Sometimes when my friends and I sit around drinking beer we talk about concerts we’ve been to, past and present. Seeing original lineups, tours supporting legendary albums or having great fucking seats often brings about a reminiscing that can only be understood by true fans of heavy metal music.

Although I’m sure there will always be Greatful Dead, Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones fanatics around, the metal head can appreciate the importance of seeing metal bands of all generas and tours such as:

Slayer (Reign in Blood) opening for W.A.S.P (The Electric Circus) – Slayer’s stage set was two huge upside down crosses, the crowd shrunk so significantly after Slayer’s set that Blackie Lawless hit the stage and remarked “What the fuck just happened?”

Metallica (Master of Puppets) opening for OZZY (The Ultimate Sin) – Metallica was at the top of their game, Cliff Burton was still alive (RIP) and Jake E. Lee looked drunk and nearly fell off the stage.

DEATH (Leprosy) opening for Dark Angel (Leave Scars) – This was a small show at a hole in the wall called the Cubby Bear Lounge. Chuck Schuldiner is a legend. Rick Rozz drew a pentagram on my ticket stub.

Savatage (Hall of the Mountain King), Megadeth (So, Far, So Good, So What), DIO (Dream Evil) – It was Ronnie James Dio and we scored third row, need I say more?

If you are a fan of metal then you know the significance of seeing shows like these. I went to all of the above concerts and on July 5^th I saw another worthy of adding to this list, the legendary Alice Cooper opening for the timeless metal juggernaut Iron Maiden.

This concert was held at the beautiful First Midwest Bank Amphitheater, 19100 South Ridgeland Ave, Tinley Park IL. This is not the best place to see a concert if you are into superior sound quality or not having an unobstructed view but the venue is outdoors, the beer is ice cold and if you manage to score skybox seats you are in for a special evening.

Alice Cooper started things off and the man still kicks some serious ass. Alice has reinvented himself more times than a cat has lives and will forever be revered in the music world as a superb songwriter and outstanding solo artist.

Seeing Alice in the rare role of show opener made this a must see event for me. Alice probably hasn’t opened for anyone since the late 60s release Pretties for You, he boasts a back catalogue of 26 albums, the most recent being the 2011 release Welcome 2 My Nightmare; I have to admit I was more than just interested in hearing what he was going to play live.

Cooper has revamped the band once again this time with the beautiful Orianthi as his featured guitarist. She is the first female musician to join the Alice Cooper band.

The showman was also up to his old tricks wearing a costume of spider legs during the song “Black Widow”, displaying a crutch made of bones during the song “I’m Eighteen” or chopping his head off in a guillotine for the song “I Love the Dead”.

[Fan-filmed footage]

Alice still has an incredible voice and had no problem playing fan favorites like: “Feed my Frankenstein”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Billion Dollars Babies” and of course the classic summer anthem “School’s Out”.

On a final note, not having seen Alice live in a few years I forgot how amazing his stage mannerisms are. Seeing Alice’s snide arrogance as he strolled about waggling his cane was truly awesome. I hope these current performances spark some unknown talent waiting in the wings. We need more standout characters like Alice Cooper in metal.

Up next were the headliners Iron Maiden. What can be said about a group that has been so pivotal to the popularity of metal and who still continues to sell out stadiums across the world without radio airplay? The band has silently complied a discography of over 36 albums (15 Studio releases, 10 Live albums, 4 EPs and 7 Compilation releases)!

Maiden are truly worthy of all the praise and respect that has been heaped on them over the years. They are students to their art and continue to shine no matter what the current trend may be. Timeless is a word that only scratches the surface of their greatness.

Iron Maiden always puts on a fantastic show and July 5^th was no exception.

I prefer hearing Maiden play old stuff live because the classic songs just seem to connect with the audience on a level that is unseen in today’s music. Nearly everyone around me was head banging, fist pumping and singing along with the songs which brings a unity to the whole Maiden concert experience.

Maiden was not touring in support of an album so they played a set list that was full of classic tracks like: “Can I Play With Madness”, “2 Minutes to Midnight”, “The Trooper”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Fear of the Dark”, “Wasted Years”, “Aces High” and of course “Iron Maiden”.

[Fan-filmed footage]

On a side note I’ve really come to appreciate the addition of Janick Gers as the third guitarist of the group. I think it’s really cool how each guitarist Murray, Gers, and Smith all have opportunity to bring their unique sound via solos to Maiden’s music, the live renditions are truly awe-inspiring.

Accomplished bands with this kind of a history just don’t play together anymore which really makes this concert a must see event, I urge you to get your ass out this summer and check out this tour, you won’t be disappointed! \m/

[Fan-filmed footage]

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