The List: Iron Maiden

On Saturday, July 3rd, 1982, I was halfway through spending the weekend at my grandparents, while my parents were attending a concert at Rich Stadium, just outside of Buffalo, NY.  I was only 8, so I didn't really have awareness of exactly what they went to, but while watching the 6 o'clock news with my grandfather, they showed a clip of the concert, a few guys running around stage and a giant Frankenstein monster guy with them! I was already a fan of giant monster movies thanks to UHF television- Godzilla, War of the Gargantuan, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the like and I was TOTALLY onboard with what I saw on the news. "That's the concert your parents are at!" My grandfather exclaimed, kind of shocked. That was my first introduction to Iron Maiden and my parents were never that cool again.

By the time I was 12, I was a full-on heavy metal maniac. Iron Maiden were my favorite band with Metallica quickly closing in by the time I was 13. A month after my 13th birthday, Maiden played Buffalo and a few of my friends and some classmates went; my envy was off the charts, even if I didn't really think Somewhere in Time was as good as Powerslave. In 1988, my uncle to pledged to take me to see them on the "Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour" and boy was I was excited! The tour was for an album I actually love- I rode my bike (during easter break if I recall) to the store in the spring to buy it on cassette and it essentially didn't leave my Walkman until ...And Justice for All came out in the fall. Now, I SWEAR he told me the show was at the Niagara Falls Convention Center and that he had bought tickets and it got cancelled. I remember my friends talking about the show being cancelled but looking at online information about the tour and cancelled dates, the only NY shows I see that are listed as cancelled are Utica and Binghampton. Perhaps it was booked and canned so fast that there's no online record of it? I may also be confusing this with a David Lee Roth concert that was there in '88 that I desperately wanted to attend, but that show happened for sure. Regardless, I wasn't interested in going to the Rochester shows in '91 or '92 (this is an ongoing theme with Rochester) and didn't finally see Iron Maiden until February 1996- a very bleak time for them and metal in general. The venue only has a capacity of 2,500 and it was nowhere near full. Plus, Blaze Bailey was singing. A very strange and non-epic gig. 

Great tour, TERRIBLE video game.

In 1999, Bruce and Adrian returned to Maiden and a bunch of us crammed into a car and drove to Cleveland to witness the "Ed Hunter" tour and that was EVERYTHING we had hoped for. The set opened with the goddamned Churchill speech into Aces High and I've seen them 8 more times since. 

Not that it's been all gravy since 1999, I left pretty disappointed in 2012 on the "Maiden England" tour because Bruce was constantly being a total buzzkill BITCHING about the height of the venue stage and I didn't think they played especially well. Also, and a further bummer, though I've seen them a total of 10 times I had tickets to two shows (2017 "Book of Souls" and the first leg of the "Legacy of the Beast" in 2019) that I couldn't attend because of events at the college I used to work at. When I caught the post covid leg of "Legacy" they opened with three fucking boat anchors from Senjutsu- not exactly the legacy I signed up for. Regardless, Maiden are an exceptional live band on a level that is only rivaled by Metallica.

 This is the LIST of every song I've seen them perform at least once:

 

 S/T

Iron Maiden

Phantom of the Opera

Sanctuary

Prowler

Remember Tomorrow

Running Free

Killers

Wrathchild

Killers

Murders in the Rue Morgue

Another Life

Drifter

Number of the Beast

The Number of the Beast

Hallowed be Thy Name

Run to the Hills

The Prisoner

Piece of Mind

The Trooper

Die with your Boots On

Revelations

Where Eagles Dare

Flight of Icarus

Power Slave

Aces High

2 Minutes to Midnight

Powerslave

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Somewhere in Time

Heaven Can Wait

Wasted Years

Seventh Son

Moon Child

The Evil That Men Do

The Clairvoyant

Can I Play with Madness

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Fear of the Dark

Afraid to Shoot Strangers

Fear of the Dark

X Factor

Man on the Edge

Lord of the Flies

The Edge of Darkness

Fortunes of War

The Aftermath

Blood on the World’s Hands

Sign of the Cross

Virtual Xi

The Clansman

Futureal

Brave New World

The Wickerman

Ghost of the Navigator

Brave New World

The Mercenary

Dream of Mirrors

Blood Brothers

Dance of Death

Wildest Dreams

Senjutsu

Senjutsu

Stratego

The Writing on the Wall

The List: MOTÖRHEAD

Building off last week's posts of "list of songs I've seen live by my favorite bands" I'm happy to provide another List for you to envy or laugh at. Today, we delve into the list of Motorhead songs I've been lucky enough to see live.

