By Dawn Hamilton
A steamy, hot summer night was the perfect backdrop for Ghost at Budweiser Stage in Toronto. If you don’t know Ghost or haven’t seen Ghost I highly suggest you run out and buy tickets for any of their shows. Their costumes can not be appreciated until you have seen them in person, the long flowing velvet cape, the make up and the masks are unbelievable. It is always amazing to see an opening band kick ass as much as Ghost did, nothing but a sea of arms in the air waving to the beat of the music appreciating all Papa Emeritus and the Nameless Ghouls had to offer. This is my 5th time seeing Ghost and I will continue to see them any chance I get. In the words of Papa Emeritus “Treat yourself tonight to a little something something….”
Iron Maiden hit the stage with all the pomp and circumstance we have come to know, expect, and love. Iron Maiden seems to have a new lease on life, as they owned every square inch of the stage and the fans roar of approval was something to hear. Bruce jumping around on stage was incredible, I know a few 18 year olds who I am pretty sure wouldn’t be able to keep up, his energy amazes me. I can safely say Iron Maiden puts a lot of bands to shame when it comes to their energy and it was infectious coming off the stage. Even before the very first note of “Doctor Doctor” right to the last note of “Wasted Years” the fans were bursting with excitement.
The song choices for the evening had something for everyone, and myself having never seen Maiden before (yes, I know, what’s wrong with me) I can confidently say I can’t wait until they come back. They did play a lot of songs from their 2015 cd “Book of Souls” such as “Death or Glory” and “The Red and the Black” but didn’t leave us oldtimers out and of course played “The Number Of The Beast”. This, as far as I can tell, was the show of the summer, the chatter on my social media feeds leading up to this was plentiful to say the least.
“The fantastic work of art behind us…”. Bruce speaking of the immaculate set design of the Mayan ruins and then wondered out loud “We don’t know what they (Mayans) argued about it could be a 3 minute egg…”. There wasn’t too much banter happening between the crowd and the band but tonight it seemed unneeded. But Bruce did touch on what is going on with the leaders of the world a little bit just before going into “Book Of Souls”. “People in Canada like to be aware of what’s going on in the world, you all probably know there is a range of fucking lunatics running the world…” and the fans whole heartedly agreed.
And last but not least what would an Iron Maiden concert be without Eddie! He was towering over the stage with grand splendour over looking the audience. Who would have thought an enormous, larger than life mascot would have a fan base all on his own?
And a quick shout out to Zeb, thanks for the info it was much appreciated.
Once again thanks to the crew, cause without them there is no show!
All photos and review done by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
