Iron Maiden in Mexico City - review
Jerkoff
Posts: 28
Not really a review, but some random notes:
1. I’ve been to baseball games at Foro Sol stadium before, but never a concert. Fuckin’ HUGE once the outfield fence is taken out. The floor is about the size of six soccer fields, and probably holds as much or more as the stands. I’ve heard a few different numbers as to its capacity, and it’s agreed that it’s between 40 and 50 thousand. I’d guess that the stands were about 95% full, and maybe 70% of the huge floor space was packed tight. Bruce said it was one of the biggest shows they've ever played in Latin America.
2. As a result of the above, my seats fucking sucked. Really. I was a mile away. By far the worst seats I’ve ever had for any concert. Despite that, I tend to enjoy every show as if I were in the front row, so it wasn’t that big a deal. Plus, tickets were only $23 US.
3. The sound was terrible, just absolutely brutal. A combination of complete murkiness and extremely low volume. There were three times between songs in the early going that the crowd was chanting, “VO-LU-ME! VO-LU-ME!” (three syllables in Spanish). It was funny, because at one point, Bruce stopped in the middle of what he was saying to hear the chant, and he got a big smile on his face, probably because he had no idea what the crowd was chanting! I turned around to say something to the guy behind me, and I barely had to raise my voice to be heard. I can’t even describe how bad and how low the sound was without sounding like I’m exaggerating.
4. Lauren Harris opened the show. She played for 20-25 minutes, and her sound was even worse than Maiden’s turned out to be. Her guitarist came onstage and started playing, and honest to God, I couldn’t hear a thing until the drums and bass kicked in. The crowd was whistling (the Mexican equivalent of booing) a few times during her set; I don’t know if it was because of the poor sound, or they didn’t like the band, or both.
5. Concerts in Mexico (and probably most of Latin America) are far more enjoyable than in Canada or the U.S. The crowds sing every word, and are just much more into it in general. And the bands seem to genuinely appreciate it.
6. The bootleg merchandise in Mexico is outstanding. There are literally hundreds of vendors with tents set up outside the venue, selling everything you could think of for whatever band is playing. It’s like a giant Iron Maiden market. It’s all super cheap, they have their own unique designs (as opposed to just knock-offs of the official merch), and in general, the quality is very good.
7. Official merchandise is much cheaper than concerts in Canada and the U.S. Shirts were $200-$250 pesos (less than $20-$25 US), hats were $160 (less than $16). I read that the prices for the same stuff at the shows in Australia and Japan were equal to $40-$50 U.S. for shirts, and close to $40 for hats.
8. There was no pyro whatsoever. No fire, no explosions, no sparks of any kind. My only guess as to why is that it was fairly windy, so they could have been a hazard.
9. While I still think “Fear Of The Dark” is a very crappy song, I have to say, it was one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the show.
10. The order of the setlist was changed slightly from earlier shows.
11. Bruce donned a large sombrero for the last verse of "The Number Of The Beast", and kept it on for the next song ("Can I Play With Madness?")
12. As always, all the Mexican fans who I talked to were exceptionally friendly, especially when they ask me where I’m from, and I tell them Canada, not the U.S. (sorry, but it’s true).
13. This was my fourth time seeing Iron Maiden, but first since 1988 (first time ever was 1984).
14. THE SOUND FUCKING SUCKED.
A few pictures. I took both my cameras, but they wouldn’t let me in with my good one, so I didn’t bother taking any pictures of the actual show.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/03Resized-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/04Resized-1.jpg
(the round-ish shaped building in the background, to the right of the stands is Palacio de los Deportes, where Pearl Jam played in '03 and '05)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/05Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/06Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/07Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/09Resized-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/10Resized-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/11Resized-3.jpg
And a few videos. I took a few more, which are all on YouTube, but these three are really the only ones worth watching:
The aforementioned Iron Maiden "market" before the show (it was the same with Pearl Jam, and every other band):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-04GQgTk_UA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0OWcuVWx-Hc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qBx7055_X4E
1. I’ve been to baseball games at Foro Sol stadium before, but never a concert. Fuckin’ HUGE once the outfield fence is taken out. The floor is about the size of six soccer fields, and probably holds as much or more as the stands. I’ve heard a few different numbers as to its capacity, and it’s agreed that it’s between 40 and 50 thousand. I’d guess that the stands were about 95% full, and maybe 70% of the huge floor space was packed tight. Bruce said it was one of the biggest shows they've ever played in Latin America.
