I'm back!!!!

Back from the UK - it was a great, once in a life time trip!!!!!!

I'd love to visit England one day; that's my family roots.



Welcome back joker.

wheres the pics?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but am I right in thinking you came to our side of the pond to catch the Maiden dates? If so, how were they? I'll be seeing them this weekend!

Regardless, hope you enjoyed the trip! Where abouts were you?

Thanks Toho!!!

PRD - I will post pics on FB later on!

Smindas wrote:

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but am I right in thinking you came to our side of the pond to catch the Maiden dates? If so, how were they? I'll be seeing them this weekend!

Regardless, hope you enjoyed the trip! Where abouts were you?

I sure did!!!!! Saw Maiden in Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham. Also went to London (to do the tourist things) and to Derby to hang out with some of the Maiden FC folks I know. Great trip!!!! Took me a few days to get used to driving on the other side of the road, but got the hang of it! The shows were AWESOME and you will have a blast!!!!!!!!! Are you going to the London shows?

oh great... i thought we had agreed to move the board before he got back....

Leo your dedication and love for Maiden is awesome.

Must be nice to do something like that (or to even afford it), I am envious. Welcome back!

Glad you had a great time! Welcome back!

exact33 wrote:

oh great... i thought we had agreed to move the board before he got back....

LOL!!!!

BTW - the next time someone says to me that UK audiences aren't as good as USA audiences, as the English would say, that's bollocks!!! I had "Standing" tickets and won First To The Barrier at 4 shows and got the extra wrists band to get in early at the last one. Pit was good, but not that rough except if you where in the middle. "Seated" tickets in the UK literally means seated - they STAY seated the whole show!!!!! That just seems wrong!!!!

There where a bunch of people doing every UK show and it was cool to see Bruce acknowledge it from the stage pointed at them (since the barrier had the same people on it every night!) and say "I saw you last night. And the show before that and the one before that - seen you at all the shows!"

Also cool that Dave Murray laying on the stage to hand a wrist band to a girl from Italy that had the same spot at the barrier in front of him at all the shows. She was about 5 ft tall and skinny!!!!! He kept throwing pics at her during the shows too. I was near her when I caught a Dave Murray pic (Sorry Ult, can't have it!!!!!)

It really was a once in a life time thing and was just awesome. It was cool to walk around London and see tons of teens wearing Maiden shirts (And they haven't played London yet!). Tons of teens at the shows!!! Ages seem to range from 8 to 70 at the concerts. Just wild to see!!!!!

Thx for the welcome backs!!!!!

Crowd-wise, Maiden gigs over here are just insane. Probably the most intense crowd to be in, it's absolutely exhausting. The general crush is worse than a Slayer gig, which is mental!

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip, joker! I will indeed be catching one of the London gigs, I'm really looking forward to it. Bit annoyed about the Final Frontier heavy set list (this will be my third time seeing Maiden and I still won't be seeing them play 'Run To The Hills', which is just a bit crazy as far as I'm concerned!), but Maiden live is always worthwhile.

Kick ass, meet Jokerman and Spec at the Tampa show,and it was great meeting those guys, and the show was awesome.

BTW Jokerman did the set list change, since the Tampa date?

manny wrote:

Kick ass, meet Jokerman and Spec at the Tampa show,and it was great meeting those guys, and the show was awesome.

BTW Jokerman did the set list change, since the Tampa date?

Nope - kept the same set list. It seems to work really well!

thejokeriv wrote:

manny wrote:

Kick ass, meet Jokerman and Spec at the Tampa show,and it was great meeting those guys, and the show was awesome.

BTW Jokerman did the set list change, since the Tampa date?

Nope - kept the same set list. It seems to work really well!

It was a killer set, nice mixture between classic Maiden and newer material.

Awesome!! What a blast it must have been.

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

If I had the money for it I would.

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

If I had the money for it I would.

Hell yeah, so would I!!

When my brother and I were teenagers we'd often fantasize about how cool it would be to buy a VW van (the quintessential "hippie bus") and drive across the country following Judas Priest, KISS or Metallica around, Deadhead style. Of course, it never got past the "pipe dream" stage, but what a fun pipe dream it was!!

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

If I had the money for it I would.

Hell yeah, so would I!!

When my brother and I were teenagers we'd often fantasize about how cool it would be to buy a VW van (the quintessential "hippie bus") and drive across the country following Judas Priest, KISS or Metallica around, Deadhead style. Of course, it never got past the "pipe dream" stage, but what a fun pipe dream it was!!

ah the dreams of youth before mortgage sets in!!

exact33 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

If I had the money for it I would.

Hell yeah, so would I!!

When my brother and I were teenagers we'd often fantasize about how cool it would be to buy a VW van (the quintessential "hippie bus") and drive across the country following Judas Priest, KISS or Metallica around, Deadhead style. Of course, it never got past the "pipe dream" stage, but what a fun pipe dream it was!!

ah the dreams of youth before mortgage sets in!!

Or reality in general because I've never had a mortgage (and remains to be seen if I ever will) and my dreams from youth have all been crushed.

Color me green with envy. Sounds like a trip of a lifetime. Welcome back !

Welcome back!

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Joker's like an Iron Maiden "Deadhead," he'll follow them anywhere.

If I had the money for it I would.

Hell yeah, so would I!!

When my brother and I were teenagers we'd often fantasize about how cool it would be to buy a VW van (the quintessential "hippie bus") and drive across the country following Judas Priest, KISS or Metallica around, Deadhead style. Of course, it never got past the "pipe dream" stage, but what a fun pipe dream it was!!

It is fun - you see a lot of the same people. Some of them started the night before the first UK gig by seeing Judas Priest, then Maiden and are going to all the UK shows.

It's great - I can combine my love of travel and Maiden!!! Now to start saving for the next tour - lol!!!!!!