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IRON MAIDEN, WITHIN TEMPTATION Live In Ottawa, Canada By Andrew Depedro, Ottawa Corespondent Tuesday, October 25, 2022 @ 10:24 AM
Flamethrowers!
The Legacy Of The Beast Tour hit up the outer regions of Ottawa on a brisk Saturday night with the intention of kickin’ it hard like a sensei. Damn near every square inch of available parking space outside of the Canadian Tire Center was a tailgate homage to the resounding classic auras of the NWOBHM’s halcyon days as the crowd lined up for tickets, merch, pre-concert pizza and beer, etc. At one point, I hadn’t entirely considered attending the show as it was a good 90 minute commute and my last foray into the CTC had been close to four years ago as my previous LYNYRD SKYNYRD, KISS, SLAYER and DEF LEPPARD concert attendances (and occasional reviews) will attest to; with COVID-19’s worst being over but cases still being active as well, I was a bit concerned with attending a major concert with thousands of other people similarly experiencing their newfound freedom after nearly 3 years of social restrictions. My city did become notoriously famous for the Freedom Convoy after all earlier this year so I’m surprised we haven’t been subjected to more global boycotts and whatnot.
Case in point would be the opening band who’d described themselves as being “from a tiny country called the Netherlands” who were otherwise known as WITHIN TEMPTATION (though their pre-show PA playing “Radar Love” by GOLDEN EARRING should’ve been enough of an obvious giveaway right there) and were the other co-headlining band on this tour for the East Coast dates (with Florida thrashers TRIVIUM being the other band handling the co-headlining slot on the West Coast). Opening their set with “The Reckoning” as vocalist Sharon Del Adel in her black lace hybrid Starlight meets Jade West styled miniskirt outfit strutted the stage alongside her bandmates Robert Westerholt (rhythm guitar), Jeroen van Veen (bass), Martijn Spierenburg (keyboards), Ruud Jolie (lead guitar), Stefan Helleblad (rhythm guitar) and Mike Coolen (drums), the group took the stage for a good hour or so as they covered their 7-album catalogue for the adoring masses while Del Adel poured her heart and soul into the songs’ history. Drawing inspiration from a group of fans in the GA section displaying “the biggest collection of rainbows” she’d ever seen (“Raise Your Banner”), mourning the recent loss of her father (“In The Middle Of The Night”) and from the joys of touring worldwide and realizing the fragility of our planet (“Mother Earth”), Del Adel and her talented band won over the masses with their brand of symphonic metal – often not an easy feat given the headlining competition. Yet, as *ahem* tempting as it would be to consider the co-headlining performance for WITHIN TEMPTATION to be the proverbial baptism by fire here, the Dutch seven-piece band proved that they were above being just another opening act clogging up the stage while enabling their newfound fanbase to engage in some windmilling in the crowd with some ‘Dam fine powerful Euro symphonic metal. I’ll even let the omission of “The Purge” and “Faster” from the setlist pass this time.
Once the overpowering image of the giant ninja warrior backdrop revealed itself following the musical interlude of UFO’s “Doctor Doctor”, headliners IRON MAIDEN took the stage, with their opening numbers coming from the band’s most recent – and seventeenth(!) – studio album titled Senjutsu, named after a Japanese term that describes tactics and strategy. And the bulk of the entire performance certainly relied on both that night, as the album’s two singles “Stratego” and “The Writing On The Wall” as well as frontman Bruce Dickinson’s powerful vocals and stage theatrical performance dominated the show. For those of us who admittedly planned
at the last minute into deciding to attend the show and got the cheapest tickets for the nosebleed section of the CTC, the two giant LED screens affixed on both sides of the stage gave everyone a decent view of the musical awesomeness of the rest of the band: Steve Harris (bass), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar), Janick Gers (guitar) and Nicko McBrain (drums), all delivering their top performance throughout the show. Dickinson himself had already been used to Ottawa’s crowds, having
And whether he was a ninja warrior, a swashbuckling swordsman or a WWII aviator, for the many 9,000+ faithful at the CTC that evening, Bruce was truly the Air Raid Siren living out the songs that the fans from several generations have grown to and continue to love.
UP THE IRONS!
Setlist:
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That said, on the subject of international relations, the self-described Air Raid Siren was obviously onto something when he said that if heavy metal bands ever ruled the world, the world overall would be a lot better off. It was a message that he didn’t even relay at the day’s show because he knew that so many people had already learned it.
Setlist:
stopped off here during his spoken-word tour back in March when he stopped at Algonquin College. At the CTC show, he saw the enthusiasm of his Ottawa audience go up hundredfold – especially amongst the dozens of Latin American fans who turned up at the front of the stage proudly displaying their nations’ flags. “I see a lot of countries’ flags up at the front tonight,” Dickinson commented before launching into “Blood Brothers” and collecting a Colombian flag for Nicko to display on his drumkit, “Mexico, Brazil, Chile…..New Jersey’s not a country.” The quest of the Garden State’s secret bid for distinct society status Quebec/Catalonia style officially proclaimed finished, the band resumed its set with two special homages to both the man who’d replaced Bruce Dickinson and the man whom Bruce Dickinson replaced: “The Clansman” from MAIDEN’s 90’s Blaze Bayley era (and possibly dedicated to the couple of New Jersey fans longing for their state’s independence earlier), and “Iron Maiden” from their early Paul Di’Anno period. Both numbers went down fine alongside the classic tracks from the band that its fans practically know by memory, including “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Fear Of The Dark”, “Number Of The Beast” (featuring Dickinson battling Eddie with a makeshift flamethrower he was wearing on his back while singing), “The Trooper”, “Run To The Hills” (Dickinson again duelling in battle with Eddie while showing off his fencing skills) and the closing number “Aces High” featuring an actual Spitfire fighter plane suspended from the venue’s ceiling and briefly circling the stage.
