Heavy MTL 2008: Iron Maiden

Montreal, QC - EvilGentleman - Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 : goo

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We kicked off summer with a scream in Montreal this year.

The first annual Heavy MTL festival was held at Montreal's Parc Jean Drapeau this weekend. There were 22 different heavy metal bands playing in an open-air setting over the weekend, Staurday, June 21, and Sunday June 22. Parc Jean Drapeau is located on St. Helen's Island, the location of Expo 67 and the 1976 Olympics. We were between the Six Flags La Ronde amusement park and the Casino de Montreal, where the Expo 67 pavillions of Austria, Switzerland and Iran used to be.

There were dual stages set up, so that a band could play on one stage, while the crews prepare the other stage for the next act.

The main attraction at this concert was Britain's most spectacular export, the immortal Iron Maiden.

Saturday started off with numerous bands playing, which were Unexpect, Lauren Harris (the daughter of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris), Overkill, 3 Inches of Blood, Symphony X, Hatebreed, Hammerfall, Mastodon, Type O Negative, and Dethklok.

At 9:00, Iron Maiden took to the stage. Here is a bit of what I saw. Sorry for the blurry photos, but I am not a good enough photographer to do good concert photos with a cheap Fuji point-and-shoot while being jostled by beer-splashing drunken metalheads in the midst of the frenzy of some of the best metal in the business.

I was also doing some major headbanging of my own, hehe.

The crowd anxiously waits for Iron Maiden to take the stage.

The set reminds me of 1984's Powerslave tour, which was the only other time I got to see Iron Maiden. I caught the very first show of the North American leg of the tour, which was held in the Halifax Metro Centre. It was also the very first show ever played in North America where Iron Maiden was the headline act. I was 15 years old back then.

The big screen suspended between the stages.

The crowd was getting too dense, and I could barely move or take pictures, so I fought my way to the back, where it was a bit less insane. But at least I could see the show with my bare eyes now, and not just through my camera. I wonder how bad the shorter people there must have had it...

The music was awesome, and around 10:00, the fireworks of the Montreal Fireworks Festival began at the other end of the island. Most of the fans never even noticed, although during one of the waits for an encore, the cameras focused on the fireworks and put them on the big screen.

I was sad to see the show end (With Hallowed Be Thy Name), but it was wonderful while it lasted. But I had the next day to look forward to, with Death Boat, Your Favorite Enemies, Priestess, Warrant, Drowning Pool, Shadows Fall, Voivod, Anthrax, Three Days Grace, Disturbed and Motley Crue playing.

They were all great, too. Damn, I love this city in the summer.

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nic666: this show was fucking awesome!!!

SKYBOX: did anyone jeer/boo motley crue?

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