Dogwater Soup

So last night I ordered some of my favorite take-out and sat down to check out the DVD of the 2008 documentary of the first leg of Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere Back in Time World Tour”. Now, I’ve been a fan of IM for a long time. To be honest, and at the risk of really dating myself the first full album I ever purchased was 1983′s Piece of Mind on cassette. To my surprise, the songs that Maiden was playing on this recently documented tour were older songs from my days of being a huge fan. This DVD didn’t disappoint, not at all.

It amazes me, and simultaneously gives me some slight hope in the music industry to witness a band doing so well after all these years. What makes Iron Maiden so unique is they did it without the help of mainstream radio and media. Sure, once in awhile you’ll hear a Maiden song on some classic rock or metal show but really, back in the day,…no one had the balls. Now for them to not only decide to do another “worldwide” tour but to reinvent the wheel so to speak is one gutsy move. You see, they not only decided to tour the world in strategically planned stages, they did it in a customized 757 jet carrying all the gear and stage show, all the crew, the band and their families. Appropriately named “Ed Force One” this huge flying tour bus was often piloted by none other than lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who is in his own right, a licensed commercial pilot.

Maiden in front of their custom 757 jetliner.

Now you say sure, sure, big deal. Just another over the hill metal band trying to cash in on their older tunes. This was not the case. Name me one over the hill rock or metal band that has toured from Japan, India, to the USA, South America and Toronto while playing some shows that topped out at 27,000 people. Yeah, didn’t think so.

Bruce Dickinson’s reasoning on the decision to play older material was not to insure the tour was a successful cash grab but an incredibly smart move. Iron Maiden has realized that the longer the band has existed, they’ve been drawing in a younger and younger audience. This was the bands chance to play songs that these people have never had a chance to see played live. Obviously, while pointing to the sheer longevity that IM has had over the years one would think this band knows what it’s fans want and is coming up with some pretty damn unique ways to get the job done.

The DVD rocks and with the help of Canadian documentary film maker, Sam Dunn ( Metal: a Headbangers Journey and Global Metal) capturing some funny moments and incredible footage of behind the scenes and the live shows this is a must have for any true IM fan.

If you’re at all a music fan I recommend that you check out this DVD. What a kick ass ride these guys have been on. and this was just another mile in the story.
Long Live Eddie!!

The Bar has now been set!

Back in March I wanted to try and catch the Foo Fighters show here in Vancouver. I missed out on getting tickets and was choked. Shortly after that tickets went on sale for a show in Seattle. I was on it like a fly to foo and last night I was able to see a band I’ve waited a long time to see.

To start the night off, we got there just as the first band went on and what a surprise. To my amazement it was another band I also enjoy, Seattle’s Minus The Bear. After a short but well delivered set there was the standard quick change-over and Supergrass came on. These boys from Oxford came to rock as well and hammered out some straight-up Rock”n” Roll to ramp up to what will for a long time be the best show I’ve seen.

The Foo Fighters have now secured a spot in my top three bands. Led Zeppelin, The Police and Now the Foos. Although I will say this. I never got to see Zeppelin live, I saw the first two Police reunion shows and as far as live shows go, The Foos are now at the top of my list.

New bands, Up and coming bands, old bands that need something new to think about, take note of the next part. Better yet, go see the Foo’s show when it hits your town. The show last night blew my mind, here’s why.

The Foo Fighters came out blazing, playing hit after rock hit. The band was incredible as expected and Dave was all over the stage and up and down his “ego” ramp which spanned the length of the floor. After about 45 mins, (which lately seems about the half way point of any show) Dave Grohl takes a break to say “Hello”. He asks how everyone is, and in his genuine comedic persona makes everyone glad that they’re there (as if we weren’t already). As he talks about the show he states that they are “just getting started”. Yes, that’s correct. Where most bands are launching into their last four or five songs the Foo Fighters are just getting started. As Dave put it, “There’s no hour and half bullshit going on here tonight”.

So with that in mind the band plays a few more rock numbers and slows things down. This is when, out of the blue a second circular stage complete with needed musical gear lowers from the rafters of the Key Arena and settles snugly at the end of the “ego ramp”. The “shitty seats” as Dave put it, just became the good seats for next 45 minutes worth of semi-acoustic Foo Fighter hits. Now I say semi-acoustic only because Dave played an acoustic guitar. The fact is, the whole “Skin & Bones” band was on this stage. All the Foos plus a keyboardist, violinist, and percussionist.

After playing the acoustic portion of the show and making their way back to the main stage and kicking some more ass the main part of the show came to a close with “Aurora”. After a short break the stage video screens light up with a handy-cam shot of the nights set list from somewhere backstage, then pans up to Dave’s crazy mug in all the glory that is night vision. He entices the crowd by eluding to how many songs they should do for an encore by holding one, two, then getting to five fingers. The band comes back on and finishes off with more songs and stories by Dave. They didn’t come back, play three songs as fast as they could and leave the stage like so many bands do but actually enjoyed their encore, embracing it as another chance to interact with their fans. They finished the night off with one of my favorites, “Best of You”. My hat goes off to any guy that can sing for three hours then step up and finish the night off with a song that requires you to scream your fucking lungs out.

The Foo Fighters are in my top three for three reasons. They write from the gut, they play from the heart and Dave Grohl sings with every ounce of his being. He is a true musician and a true performer, end of story.

There once was a boy who long ago used to to listen to the radio, a small portable transistor radio with an antennea and all, that ran on a single 9 volt battery. He used to listen to it often but usually at night while forced to “go to sleep” he’d hide it under his pillow and listen quietly to the songs that would play through the feathers.

As time went on and he grew older, his parents graciously bought him a small beat-up drum kit in which he would learn to play, playing along to many songs from many bands but always coming back to a certain band for a challenge and inspiration. As this boy grew up, heading into juniour highschool The Police became the underlying soundtrack to his existance, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” still sends him back to his first crush on a girl, (Chrissy Bohmer was beautiful and never did show any interest in him). As time went on and the boy was at the age to go to concerts The Police had called it quits as a band and there was no chance for him to see them live.

As life went on and drumming became the forefront of his plans The Police and especially Stewart Copeland were always there to inspire and conspire within his mind. Collaborating with the likes of Zeppelin and the late great John Bonham to help this boy develop his own style of drumming (if you can call it that).

The boy grew into a man (okay almost) and over the years has had a little taste of the golden apple but as life moves on priorities change and this boy is presently doing other things other than drumming.

On the 27th and 30th of May somewhere in GM Place here in Vancouver there will be a small boy within a man with the biggest fucking smile on his face that you’ve ever seen. As The Police start off they’re reunion tour after 23 years of waiting there will be a rush of memories as this boys soundtrack starts to rewind. From highschool memories to drum chops he wished he could pull off there will be a solid constant in that every song will have it’s own place in this boy’s heart and mind. One thing you can be as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow is that when The Police break into “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, well….you get the picture.