Iron Maiden's goulish presence lights Bridgestone Arena ablaze

Dave Murray, Steve Harris, and Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden unleash a torrent of heavy metal at Bridgestone Arena.

There are no shortage of bands who try to turn their live show into a visual spectacle, but some know how to do it better than others. Realizing that pretty imagery can only go so far, British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden employ a laser like focus upon every aspect of their show, from the stage setup and pyro straight down to the setlist and onstage acrobatics. They pay homage to the rich history of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene from which they sprung, idolizing the street smart back alleyway British punk clad in black leather.  This is a stunning live event the likes of which only Maiden could pull off, designed to dazzle your senses on every level.

The theme for the Maiden England tour, which hit Nashville's Bridgestone Arena Thursday night, is based on their 1988 album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, a synth laden futuristic fantasy concept album touching on themes of evil, magic, and superstition. The back half of the stage was filled with platforms designed to look like icy glaciers, resembling the ones seen on the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album cover. The scene was complete with a ghoulish Eddie zombie peering down from the back wall.

Frontman Bruce Dickinson burst onto the glaciers clad in his long, flowing coattails for set opener "Moonchild," looking like the tour guide for a historic British battleground. The entire band put on a acrobatic and high energy performance, never lacking a sense of great showmanship. Guitarist Janick Gers kept throwing his leg up on the balustrade beside him while playing, while Dickinson dashed around atop the glaciers and twirled his mic stand into the air with a great sense of precision. He addressed the crowd early on, who was clearly hungry for their Maiden. The band hit Municipal Auditorium a handful of times on their 1980s tours, but their last Nashville area date took place at Starwood Amphitheater in 1991. He also stoked their anticipation for events to come later in the night. "Hopefully the building can survive," he kidded. "Nevermind. Could use a new roof anyway."

Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson tells it like it is.

Maiden gave fans plenty of reasons to bring the rafters down with the sheer power of their musicianship alone. The setlist was packed with plenty of short punchy jabs designed to get your body rocking. Turbo charged protest anthem "2 Minutes to Midnight" burst loud and clear from the amplifiers, while the slick and synth laden rocker "Can I Play with Madness" tells the story of a young man's encounter with a devious prophet. They delved deeper into their back catalog for "The Prisoner," a defiant and triumphant tune that was preceded by a clip from the television series of the same name.

However, the band's most impressive performances came on the longer numbers. Guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Gers showed off their stunning ability to syncopate their timing and actions around one another when they launched into the complex, gyrating rhythms of old school standard "Phantom of the Opera," while the closing coda of "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" featured dueling guitar harmony godly enough to make Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana snap their guitar strings in envy. Dickinson's vocals were powerful, booming, and almost always on point. Some of the high notes in "The Trooper" seemed to escape him, and some general wear was evident in his voice as the night wore on, but otherwise he was nothing short of stellar. His most impressive moment came when he let loose a low, ringing, haunting howl on heartfelt ballad "Fear of the Dark."

There was no lack of great visual moments either. Whether it was giant ghoulish sphinxes, demonic beasts in the background, or crazed zombie air pilots, there was always something to delight the eyes and ears. It was Dickinson himself, however, who delivered the most iconic moments of the night, triumphantly waving the U.K. flag during "The Trooper," and donning an aviator's helmet during the soaring power metal anthem "Aces High."

Bay Area thrash metal heroes Megadeth warmed the seat for Maiden, and put on a ravaging performance of their own. Dave Mustaine and crew brought plenty of headbanging and ripping solos, interspersed with video clips of Wayne's World characters referencing the band. They tore through a brisk nine song setlist in less than an hour, pausing only for Mustaine to briefly address the crowd before the final song, "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due." Always a politically charged songwriter, he took time to espouse his opposition to U.S. involvement in the Syrian situation. It was hard to hear what he said after that because some guy the row down from us started loudly bellowing about how Obama sucks penis. He also reached out to the home crowd by mentioning that he had briefly lived in Nashville.

The real show stealer, however, was guitarist Chris Broderick. He incinerated the airspace with jaw dropping solos on "Symphony of Destruction" and most notably on "Tornado of Souls," an ardent fan favorite just based on its guitar solo alone. The short set made it hard to feel like fans were getting the full Megadeth experience, but they made the best of the time they had. 

Chris Broderick and Dave Ellefson of Megadeth shred the night away.

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Megadeth - Th1rt3en review

Th1rt3en not a lucky number for Megadeth

Megadeth has been building up a head of steam over the past few years. United Abominations was a nice kick in the pants that served notice to all Dave Mustaine doubters. But 2009's Endgame delivered the band's biggest statement in over a decade. That album was a career revitalizer, packed full of aggressive energy and brimming with thrashy take no prisoners riffing that signaled a full fledged return to form for the Southern California metallers.

How do you follow that up?

Apparently not by sticking with what got you to that point in the first place. Th1rt3en vies for much simpler song structures and cuts away most of the excess riffing and intensity that made Endgame such a standout. Instead, Dave Mustaine is left to carry much of the load with his voice rather than his guitar, and the results are about what you'd expect.

The guitar solos are nice, for sure. The opener, Sudden Death, perhaps comes the closest to capturing Megadeth's signature thrashy rage. The lead single, "Public Enemy No. 1" has a nice lead in that recalls the carefree exuberance of 1980s heavy metal, coupled with a blistering solo that takes me back to the Peace Sells days. But only for a moment.

One major problem is that most of the song structures are very simple and formulaic, whereas Endgame had fewer qualms about mixing things up. Another issue is that Dave's vocals are really no longer up to par at this stage in the game. Mustaine's voice was widely considered the fly in the ointment on Endgame, but everybody was too busy paying attention to the instrumentation on that album to care.

His voice in general comes out very flat and lifeless, and when coupled with the safe and predicatble song structers it causes the album to feel flat and lifeless as well.

Lyrically, Megadeth continues with many of its conspiracy/anti-government themes, but it often comes across as more farfetched. On "Millenium of the Blind," Mustaine urges the American people to abandon U.S. leadership entirely, while "New World Order" treads on similar material we've heard Dave spout all too often before.

But perhaps the political soapbox suits Megadeth better, because the lyrics certainly don't get better when they tackle other subjects. "Fast Lane" feels like an old, cold retread of "1320" from the previous album, while "Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)" is a blantant attempt to cash in on the teenage angst/Hot Topic crowd.

"Wrecker" starts off with one of the best intro riffs on the album, but is quickly washed away by lyrics dealing with drama and realtionship issues. "Guns, Drugs, and Money" at least goes for a slightly different bent, telling of a doomed drug dealer who winds up in a heap of trobule after trying to execute a drug deal south of the border.

Th1rt3en isn't the worst album Megadeth has done but it does come across as extremely derivative and lackluster. Most of the best riffs are only found in the intros in most songs. There are some nice solos too,, but Megadeth seems to have forgotten one key thing.

Metal is all about attitude, which is one area where Endgame never faltered. Amidst all the riffs and the mayhem, there was always a cocky, fighting spirit that permeated that entire album. Th1rt3en, unfortunately, feels completely dead by comparison.

Score: 68/100