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9 Agosto 1984, Varsavia, Polonia: dopo cinque album in studio culminati con l'uscita di "Powerslave", gli Iron Maiden iniziano il loro World Slavery Tour. Se stessimo parlando di un'epidemia i luoghi interessati dai concerti della band non avrebbero lasciato scampo all'umanità ed oggi nessuno starebbe qui a scrivere l'ennesimo pezzo su di loro. Trecentoventidue giorni, centoottantasette concerti, centomila miglia percorse, settemilasettecentosettantotto alberghi, miglilaia di corde, plettri e bacchette utilizzate, decine di migliaia di lattine di birra, bibite, succhi di arancia e pinte di latte ingerite. Un anno vissuto pericolosamente, al limite delle possibilità musicali umane e terminato a Los Angeles dopo aver toccato Giappone, Brasile, Hawaii e Australia.
Mettere sui solchi di un vinile le loro performance dal vivo fu in quell'anno quanto meno doveroso, visto che il gruppo non realizzerà più da quel momento in poi una sequenza così lunga di album al limite della perfezione, per quella che venne chiamata la nuova ondata di metallo pesante britannico. Qui parliamo solo della versione uscita per cd, che immortala brani dalle quattro serate tenute all'arena di Long Beach di Los Angeles, ma esiste anche la versione in doppio, con l'aggiunta di cinque brani suonati all'Hammersmith di Londra.
Dall'introduzione a "Aces High" con il discorso di Winston Churchill alla nazione britannica, passando per l'inno inglese di Chesterton che dà il via a "Revelations", fino ai versi recitati e cantati di "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" di Samuel Coleridge, in questo live ci sono tutti gli stilemi della loro radicata fisionomia anglosassone. Tutto è registrato in maniera perfetta se si considera l'anno di pubblicazione, con un grosso lavoro di rielaborazione apportato in fase di missaggio dall'esperto Martin Birch, cosa che al momento dell'ascolto ti fa quasi sembrare di essere all'interno di uno studio di registrazione invece che nella bolgia tipica di una loro serata. E questo può non essere un bene per un disco dal vivo e per chi ama poter riconoscere le sbavature dei propri idoli, anche solo per sentirli più umani e vicini a te che sei stato sotto quel palco o sogni di esserci.
Restano comunque nella mente tutte le dodici perle qui presenti, inni generazionali di milioni di esagitati ragazzini dipendenti dal Topexan, così come i fraseggi di chitarra di Murray e Smith che si inseguono senza soluzione di continuità ad esempio in un capolavoro come "The Trooper", ed i vocalizzi di Dickinson intento un attimo prima ad esortare la folla al grido di "...scream for me Long Beach!!!" all'attacco di "Flight of Icarus". Un live necessario, anche fin troppo perfetto quindi, ma che negli anni, assieme alla sua iconografica, stellare copertina, è trasceso dalla sua reale natura per diventare il manifesto di un'epoca e di un genere musicale.
Elenco tracce e testi
02 2 Minutes to Midnight (06:02)
Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose
And never out of season.
Blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
The blind men shout let the creatures out
We'll show the unbelievers,
The Napalm screams of human flames
Of a prime time Belsen feast...YEAH!
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat
and lick the gravy,
We oil the jaws of the war machine
and feed it with our babies.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
The body bags and little rags of children
torn in two,
And the jellied brains of those who remain
to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all
dance to their song,
To the tune of starving millions
to make a better kind of gun.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
Midnight... is all night...
Midnight... all night...
03 The Trooper (04:30)
You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back.
The bugle sounds and the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death.
The horse he sweats with fear we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall
We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We were meant to fight another day.
We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below.
And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan
04 Revelations (06:10)
"O God of Earth and Altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die,
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride."
(G. K. Chesterton; English Hymnal)
Just a babe in the black abyss
No reason for a place like this
The walls are cold and souls cry out in pain
An easy way for the blind to go
A clever path for the fools who know
The secret of the hanged man - the smile on his lips
The light of the blind - you'll see
The venom that tears my spine
The eyes of the Nile are opening - you'll see
She came to me with a serpents kiss
As the eye of the sun rose on her lips
Moonlight catches silver tears I cry
So we lay in the black embrace
And the seed is sown in a holy place
And I watched, and I waited for the dawn
The light of the blind - you'll see
The venom that tears my spine
The eyes of the Nile are opening - you'll see
Solo: Dave / Adrian
Bind all of us together
Ablaze with hope and free
No storm or heavy weather
Will rock the boat you'll see
The time has come to close your eyes
And still the wind and rain
For the one who will be king
Is the watcher in the ring
It is you
05 Flight of Icarus (03:40)
As the sun breaks, above the ground,
An old man stands on the hill,
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light
A birdsong shatters the still.
His eyes are a blaze,
See the madman in his gaze.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun.
Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears
Looks the old man in the eye
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd
In the name of God my father I'll fly.
His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream,
Now he knows his father betrayed
Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave.
Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly, touch the sun.
06 Rime of the Ancient Mariner (13:22)
Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner
See his eyes as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares
of the sea.
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and
the Mariner tells his tale.
Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name,
hoping good luck it brings.
And the ship sails on, back to the north
Through the fog and ice and
the albatross follows on
The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves part of the crime.
Sailing on and on and North across the sea
Sailing on and on and North 'til all is calm.
