Maiden Sofia - The transcending tale of excellence

The day started quite early for me at around 4am. Perhaps it was the anxiety that wouldn't let me sleep. Spent 6 hours of the morning at the college. No lunch, no sleep, all bleary I reached the venue with one of my friends at 5 in the evening. A football stadium. It was the same one where sabbath had played a few years back. Surprisingly they had upgraded the security this time so we payed minimal attention to the pissheads surrounding us.

The fans, majority of them dressed in black, had an impromptu metal karaoke right outside the gates as they waited for another hour. Finally the gates open. The security reminded me of airports with all that frisking (they made you taste any fluids/food items to be carried inside). The view inside was refreshing with that huge stage under the clear blue sky.After browsing through the rip-off merchandise outlets with those 50e maiden tees and 20 for a bloody coffee mug we settled on a couple of beers.

The front section seemed chock full already but to our delight we found that ours was another section which was right next to the stage. So, there we were finally claiming our spot in the fifth row from the front. Now starts the real ordeal. Wating for maiden to take stage. The sound check lasted for around 90 minutes and i was already starting to run out of steam.

The first band started at around 7 30. It was a local band by the name of 'ahat'. Pointless to even mention about the music. The lyrics went over my head. Vocals seemed out of place, keys were inaudible, the guitar player didnt deserve to have a JEM (*droool*). But no second thoughts that they were much better than the following act.

LAUREN HARRIS. WTF. Steve harris produced this? She is an absolute disgrace to her last name. She played about 4 songs, one of which they played twice and apologised later for that. Her irrtating shrill voice was like a rusty tenpenny nail on my eardums. The crowd started booing her after a couple of songs which instigated her to finally use her 'ace in the hole'. Yes, her boobs. She starts flaunting the cleavage like anything ,which, needless to say, got her all the attention of the crowd, hell, i was screaming for an encore later on. The guitar player reminded me of zack wylde, just the looks though. The snooze-fest went on for another half an hour.

It was 9, i was totally jaded. The roadie crew was out re-examining the setup, equipment and meanwhile they played a kickass cover of back in black which was a treat after the harmonical wankery of the previous acts. Excitement was building up. The stadium was packed. Chants of "Maiden Maiden" were sung with full force.

Silence for a jiffy. Then came that colossal thrust from the back simultanously with the starting riff of 'DIFFERENT WORLD'. We were squished, couldnt see a thing apart from the random butts in front of me as the wave had taken the form of a massive mosh. Half way through the song i came back to my senses and lost them again, for i was 20 feet away from Bruce Dickinson. OMFG. They were here. The crowd went apeshit as Bruce sings the chorus and we all sang along. A little push to the left and I could see Murray and Harris. Smith stood at the centre of the stage with Gers. Nicko was veiled behind his humongous drumkit. Finally the crowd settled a bit and got the full view and boy was i moved.

They go straight to the next 'THESE COLOURS DONT RUN'. Amazing amazing song. I adore the chorus. Bruce looked in full form. Full of energy, running all over the stage. And that voice is better than ever. He goes "How are ya sofeeaa???" ROOOAAAAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murray stood right in front with that trademark grin and kicksoff the classic WRATHCHILD. 'I m comin to get you oooooh yeah!!' It was fuckin madness. We sang along to the guitar solos.
I had forgotten about everything at that point. Nothing was beyond this.

Bruce Turns up with a red jacket and the union jack as the rest of them kick start 'THE TROOPER'. They played it faster than the album version like always. The song triggered the mosh mania once again and by this time I d started to enjoy it all. Nothing bothered me, I was completely engrossed in the music.

'REINCARNATION OF BENJAMIN BREEG' mellowed things down a bit and i finally managed to get some okayish photographs followed by 'FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF GOD'.

A voice on the PA goes "Woe to you, oh earth and sea...." which resulted in a deafening roar. 'NUMBER OF THE BEAST'. The first song I heard of the band was this one and that made it overwhelming. I was still making myself believe that it was actually happening.

