Iron Maiden

Rock In Rio

Maiden returns with a vengeance!

Review Score:

(8/10)
In the late nineties, after a decade of mediocrity with a questionable vocalist and guitarist, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the band! At long last, a reunion of the classic line-up had occured. Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, Dave Murray, Steve Harris, and Nicko McBrain proved they still had their music-making mastery with their 2000 studio album, Brave New World. And just a year later they got to play the famed Rock In Rio (that's Rio De Janiero in Brazil if you didn't know) festival! This live album, released a year after the performance, is what I will be reviewing here. Read on for pros and cons.

First of all, the pros. Maiden's sound quality, both the quality of the recording and the way they play on stage, has never been better live. It sounds way better than the horrendous nineties live albums. Plus, the tracklist mixes the band's new hits with old masterpieces, making for a varied, and for the most part, pleasing tracklist. We even get to hear Bruce doing lead vocals on The Sign Of The Cross and The Clansman, songs that originally featured Blaze Bayley, his short-lived replacement in the band. And, who could forget that killer version of Fear Of The Dark?

Now the cons. There is only one thing wrong with this album, and that's the tracklist. It's widely varied, but The Number Of The Beast and Brave New World are overemphasized. This may not sound like a big deal, but because of this, there are NO TRACKS FROM THE "SOMEWHERE IN TIME" ALBUM (one of their best!)

Despite my minor complaints with the tracklist, this is an excellent live album, and any Maiden fan would be doing himself/herself a favor buying this one.

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