The Iron Maidens
Date : 09/05/09
Place: Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet, Santa Fe Springs CA
Review By ~Aniruddh (Andrew) Bansal

The show kicked off at noon with the usual but ever so exciting Aces High. Two absolute gems in the form of Killers and Infinite Dreams followed. Then the instrumental Losfer Words led into the Powerslave title song where the vocalist Kirsten came out in a Bruce-style mask. Cross Eyed Mary might have come as a surprise to people who hadn't seen this band before, but I've seen them five times now and this is a regular feature in their set. I would say its nice to see an Iron Maiden B-side song making it to a tribute band's set. They closed out the first set with Hallowed Be Thy Name. Iron Maiden is my ultimate favorite band so I sang each and every word of all the songs, but this song is really special for me. It was the first Iron Maiden song I had heard a few years back and it was this song that introduced me to the amazing world of Maiden. I always enjoy the Maidens' version of it too.

The second set started with one of the fan favorites, The Trooper. This set had quite a few songs which Iron Maiden themselves don't play too often, songs like Die With Your Boots On, Prisoner and Alexander The Great. My favorite song of the set, and of the whole show was Phantom Of The Opera. This is one song which makes the neck muscles go wild and the guitar riffs and solos makes you want to sing along. We were singing the whole Latin American style 'O-O-O' to the solo at the end and I am pretty sure the Maidens enjoyed that too! Then they did a birthday celebration on stage for the drummer Linda McDonald. A bunch of friends and musicians from other bands came on stage and covered her with silly string. After all that was done, they closed the set with Run To The Hills.

The final set got going at 3.30 with the head-banging one-two punch of Ides of March and Wrathchild. After a couple of usual staples, they brought out Revelations and Transylvania. Then came the most epic Iron Maiden song, possibly the most epic metal song Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Kirsten did a great job on following Bruce's costumes on this one yet again. They closed out the show with Remember Tomorrow and Iron Maiden. People started moshing in this set which was a little surprising because at this place they don't allow moshing and crowd surfing, and there never is that kind of a crowd. One kid stage dived twice during the last song, and he was ejected.

Now a word on the performances. This is one band which sets an example and a benchmark on how to be a tribute band and how to do tribute gigs. Everything they do is authentically similar to Iron Maiden's live shows. The band is obviously talented to perform the songs and they also give a lot of attention to detail for the stage props, the different Eddies and the equipment. They put in a lot of effort to do these gigs and it clearly shows in their performance. Sara Marsh is one of the most amazing guitarists in terms of performance, expression and stage presence. Courtney does the Adrian riffs and solos quite effortlessly and doesn't even break a sweat. Wanda has one of the more important roles in this band because she has to deliver Steve Harris's bass lines which definitely has to be a hard thing to do. Kirsten is the perfect Bruce Dickinson. She is the most authentic tribute band singer I've ever seen. Great vocals, gets the crowd shouting whenever she wants, and does all the Bruce impressions. Needless to say, Linda is an awesome and really experienced drummer and she nails every note on that drum kit.

Seeing Iron Maiden songs live, singing along and head banging to them are the things that I enjoy more than anything else I do in life. So I would like to thank the Maidens for giving me a taste of that experience as often as once a month.

I look forward to the next time I see them perform.

Here are the full set lists in order

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