flag with my shirt, I saw stuff ranging from Nina Hagen and Joy Division to METALLICA and MANOWAR plus about 100 different IRON MAIDEN designs), the strains of MAIDEN's lead up song "Doctor Doctor" came over the loudspeakers amping up the crowd as the main reason the sold out 20,000 souls were gathered on this night hit the stage!

And after a great animated bit over the two giant video screens on either side of the stage finished, hit the stage IRON MAIDEN did. With malice on their mind, the band took full control from the first note and kept that control up until the final notes to sweat soaked but fully sated hours later.

It was a mostly masterful performance and I don't say that lightly. The last time I saw IRON MAIDEN, there were a lot of sound issues (at this same venue as a matter of fact) and it put a damper on the show a bit. But as they opened with "If Eternity Should Fail", the first of six songs from the latest CD featured in the set list, the past was forgotten and replaced with this new instantly great memory.

The energy MAIDEN puts forth so deep into their career puts bands in their 20's to shame. With Bruce Dickinson running about the entirety of the band's massive stage set, the rest of the band holds down the main portion of the stage, stalking foot by foot and engaging the crowd. Janick Gers windmilling on guitar, Steve Harris stalking, stomping and staking out his performance with a fury and both Dave Murray and Adrian Smith providing one fiery lick after another while looking as if they were unruffled by the mayhem around them. And I just love Nicko McBrain's work on the drums (even if it did look like he was being punished by where his set was located within the staging itself). It was such a mesmerizing performance, you forgot just how hot the weather was.

One of the things I like about a MAIDEN show is how you are encouraged to play along with the handclapping, arms swaying and singing along. At other shows, you might (as I sometimes do) feel a little self-conscious at playing along. But there I was, along with everyone else screaming out "Wrathchild" or "Iron Maiden" during each song's chorus, reciting the opening intro to "The Number Of The Beast" and just cutting loose in joyful exhultation! It also helps that as a frontman, Dickinson knows the difference being exhorting a crowd and not preening to it.

I've seen some reviews that made mention of the inclusion of "The Red And The Black" as a low point in the show. I was curious about this because I actually like the song. As I said in my review of The Book Of Souls CD, the song ended up being good for the most part but it did get bogged down and went on a bit too long. It is almost like they just couldn't figure out how to end the song.

The one thing I noticed that tended to affect my enjoyment of the show a bit was how at times throughout the show it seemed as if Bruce Dickinson's vocal just dropped out of the sound for a couple of seconds. I'm chalking it up to a problem with the microphone because during the encore, he ended up throwing down the mic and getting a new one because it finally just seemed to die.

I know there's no way to satisfy such a large fanbase and play every song they want to hear but I really like how MAIDEN goes out on these studio album tours and promotes that current album instead of just playing 1 or 2 songs. Naturally this leads to me hearing some idiot in the crowd behind me screaming "Play some old stuff!", but that was a very small minority of the crowd I think.

The day after the show, videos taken by fans popped up on Youtube and I managed to find 12 of the 15 song set list represented. I can't wait to put them in order and relive the show again.

IRON MAIDEN hit all the right notes in the set list I believe, the new songs mostly mixing quite nicely with the classic material and providing a 2 hour soundtrack that taken as a whole won't soon be forgotten.

I've been riding the fan bandwagon for MAIDEN for more than 30 years and not one of those years has been a "wasted" one. The band is a standard bearer for all things heavy metal for a reason and their "The Book Of Souls" tour stop in Mansfield only served to both reinforce and enhance that standing.

Setlist:

• "If Eternity Should Fail"
• "Speed Of Light"
• "Wrathchild"
• "Children Of The Damned"
• "Death Or Glory"
• "The Red And The Black"
• "The Trooper"
• "Powerslave"
• "The Great Unknown"
• "The Book Of Souls"
• "Fear Of The Dark"
• "Iron Maiden"

• "The Number Of The Beast"
• "Blood Brothers"
• "Wasted Years"