1. Dance or Die - Friendly Fire (Miss Construction Remix)  Really cool and updated version of my favorite DoD song.
2. Oral - I need discipline  Cheezy female metal from the 80s. This one not so much metal but very charming.
3. Restricted Area - Bulldozer  Best Nitzer Ebb pastisch in a long time. Could be leftover from Showtime.
4. Armageddon Dildos - Stuck inside  From classic album Thats Armageddon from 91. Can't belivie I did'nt notice this one earlier. It rocks.
5. Escalator - Punk  Odd song that really combines punk and EBM, just brilliant.

I grew up with Maiden and they were a part of my teen-soundtrack. The first album I heard was Killers that came out 1981. It's kind of strange that I would see them live 30 years later, but thats exactly what happened on July 1 at Ullevi stadium. Me and 50.000 friends gathered hoping to hear our favorite songs and take a trip down memory lane.

But Iron Maiden is not looking back on this tour, they prefer to play the new material from the latest album Final Frontier. This is a dilemma for all older bands. When a a band is new you long for the next album, and love to hear the new songs live. In 1984 when Maiden released Powerslave I would have loved if they played every single song from that album on stage, but when I look at the setlist for The Final Frontier tour I sigh with disapointment. I just can't find the old songs and I can't find my favorites. (I'm a little unfair cause 8 songs out of 16 is older material - but only five of those are favorites of mine.) Why can't Maiden be more like say AC/DC? Play one song from the new album at the start of the show and then just line up the classics. Then again, I'm a musician myself, and I realise that it must be quit boring to become a coverband for your own material. Being a musician is also about being creative and wanting to look forward.

So I try very hard to fall in love with the new songs. I listen to the album over and over on my iPhone but it just won't stay with me. There are some good riffs and melodies, but they just won't stick. Maybee I will apreciate them at the concert, maybee it will be great hearing them live. At least I won't look like a living questionmark not knowing what songs they play.

It works at the beginning of the show. I enjoy The final frontier and El Dorado. The third song, 2 minutes to midnight, is an old favorite from the Powerslave album and I start to belive that this will be a great concert. But then something happens when they start to play Coming home and Dance to death. I can't maintain my enthusiasm for the new songs. I want to hear Wrathchild from Killers, or Die with your boots on from Piece of mind or The Prisoner from Number of the beast or... God damn it!

The trooper works as CPR and I'm alive again... but the energy soon fades. I know there will be a great finish with Number of the beast, Iron maiden, and Hallowed be thy name, but until then it's just a long winding road with a few great sites like The evil that men do. Sorry guys you lost me on the road... but I don't blame you. I'm just an old fart who want's to reminiscens my youth. Good luck at the Final Frontier, but  I will stay behind and look for now and the future elsewhere.

PS. Please make friends with Derek Riggs again and use his talent for album covers and t-shirts. Your latest covers and t-shirts look like shit in comparison.

Two cool CDs arrived in the mail from german shop POPoNaut. Discovered the store when I was searching for Restricted Areas new album Core Excess. Thought about ordering it directly from label Elektro Kommando, but the shipping cost were a bit high. 8€ for a CD!?

Well everything turned out allright when I found that POPoNAUT also had the CD (for 1€ cheaper) and much less shipping fees. I also ordered Dance or Dies latest album Nostradamnation.

Lots of cool music to listen to this week.

Side-Line Magazine has released a compilation of electronic music called Face the beat. 55 songs that you can download for free. Thanx Side-Line.

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