Bruce said "...Hell and fire was spawned to be released" and damn right he was, 'FEAR OF THE DARK' was next. I was watching Rock in Rio and they played fotd. It was breathtaking to see everyone in the stadium singing along with the melody and i always thought what it would be like to be there. Take my word for it, its immense.

'RUN TO THE HILLS'. Played to perfection(so was every other song). Eddie was here!!!! Aboard a huge tank. Cameras out! After the blistering solo by Dave and Harris's 'machine gun bass' stunt the song was over and the lights were out. "Maiden Maiden!!!".

"scream for me sofia!"..."SCREAM FOR ME SOFIA!!!!!!!!!!"
I am getting goose bumps as i write this. 'IRON MAIDEN'. The wonderful song played live made it even better.

Maiden had left the stage. The chants went on. 5 minutes later they take positions and Bruce: "What time is it in sofia right now?" and some buffoons actually shouted the real time "Its 10:10 pm" lol. "TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT".

Just when i was hoping they do something from SSoaSS 'THE EVIL THAT MEN DO'. And on came the giant eddie again shooting people with a laser beam. Gers/Smith did an awesome solo.

What better way to end a grand show with the grandeur of 'HALLOWED BE THY NAME'. I was in fuckin heaven. By the time it all finished i was inundated with emotions. It was all so surreal.

It was the biggest and the best concert of life and i will cherish it forever. Every moment was magical, i lost every single ounce of energy at the end of it and it was all worth it. A horrible horrible day ended with one of the most beautiful evenings of all times.

At the end my friend very rightly asked me - "Dude maiden's gone. Now what happens?"

Of life, and all things 'Iron Maiden' - Prelude

One solitary day to pass by and i will have myself in front of the greatest band in the whole wide world - Iron Maiden. Three decades and fourteen albums later, they still remain the epitome of anything and everything 'heavy-metal'. Its the only band in the history to produce classics beelining one after the other for the past 32 years and havnt failed to amuse the metal audience and critics alike.

My introduction to this phenomenon was back when I was much more of a 'grunge rock kid' and Kurt Cobain was only prior to Jesus for me. One fine morning I saw these 5 haglike guys on TV playing a song - 'Hallowed be thy name'. And that did it for me i guess. I was so intrigued by the music. It was unlike anything I d ever heard. A bizzare energy, a mystique surrounded it all and little did i know that it was soon gonna be a part of the next 'metal' years of my life. I got trapped in the 'Iron Maiden' for good. I wanted to pick up the guitar and play that blistering solo but it only added to my misery (if only guitar playing was as simple as the unification theory). Everything went through a transition. As if a divine revelation. My view, towards everything surrounding me, was now radically different.

Tomorrow is the day zero. I will find myself right in front of the gods. I get to see them while they churn out the tunes I ve been attached to for years now. Calling it an emotional experience would be insulting and a spiritual experience would be unconvincing. What so ever it be, I am more than sure that it would be something that i d carry on for the rest of my time and an event to perpetuate in my thoughts and memories.

All set. Front Section tickets. Worn out maiden tee. Eight months long unkempt hair. Eight years of longing and obsession. Iron Maiden here I come!

UP THE IRONS!!!

Lokhandwaala debacle

Keeping it brief because a movie this pathetic does not deserve more than ten lines of text let alone watching it and potentially ruining your friday night and the rest of the weekend, as in my case. It has around a dozen actors and I use the term 'actors' loosely. About a few cops no wait, its about those gangsters.. errr.. about the ATS Dept.? encounter killings ? family crisis???baah i give up. Juxtapose all the above and throw in item numbers for good measure and you have a 'lokhandwala'.

The director/writer has basically tried to re-do an overdone subject in bollywood - The Mafia/Underworld. Its an absolute load of tripe. Watching vivek oberoi, tushar kapoor, and the rest of the sideys act made me cringe to the foetal position. The inclusion of bacchans was superflous. Sanjay Dutt is better off attending those court summons than trying to perform on screen with that deadpanned look.

One of the sequences is an atrocious ripoff from the Ed Norton starrer American History X and further proves that there is a paucity of imagination and creativity in an industry whose two basic elements are imagination and creativity.