21 September seemed to be a popular day with all the booking agents as many bands were playing the same night in different venues scattered across town. But how could I say no to an evening giving a tribute to one of the most legendary heavy metal bands of the world: Iron Maiden. Maidenfest represents Iron Maiden as interpreted by various singers and has been organized since 2011.
The Coverslaves have been playing for over 10 years and this time a bunch of talented singers joined the ride: Taage Laiho (Kilpi), Kimmo Blom (Rakasta Joulua, Queen Musical, The Voice of Finland), Erkki Seppänen (Dreamtale, Kypck), Markus Lång (Excalion, Force Majeure), Sara Strömmer (Fear Of Domination) and Jarno Vitri (Mad Hatter’s Den).
The evening would be devoted to “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” as it’s its 30th anniversary this year. Not only the album would be played, but also a lot of songs from classics to songs that aren’t usually played live. All-in-all the evening lasted about three hours. Unfortunately, the security this time was being difficult, as a result, I didn’t get a chance to take any photographs. Nevertheless, life goes on, and instead, I got to enjoy the evening an awful lot.
The stage hosted some talented and very diverse singers who each honored Bruce Dickinson in every way possible. They were not exact copies, kept their own identities and that’s something that made the evening very enjoyable. The all had amazing stage presence and great voices that suited the music a lot. Each song picked out for every singer, made a lot of sense. All the tracks that passed by were very much appreciated by the audience. The evening was filled with joyous singing along, dancing, headbanging, whichever suited best.
Songs like “Dance Of Death”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Flight Of Icarus” and many more hits filled up the evening along the side of all the tracks from “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. There was a little something for every Iron Maiden fan out there, for me, it was “Paschendale”. I was extremely excited that I got to hear that track played live, as I haven’t personally ever experienced it live by Iron Maiden.
The event wasn’t exactly sold out, but the venue was pretty packed. Proving that cover bands and tribute nights are really popular. What drives people to go to these shows? Perhaps the same reason I had for attending Maidenfest. To gladly feel nostalgic about my fandom and all the classics being played by skillful musicians, with the same amount of energy. After all, these musicians most likely are just fans, like us, and do everything possible to assure that the band is being honored in the right way. And that is reason number one as to why Maidenfest was such a success. Hopefully, more of these nights will be organized in the future.
Links
https://www.maidenfest.fi
https://www.facebook.com/MaidenFest/