In December 1988, my uncle asked me if I wanted to go see Motorhead in my hometown at the Riviera Theatre. I only really liked the song "Mean Machine" at that point and foolishly declined. in the 90's I finally saw Motorhead when I was given a free ticket (one of many) that the promoter was trying to get out there to get people into a vastly undersold show. I was not prepared for how INSANELY loud their set was going to be and I think my bones are still shaking well over 25 years later. Seriously, at one point I had to leave the room (Don't worry, I did go back in), and I rarely didn't bring ear plugs to a gig after.

That show would be the only time I saw Motorhead headline. Every show after, they were opening for some bigger metal band. I think I was invited by friends to make the trek to Rochester in 2003 to see them headline at the Penny Arcade, but seeing that set list, I only missed "Brave New World" off of Hammered and a cover of the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen" so, even though I DO wish that I had seen them more than 4 times, I think ultimately I made out well. The last time I saw Motorhead was in 2102 and they were GREAT, blowing Slayer and Anthrax off the stage. I saw that long Serving Motorhead guitarist (until Lemmy's death in 2015) Phil Campbell passed away on this past Friday the 13th, a true Bummer. Orgasmatron is my favorite Motorhead record (though it's neck and neck with On Parole) and damn those riffs will never ring out properly again with he, Lemmy and Wurzel gone. 

Here's the list:

Overkill: 

Overkill

Stay Clean

No Class

Damage Case

Metropolis 

Bomber:

Dead Men Tell No Tales 

Bomber

Over the Top (b side) 

Ace of Spades:

Ace of Spades

Shoot you in the Back

The Chase is Better Than the Catch

Another Perfect Day: 

Shine

 

No Remorse:

Killed by Death

Orgasmatron:

Doctor Rock

Orgasmatron

1916:

The One to Sing the Blues 

I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)

Going to Brazil

R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

Bastards:

Born to Raise Hell

Sacrifice:

Sacrifice

Over Your Shoulder

Overnight Sensation:

Civil War

Overnight Sensation 

Snake Bite Love:

Love For Sale

Take the Blame

We Are Motörhead:

We Are Motörhead 

Inferno:

Killers

In the Name of Tragedy

Kiss of Death:

Be My Baby

The World is Yours:

I Know How to Die

The List: Black Sabbath (and related)

Building off of yesterday's post, I thought I'd once again pounce on well-traveled ground in the blog: Black Sabbath. Not only Sabbath, but also what I've seen from the solo bands of two of their front men- Ozzy and Dio. I'm leaving off the time I saw Deep Purple- even though I like Born Again (and Purple for that matter), I feel like it is a VERY sperate thing and you know what I mean. Plus, Gillan kind of toed the line before the 9 year drop off before Dio's return with Dehumanizer. 

Now, I saw Ozzy's band in the late 80's first. Geezer was on bass and they pumped out a few Sabbath songs, including Sweet Leaf, which I didn't expect but it wasn't THE Black Sabbath. Also, when I previously wrote about these sets, I mistakenly credited Mike Bordin with playing one of the two Sabbath gigs, miraculously and by all accounts and internet provenance it was Bill Ward BOTH times behind the kit. I see I even posted the sets in that one. But let's stick to the program here- THE LIST:

Not to brag, but this is my complete double test press of We Sold Our Soul for Rock N Roll- a very important release for me

Black Sabbath:

 S/T:

Black Sabbath

N.I.B.

Sleeping Village

Paranoid:

War Pigs

Fairies Wear Boots

Iron Man

Paranoid

Electric Funeral

Master of Reality:

Into The Void

Children of the Grave

After Forever

Volume 4:

Snow Blind

Technical Ecstasy:

Dirty Women

Heaven and Hell:

Children of the Sea

Die Young 

Heaven and Hell

Neon Knights

The Mob Rules:

The Mob Rules

Sign of the Southern Cross

Falling off the Edge of the World

Dehumanizer:

I

Time Machine

Riff Jamming:

Symptom of the Universe/ Sweet Leaf (04)

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (05)

Ozzy Osbourne:

Blizzard of Ozz:

I Don’t Know

Suicide Solution

Crazy Train

Mr. Crowley

Goodbye to Romance

Diary of a Madman:

Flying High Again

Bark at the Moon:

Bark at the Moon

Ultimate Sin:

Shot in the Dark

No Rest for the Wicked:

Bloodbath in Paradise

Tattooed Dancer

Miracle Man

No More Tears:

I Don’t Want to Change the World

Road to Nowhere

Mama I’m Coming Home

Sabbath Songs:

Iron Man

Children of the Grave

Sweet Leaf

War Pigs

Paranoid

Dio :

Killing the Dragon 

The Last in Line

Stargazer (Rainbow)

Stand up and Shout

Rock and Roll

The Mob Rules (Sabbath)

Dream Evil

Rainbow in the Dark

Holy Diver

Heaven and Hell (Sabbath) 

The List: Danzig

March 2025 (My Photo)

So, something I've done for a while is keep a list of live songs I've seen from some of my favorite bands. I never really did this for the hardcore bands I've seen, as the vast majority of them, I saw while they were playing their material what is now (or even, then) considered classic. Also, I those bands were so accessible, that they just reside in a different place in my mind than the subject of this post (another one) about Danzig. 

I first saw Danzig in the 1990's (as documented elsewhere in this blog) for a current total of 13 times, which does not include the two great "Original" Misfits gigs or the (EXCELLENT) Samhain reunion in 1999. There was a (technically) 12-year dry spell from November 2010 (the 11th 'Zig gig) until May 2022(#12), though in that time, I saw those aforementioned Misfits gigs. Also, I had Tickets to a show in Sept 2017 at the Warfield, but it got moved due to illness to the same night as another gig (L7) and, as I had only seen L7 in 1992 once, I chose that. I should also mention that the L7 gig was over early and I hopped in my car and sped over to the Warfield, only to spent 25-30 minutes looking for parking and another 15 or so walking to the venue, just to arrive as the doors opened and the crowd was streaming out, thus missing my only chance to see the song Godless live. Bummer summer- Though excellent gigs in 2022 and 2025 with a few songs I'd never seen more than made up for that. I've included the time's Danzig did Samhain or Misfits songs

S/T:

Twist of Cain 

Not of This World

She Rides

Soul on Fire 

Am I Demon

Mother 

Evil Thing 

May 2022 (My Photo)

 Lucifuge:

Long Way Back From Hell

Snakes of Christ 

Killer Wolf

Tired of Being Alive 

I’m the One 

Her Black Wings 

Devil’s Plaything 

777

Blood and Tears

Girl

Pain in the World

How the Gods Kill:

How the Gods Kill

Dirty Black Summer 

Left Hand Black 

Heart of the Devil 

Do You Wear the Mark 

 

Thrall:

It’s Coming Down

March 2025 (My Photo)

 4p:

Brand New God

Going Down to Die

Until You Call on the Dark

Bringer of Death 

Blackacidevil:

Sacrifice

7th House

Blackacidevil 

Deep

Hint of Her Blood 

Hand of Doom (Black Sabbath) 

 

Satan’s Child:

Five Finger Crawl

Belly of the Beast 

Lilin 

Unspeakable 

Satan’s Child

13 

ILuciferi:

Black Mass

I Luciferi 

Angel Blake 

Kiss the Skull

Circle of Snakes:

Skincarver

Circle of Snakes 

1,000 Devils Reign 

Skull Forest

Black Angel, White Angel 

May 2022 (My Photo)

 

Deth Red Sabaoth:

Hammer of the Gods

Deth Red Moon

On a Wicked Night

Ju Ju Bone 

 

Black Hell Single:

Black Hell 

 

Misfits (1999)

Earth A.D.

 

Samhain (November 2006) 

Initium/Samhain

All Murder 

To Walk the Night 

 

Misfits (with Doyle 2005 and 2006) 

20 Eyes

Earth A.D.

Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight? 

We Are 138

Die, Die My Darling

Astro Zombies

Last Caress

Skulls 

Samhain reunion 1999

Initium/ Samhain

Black Dream

All Murder

He Who Cannot Be Named

Unholy Passion

All Hell

Misery Tomb

To Walk the Night

In My Grip

Mother of Mercy

Halloween II

November’s Fire

The Birthing 

The Author October 2021

“Original” Misfits 

Death Comes Ripping

I Turned into a Martian

Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?

Vampira

20 Eyes

Teenagers From Mars 

Children in Heat

Hybrid Moments 

London Dungeon 

Earth A.D. 

Green Hell

All Hell Breaks Loose

Come Back

Horror Business

Who Killed Marilyn?

Devillock

Hollywood Babylon

Die, Die My Darling

Astro Zombies

Skulls

Violent World

Some Kinda Hate

Last Caress

Where Eagles Dare

Bullet 

Night of the Living Dead

She

Attitude

Halloween 

We Are 138 

Danzig holding a straight flush 6/28/94