The albatross begins with its vengeance
A terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame the bad luck on the Mariner
About his neck, the dead bird is hung.
And the curse goes on and on and on at sea,
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me.
"Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and
all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink."
There, calls the Mariner,
there comes a ship over the line
But how can she sail with no wind
in her sails and no tide.
See...onward she comes
Onward she nears, out of the sun
See...she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there's two
Death and she life in Death,
they throw their dice for the crew
She wins the Mariner and he belongs to her now.
Then...crew one by one
They drop down dead, two hundred men
She...She, Life in Death,
She lets him live, her chosen one.
"One after one by the star dogged moon,
too quick for groan or sigh
each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
and cursed me with his eye
four times fifty living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan),
with heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one."
The curse it lives on in their eyes
The Mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he.
And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too
Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the rain.
Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them speak
and they're lifeless in their eyes.
And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.
Now the curse is finally lifted
And the Mariner sights his home
Spirits go from the long dead bodies
Form their own light and
the Mariner's left alone.
And then a boat came sailing towards him
It was a joy he could not believe
The pilots boat, his son and the hermit.
Penance of life will fall onto Him.
And the ship sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins.
The Mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell his tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made.
And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on.
07 Powerslave (07:34)
Into the Abyss I'll fall-the eye of Horus
Into the eyes of the night-watching me go
Green is the cat's eye that glows-
in this Temple
Enter the risen Osiris-risen again.
Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a God,
why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
all around is laid waste.
And in my last hour,
I'm a slave to the Power of Death.
When I was living this lie-Fear was my game
People would worship and fall-
drop to their knees.
So bring me the blood and red wine
for the one to succeed me,
for he is a man and a God-
and He will die too.
Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a God,
why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
all around is laid to waste.
And in my last hour,
I'm a slave to the Power of Death.
Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins,
Silent the terror that reigned-
marbled in stone.
A shell of a man God preserved-
a thousand ages,
But open the gates of my Hell-
I will strike from my grave.
Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a God,
why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
all around is laid waste.
And in my last hour,
I'm a slave to the Power of Death,
Slave to the Power of Death...
Slave to the Power of Death...
08 The Number of the Beast (04:34)
I left alone, my mind was blank.
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind.
What did I see, can I believe,
That what I saw that night was real
and not just fantasy.
Just what I saw, in my old dreams,
Were they reflections of my warped mind
staring back at me.
'Cause in my dreams, it's always there,
The evil face that twists my mind and brings
me to despair.
Yeah!!!
The night was black, was no use holding back,
'Cause I just had to see, was someone
watching me.
In the mist, dark figures move and twist,
Was all this for real, or just some kind of hell.
666 the Number of the Beast.
Hell and fire was spawned to be released.
Torches blazed and sacred chants were phrased,
As they start to cry, hands held to the sky.
In the night, the fires burning bright,
The ritual has begun, Satan's work is done.
666 the number of the beast.
Sacrifice is going on tonight.
This can't go on, I must inform the lord.
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream.
But I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes,
They seem to mesmerize...can't avoid their eyes,
666 the Number of the Beast.
666 the one for you and me.
I'm coming back, I will return,
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn.
I have the fire, I have the force.
I have the power to make my evil take it's course.
09 Hallowed Be Thy Name (07:29)
I'm waiting in my cold cell, when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
'Cause at 5 o'clock, they take me to the gallows pole
The sands of time for me are running low.
When the priest comes to read me the last rites,
I take a look through the bars at the last sights,
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me.
Can it be that there's some sort of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end, not some crazy dream?
Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming,
It's not easy to stop from screaming
But words escape me when I try to speak.
Tears fall but why am I crying,
After all I'm not afraid of dying.
Do not believe that there never is an end.
As the guards march me out to the courtyard,
Somebody cries from a cell God be with you.
If there's a God then why has he let me go?
As I walk my life drifts before me,
Though the end is near I'm not sorry.
Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away.
Mark my words believe my soul lives on
Don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to see the truth
When you know that your time is close at hand.
Maybe then you'll begin to understand,
Life down here is just a strange illusion
Hallowed Be Thy Name
10 Iron Maiden (04:20)
Won't you come into my room,
I wanna show you all my wares.
Want to see your blood,
Want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow
as it pours upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought,
Iron Maiden can't be sought.
Chorus:
Oh Well, wherever,
Wherever you are,
Iron Maiden's gonna get you,
No matter how far.
See the blood flow watching it shed
Up above my head.
Iron Maiden wants you for dead.
Won't you come into my room,
I wanna show you all my wares.
Want to see your blood,
Want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow
As it pours upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought,
Iron Maiden can't be sought.
11 Run to the Hills (03:54)
White man came across the sea,
He brought us pain and misery.
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed,
He took our game for his own need.
We fought him hard, we fought him well,
Out on the plains we gave him hell.
But many came, too much for Cree,
Oh will we ever be set free?
Riding through dustclouds and barren wastes,
Galloping hard on the plains.
Chasing the redskins back to their holes,
Fighting them at their own game.
Murder for freedom, a stab in the back.
Women and children and cowards attack.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
Soldier blue in the barren wastes,
Hunting and killing for game.
Raping the women and wasting the men,
The only good Indians are tame.
Selling them whisky and taking their gold,
Enslaving the young and destroying the old.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
(repeat to end)
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