BLAZE BAYLEY – Bergen – Garage

Following Iron Maiden’s glorious and captivating performance at Koengen in Bergen on 28 June, another Iron Maiden-related event took place at Garage. Former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley was scheduled to perform some of the highlights and signature songs off the two albums that he was part of making, namely "The X Factor" (1995) and "Virtual XI" (1998). A tribute band named Maidenheads went on stage before Blaze and performed a bunch of Maiden tracks that have never or rarely been aired live, which is a pretty cool thing in my opinion. Hearing songs such as "Alexander the Great", "Flight of the Icarus" and "Bring Your Daughter…to the Slaughter" in a live setting was a lot of fun, and the band was pretty tight and received a good and enthusiastic response.

At 1:45 AM Blaze Bayley and his fellow band members took the scene and launched into "Lord of the Flies" and off we went. Things were off to a very good start and his voice was strong and booming. One of the highlights of the evening came next, more specifically "Judgement of Heaven". "Futureal", "Sign of the Cross", "Blood on the World’s Hands" and "Virus" all sounded great and heavy as fuck. "Sign of the Cross" in particular ruled. Up next were a handful of Iron Maiden classics: "Wasted Years", "The Evil That Men Do", "The Trooper", "The Clansman" and "Fear of the Dark". Two of my wife’s favorite songs by Iron Maiden are "The Trooper" and "Fear of the Dark", and as she rightly pointed out, they sounded awesome last night and Blaze sang them very well in our opinion. If you don’t believe us, you’re a dick! "The Clansman" always goes down well live in my opinion, and I could say the very same thing for "Man on the Edge", which came towards the end of the show and ruled beyond belief. The concert ended at exactly 3 AM and we basically all had to leave Garage by that time, but instead of going back to his dressing room Blaze told us that he would sign stuff and pose for photos outside the venue in the street. If that ain’t dedication then what is? He was totally cool and polite, and meeting and talking to him outside after the show was the perfect way to end a great evening.