A few day before the gig I also found out there was a press conference and an autograph session in one of the clubs, and it being Sunday, I decided to go there as well. Traffic wasn't as light as I hoped, so I got there a bit late for most of the interviews, but still got a pic with both of the guy :) Don't really know what for, 'coz I'm not a celebrity hunter or anything. When after taking the pics and getting a few things signed I sat at a table to put everything away, one guy on the next table said he knew me from the FC forum :) And yet he never spoke to me there :) Well, not many Russians do.
The tickets for the gig said the start was at 4 pm, which surprised me a bit, but I was quite glad I'd be home early, 'coz the next day I had to get up early for work. Well, there were 4 local opening bands :D The first one played a couple of Maiden covers, along with other covers and their own stuff. The bassist kid seemed to be copying Steve shamelessly, though he was much more shy and didn't make any eye contact with the audience. The second band was a bit more original, and the guitarist had Steve's wristband. Now, I also was wearing Steve's wristband, the one I caught in St.Pete, just for the hell of it. He noticed it and got really excited, so much, that at the end of their set he went down from the stage, still playing his guitar, came up to me through all the crowd and put his wristband near mine (mine conveniently was on the left hand, while his on the right :)) Damn, that was funny! The third band had quite an interesting singer and a violin. The forth band simply sucked, so I even went out of the main room not to torture my senses :D
Then was Blaze's turn. And he sang quite good! If I'm honest, I never liked him much - thought he was good on the albums, but totally sucked live. Well, I didn't notice any problems with pitch or anything. Bit his stage presence still sucks :D
He made a too big deal of how much he was thankful to the fans who bought the tickets and cds, making it possible for him to come here. Also, it was a really small club, with no barrier in front of the quite low stage, and I was standing kinda too close to it :) Blaze came right up to the edge of it, and I didn't like the fact that his crotch was right on level with my eyes and less than a meter away :D Well, anyway, the set included 5 Maiden songs, including my fave Clansman, and it was great hearing it live, even though my fave Jan solo was completely messed up by the guitarist :D
After that Paul came on stage. Gawd, this man's a wreck! I read some reviews of the other gigs in Russia, so I knew that there's something wrong with his leg, so he hardly moves, but he still sang great. Well, not the case in Moscow. He seemed to have caught a cold (at least that's what he said), so his voice were far from good. For which he apologized several times during the gig ("my voice is shit but at least the music is good" - speaking about Maiden songs :)). But even with all that he still had a certain charisma on stage (which Blaze doesn't have at all, IMO). And you could see that it was very difficult for him to be there - he sweated like a pig, coughed a lot in between singing and grasped for air, and was holding on to the mic stand so he wouldn't fall. And yet he still sang, and joked. Gotta respect that, I think! The set was shortened in comparison with other gigs though, and after the last song he just limped backstage, not sure if he even said goodbye. But once again, singing along to The Prowler, Murders in the Rue Morgue and other classics was awesome!
Anyway, not a bad way to spend a Sunday!
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