OMG !!!! The best bestest concert till date

Last evening, one of the major icons of metal that I have grown up with came to town. I’m talking about none other than IRON MAIDEN. (hail!) And oh boy! This was a concert to remember. The last time they came, they were promoting the ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ album, so most of the songs were from that album. This time, it was a tour where they played all their old classics. And holy mother of god, it was awesome.

The stage wasn’t as awesome as last time and the stupid wuss police didn’t allow any pyro works, but still it was brilliant. The gang and I met up for lunch at ‘The Only Place’. Two steaks later (yeah…you heard me…two steaks) we’re all set to head out to this place called Dewars. I’m always a little skeptical about trying out new places when it comes to alcohol. But this place was different. Dewars is one of these ‘hole in the wall’ type antique places that has been catering to the alcohol needs of patrons from the 1920’s almost (carbon dating would give us a more precise figure) It still had all the old furniture, the old ceiling fans, display cabinets. And alcohol is dead cheap in this place. The only thing that has probably changed over the years are the tube lights. I can’t say I’ve fallen in love with this place….at least not in the way I love TGIF and Purple Haze! But it was quite an experience.

We decided to get a little tipsy and go for the show. After all, the only reason I like alcohol is that it makes to music sound so much better. Anyway, a few drinks down, we headed to the show. Quite obviously, we managed to sneak in a little whiskey and some cigarettes in our shoes. ( Not mine though, the sheer weight of me would have served no purpose) Once in, the atmosphere was AWESOME! It was like a carnival. Bungee Jumping, merchandise store, tattoo parlours and guess what? A counter that served more booze. That’s what we needed ….more!!! ( Am I the only one right now who thinks the alcohol problem got a little out of hand that evening?????)

We picked up some really neat glow sticks. I love those things now. They look so cool. Imagine this a crowd full of people with glow sticks and Maiden playing ‘Fear of the Dark’. Holy Lord. That was a sight. You’ve grown up seeing the Rio concert where it goes all dark and everyone in the crowd have their lighters out and waving in the air. This was close enough for me. We bumped into a couple of stoned chaps from Liverpool who were all excited to see one of the gang wearing a Beatles T-shirt. We were subjected to a 5 minute round of McCartney and Yoko bashing…followed by a session on John Lennon. It’s a good thing I was too excited to be at the concert, and was a little tipsy, lest I got sarcastic and start talking in riddles to those blokes. (It’s bad…sometimes…even I don’t understand me)

NOTE: One of the chaps came up to me friend. I shall take his name. The firang came up to Vinay and asked him if he had a smoke. Mr. Vinay offers him one. This guy reaches into his pocket, which we assume is to get his matches or something. But no! He pulled out a huge wad of cash which had all 100s and 500 rupee notes. He tells Vinay, “Take whatever this costs”. Mr. Vinay ( Pee Wee !!!!!) suddenly gets an attack of conscience and refuses to take anything. WHAT THE F…..????? His logic is we are all proper people. No Vinay, we are not proper. We are POOR! If a fool wants to part with his money for something as insignificant as a cigarette, it is our duty to help him. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!!! Sheeesh!!!! He could have taken 500 bucks at least. That would have helped us with regard to dinner later.

We got the most decent seats in the house. Just enough to see the whole stage. The timing was perfect. We were not subject to the pain that is Lauren Harris. Just in time for Maiden to start. Holy lord….the show starts. The adrenaline in me kicks in and goes into over drive. I’ve been screaming the lyrics to every song. I’m totally hoarse now. OMG! OMG ! OMG !!! (sounding like Rachel in 'Friends'….the pigeon scene) They played every song, Run to the hills, Trooper, Wasted Years….and then my two most favourite Maiden songs….. Fear of the Dark and Hallowed be thy name….that was it. I was so kicked, like a someone injected a a dose of adrenaline right into my heart. Fear of the Dark…AWESOME! I couldn’t have even dreamt up as to how awesome it was. I always get Goosebumps when I see the Rio show on the tube…but this time, my goose bumps had goose bumps which had more goose bumps. I can’t believe it. Even now, it feels like a dream. I love that song. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve actually got down on my knees and bowed. The fact that my jeans are quite faded is a clear indication. God!!! I managed to break one of the glow sticks and put the glow liquid thingy on my hand, which at the moment seemed so cool. Let’s just hope there wasn’t any radioactive material or stuff. ( Old man in me is now worried about the cancer and stuff…. the price he pays when youth takes over) Oh, I forgot to mention the excessive air guitaring…. It was too much. I do believe I’ve tweaked the RSI again. A full week of playing the galloping riff was not in vain. OMG! I’m still so awed. I cant believe I was there. Sheer adrenaline. I was all fine until they started playing, then everything became unbelievable. I was high for the rest of the evening. It was only half an hour after we sort of got out of the concert that normalcy was restored. I even sat out of the car screaming, “Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiden!!!!!!” at everyone while showing them the devils horns. This evening was SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALDOCIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

We were quite sick and tired of 'Empire', so the gang and I went to ‘Ice n spice’ again. How cool is that? Burgers…twice this week.

It’s now nearly 6 AM, I am having the most awesome hang over. My neck hurts thanks to all the head banging. The wrist hurts thanks to the air guitaring. My knee hurts thanks to all the bowing down and worshipping. My head hurts thanks to the alcohol and adrenaline. (More thanks to the adrenaline). My throat hurts thanks to all the screaming. I’m sounding like Darth Vader with a malfunctioning voice modulator. But all this pain, worth it. Totally worth it! Just praying that Metallica come next year.

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiden!!!! ( yours truly throws hands up in the air and starts humming Fear of the Dark….PS: It’s now 6 AM)