Live After Death

UME

After many years of anticipation the classic Live After Death video taken from Iron Maiden’s 1985 World Slavery tour at the Long Beach Arena in Southern California has been officially released on DVD. The performance which was shot during a four night stay to a sold out crowd is by far one of the most legendary live events to ever take place within the Metal realms. Bringing together such an elaborate stage production, the likes of which was virtually unheard of in those days, Iron Maiden managed to redefine the live experience with this massive undertaking. In addition the shoot marked their first ever live album of the same name. Thanks to the utilization of today’s superior technologies this masterpiece which was originally recorded using 35mm film has been improved to offer considerably greater quality in both the audio (5.1 Surround) and visual aspects of the bands performance. Seeing this famous concert again in its newly enhanced capacity brought back so many great memories for me from this golden era of Metal and once again made me glad to be a diehard Maiden fan through and through.

Whether it be the detailed stage design that included ridiculously authentic looking back drops, the colossal amount of lighting employed or the enormous mummified Eddie mascot that appears during the bands namesake song, this was an over the top concert production on every level. I find it interesting that many of the live DVD’s released today absolutely pale in comparison to the creative thought put into this creation. I suppose it is just another affirmation that the 80’s Metal era was and still is king. While I do find this performance video to be amazing in pretty much every capacity there are at lest a few minor things that have always bothered me about this concert the first of which is the fact that Bruce failed to hit all the high notes that we expected to hear. His constantly flailing arm was also extremely distracting but my biggest problem with this video is that I myself was not present during its filming. The bands 90 minute set included thirteen of the their most memorable songs from that period of time including, “2 Minutes To Midnight”, “The Trooper”, “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” (in its entirety), “Number of The Beast”, and “Run To The Hills”) among others subsequently immortalizing Iron Maiden in the hearts and minds of their fans once again. I go to bed at night with “Scream For Me Long Beach” ringing in my head.  

For those of you who like myself actually owned a copy of this concert event on VHS way back in the day there are a couple of added incentives for upgrading to the DVD. First if you are anything like me your VHS tape wore out a long time ago but if you happen to be someone who rarely played your copy (shame on you) there is now a second disc of bonus material included in this revamped package. The bonus disc includes The History of Iron Maiden Part II (Documentary), Behind the Iron Curtain (Documentary/concert footage), Rock In Rio ’85, ‘Ello Texas, a photo gallery and two promotional clips (“Aces High” and “2 Minutes To Midnight”). This DVD is an absolute must have for every Maiden fan bare none.