2. As a result of the above, my seats fucking sucked. Really. I was a mile away. By far the worst seats I’ve ever had for any concert. Despite that, I tend to enjoy every show as if I were in the front row, so it wasn’t that big a deal. Plus, tickets were only $23 US.
3. The sound was terrible, just absolutely brutal. A combination of complete murkiness and extremely low volume. There were three times between songs in the early going that the crowd was chanting, “VO-LU-ME! VO-LU-ME!” (three syllables in Spanish). It was funny, because at one point, Bruce stopped in the middle of what he was saying to hear the chant, and he got a big smile on his face, probably because he had no idea what the crowd was chanting! I turned around to say something to the guy behind me, and I barely had to raise my voice to be heard. I can’t even describe how bad and how low the sound was without sounding like I’m exaggerating.
4. Lauren Harris opened the show. She played for 20-25 minutes, and her sound was even worse than Maiden’s turned out to be. Her guitarist came onstage and started playing, and honest to God, I couldn’t hear a thing until the drums and bass kicked in. The crowd was whistling (the Mexican equivalent of booing) a few times during her set; I don’t know if it was because of the poor sound, or they didn’t like the band, or both.
5. Concerts in Mexico (and probably most of Latin America) are far more enjoyable than in Canada or the U.S. The crowds sing every word, and are just much more into it in general. And the bands seem to genuinely appreciate it.
6. The bootleg merchandise in Mexico is outstanding. There are literally hundreds of vendors with tents set up outside the venue, selling everything you could think of for whatever band is playing. It’s like a giant Iron Maiden market. It’s all super cheap, they have their own unique designs (as opposed to just knock-offs of the official merch), and in general, the quality is very good.
7. Official merchandise is much cheaper than concerts in Canada and the U.S. Shirts were $200-$250 pesos (less than $20-$25 US), hats were $160 (less than $16). I read that the prices for the same stuff at the shows in Australia and Japan were equal to $40-$50 U.S. for shirts, and close to $40 for hats.
8. There was no pyro whatsoever. No fire, no explosions, no sparks of any kind. My only guess as to why is that it was fairly windy, so they could have been a hazard.
9. While I still think “Fear Of The Dark” is a very crappy song, I have to say, it was one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the show.
10. The order of the setlist was changed slightly from earlier shows.
11. Bruce donned a large sombrero for the last verse of "The Number Of The Beast", and kept it on for the next song ("Can I Play With Madness?")
12. As always, all the Mexican fans who I talked to were exceptionally friendly, especially when they ask me where I’m from, and I tell them Canada, not the U.S. (sorry, but it’s true).
13. This was my fourth time seeing Iron Maiden, but first since 1988 (first time ever was 1984).
14. THE SOUND FUCKING SUCKED.
A few pictures. I took both my cameras, but they wouldn’t let me in with my good one, so I didn’t bother taking any pictures of the actual show.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/03Resized-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/04Resized-1.jpg
(the round-ish shaped building in the background, to the right of the stands is Palacio de los Deportes, where Pearl Jam played in '03 and '05)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/05Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/06Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/07Resized-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/09Resized-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/10Resized-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/danbowski/11Resized-3.jpg
And a few videos. I took a few more, which are all on YouTube, but these three are really the only ones worth watching:
The aforementioned Iron Maiden "market" before the show (it was the same with Pearl Jam, and every other band):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-04GQgTk_UA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0OWcuVWx-Hc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qBx7055_X4E
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
1. Aces High
2. Two Minutes To Midnight
3. Revelations
4. The Trooper
5. Wasted Years
6. The Number Of The Beast
7. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
8. Powerslave
9. Can I Play With Madness
10. Heaven Can Wait
11. Run To The Hills
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Iron Maiden
14. Moonchild
15. The Clairvoyant
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
Fuckin' "Moonchild"!
Looks like there was a nice sense of community.....reminds me of the marketplace outside of Manu Chao in Los Angeles a few years ago.
11/26/05 - Buenos Aires
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10/19/08 - Buenos Aires