Yet another Iron Maiden live album/DVD. Ho hum, right? Well, not exactly. Iron Maiden: En Vivo! [Blu-ray]
As you might imagine from the title, this was recorded in Latin America. Recording the gig in Santiago, Chile, was yet another bit of Iron Maiden marketing genius. Latin American fans are notoriously fervent in their fandom and show it live. This oddles of camera production only needs smellovision to make it seem any more live. The band are a tight galloping musical machine as always and are as professional as you might expect.
The gig is awesome and it is a great thing to behold. However there is a wonderful little gem included in this release. Okay little is not the world. The 88-minute Behind the Beast documentary is an amazing insight into the logistics that is planning a world tour. Of course, being Maiden, they add an extra twist to the normal touring complications with a new version of "Ed Force One" (piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson). The logistics of making concert gear fit into the back end of the 757 is quite impressive. Both that and the band's set construction would make the most ardent jigsaw puzzle fan cringe. The sheer number of supplies needed for the world-wide tour is quite sobering despite the quantities of booze consumed over the course of the tour.
Not only that, there is a small documentary on the filming of the video for the album The Final Frontier called "Satellite 15" and the planning for it. Fans of Dr. Who will find the manner in which they filmed and made the video amusing while familiar. Of course you can buy the audio portion of the DVD in a 2 CD set as well.
Iron Maiden clearly understands that they have quite a few live DVDs out and it is not just a few songs of new material that will make it worth the purchase. Iron Maiden's reputation for producing product that is value for money remains intact.
Article comments
1 - Leo D'Angelico
amazing concert amazing band anyone who thinks iron maiden have lost it or bruce dickinson has lost his singing voice need to watch them over and over again before commenting rubbish awesome cant wait for another album genius song writers.