A couple of months ago, I won tickets to see Iron Maiden (with opening act Dream Theater) in Concord, Ca. Iron Maiden was the 1st real heavy metal concert I saw back in 1986 with my friend Dean. Back then, we drove to Oakland and was blown away…it spoiled me to all other concerts. No concert had lived up to that Maiden show (and i have seen a lot of concerts).
Needless to say, I was excited to see them. A few days ago, I found the set list and found out that they were playing 95% new stuff and almost no classics. That out a damper on my excitement, since musically, I am stuck between 1982 and 1994 and am a giant fan of there older stuff.
The morning of the concert, Julie and I drove the 2 hours to the Bay Area and got a room in Fairfield (my Mom was house/pet sitting for us). We stopped in Vacaville at the Outlet stores and Julie picked up a Coach wallet (Happy Father’s Day to her). We hung out and got dinner, when drove the 45 minutes to the outdoor amphitheater. One thing that hasn’t changed at Iron Maiden concerts was the loooong line of cars waiting to get into the venue. The last mile easily took us 30 minutes.
We had lawn seats (that means waaaay in the back…hey, they were free) and got in about 20 minutes before the opening band, Dream Theater, hit the stage. Dream Theater was good. I’m got a fan, and know only 1 song. They played well for an hour and was well-received by the crowd.
Iron maiden hit the stage and was awesome (from what I could see from my space shuttle-distant view). Yes, most of the set was new stuff that I had never heard, and honestly, ain’t a fan of. The did play some classic songs at he end of the set, and judging by the crowd reaction, the classics (Iron maiden, Number of the beast, Run to the Hills) were more loved than the new songs too. It was a two and a half hour set.
After the concert, we finally got out of the venue after waiting nearly as long as we did to get in. It was smooth sailing until we got to the I-680 toll bridge, then hit another 20-minute traffic jam of concert fans trying to get out o the Bay Area.
We got back to the motel room about midnight, and the next morning we was home just after 11am.
Here is a short, crappy clip from Number of the Beast to give you an idea of where out seats were:
