The Maiden Fan Blog

Can Your Lead Singer Fly A Plane?

mikecorreia — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:22:00 -0400

Iron Maiden’s can.

My First Iron Maiden Dream of the Year

mikecorreia — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:57:00 -0400

Have you ever felt the future is the past - but you don’t know how?

I swear this has happened to me for almost every Iron Maiden concert I’ve gone to - but never this early. Last night I had my first pre-concert Iron Maiden dream. They all usually have the same theme - I missed the show.

So I guess it’s more like a nightmare.

This one was weird because I remember seeing some friends in the parking lot before the show, but none of them were wearing Maiden shirts and it made me feel self-conscious.

Then I remember leaving, with my wife, and I kept asking her when is the show starting. And she kept telling me it was all done. I had somehow slept or forgot the entire show. All the build up, all the anticipation - and it was all for nothing.

I woke up and had that initial fear that all of us have. The fear where we think about how horrible things are now because…Oh wait, that was all a dream.

I should’ve known it was a dream - no way my wife would go see Iron Maiden, unless Harry Connick Jr was opening for them.

So, we’ll see if any other dreams come up between now and showtime - I am sure they will.

But luckily, they’re only dreams….And not Infinite Dreams…..

I Can't Believe "The Number of The Beast" is 30 Years Old!

mikecorreia — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:16:00 -0400

I was only 5 years old when this album came out. I was more interested in the Dukes of Hazzard and E.T. at the time. It wasn’t until 7 years later that I became aware of this amazing record. My friend Bill (still keep in touch - he’s going to Maiden this summer) let me borrow his tape - he let me borrow a bunch so I could learn everything I could about Maiden.

I remember distinctly about this borrowed tape that I had it on my boom box while taking a bath before church one day (try to erase that image out of your head).

AND, I made my parents play it in the car on the way to church. My folks were always cool with whatever music I listened to and they even thought “Run to the Hills” was catchy - but still listening to a song where the chorus was “666” on the way to Saturday afternoon Mass - kinda weird right?

I didn’t own the tape until the last week of October, 1989. How do I remember this exactly? Well, it’s because on October 23, 1989 I broke the hell out of my elbow.

As you can see, I still bear the scars almost 23 years later. Sure having a 3 hour surgery on my arm sucked. Having screws put in, and later taken out sucked. Having to be awake when the stitches were taken out totally sucked, and still not being able to straighten that arm out sucks.

But - when you’re a kid and you hurt yourself there are some perks. First, it wasn’t bad missing a week of school. Second - I got nice gifts. The first one came from my parents - “Live After Death.”

The second, came from my grandparents, after asking my brother what tape to get me.

Yup, my Nana went into a record store at the Methuen Mall and bought me “The Number of the Beast”

That image is not my tape, but actually comes from an eBay auction.

We still joke about this from time to time, how the clerk at the store said, “This isn’t for you is it?”

So thinking about “The Number of the Beast” being 30 years old is amazing. Thinking about it being a part of my life for the past 23 years is incredible - and just thinking about all the memories that go along with it, well that just makes me smile.

Look What I Got In the Mail!

mikecorreia — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:15:05 -0400

Can Your Lead Singer Look This Classy?

mikecorreia — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:15:00 -0400

Iron Maiden’s can.

Happy Birthday Steve Harris

mikecorreia — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:39:36 -0400

The founder and bassist of Iron Maiden is 56 years young today. Happy Birthday ‘Arry!

Idol Maiden

mikecorreia — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:50:57 -0500

In case you’ve never seen this - it’s a guy from Swedish Idol in 2009 doing “Run to the Hills.” Maybe if American Idol had more people doing this kind of music it would be watchable.

Upcoming Tour Commercial

mikecorreia — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:36:00 -0500

How great is this!? Saw this commercial on ESPN over the weekend. Man it’s going to be a long 3+ months!

Section 13, Row F, Seats 31-33

mikecorreia — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:19:20 -0500

Well, I got my tickets! I will be seeing Iron Maiden for the 8th time this summer! As you can see from the seating chart - the tickets aren’t great, but I can’t complain. For the amount of money they cost, I’m just glad I wasn’t stuck out on the lawn.

My orignal plan was to get the best cheap seats possible - but that on the grass in the back. Great when I took the wife to James Taylor - not so much when you want to see Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper.

Years ago we (wife and I) saw the Mighty Mighty Bosstones there (Comcast Arena in Mansfield, MA) and the grass was all torn up and thrown around. I know that Maiden is much more respectable crowd, but still I’m glad I got a seat.

Last time (Somewhere Back in Time) we were closer, I think section 4, but the view of the stage was obstructed. This time we’ll be looking dead on so I am psyched.

I think this the section (or very close to) where we saw Maiden in Ozzfest ‘05. Could see everything fine so I have no complaints.

Long way from $48 4th row in Worceter though.

This will be the 4th time I’ve seen Iron Maiden at the Comcast Center (though I still call it Great Woods from time to time), and the venue is a great place for a summer show.

Now lets just hope the weather cooperates….

I Am Not A Number! I am a Free Man!

mikecorreia — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:20:00 -0500

Now that I’m only two days away from getting my tickets, and snowed in up in New Hampshire with only my cell phone’s 3G signal giving me enough Internet to write this post - I’ve been doing a lot of reading (comic books and Dave Mustaine’s autobiography) and have been thinking about the concert.

THE concert.

From everything I read, it looks like this summer’s show is going to be much like the “Maiden England” tour - which I owned a VHS of. Even the art for the tour (and this web site) is very reminiscent of the original.

So I am pretty excited to the show set list is probably going to be very similar this summer:

Moonchild*
The Evil That Men Do
The Prisoner*
Still Life*
Die with Your Boots On*
Infinite Dreams
Killers
Can I Play with Madness
Heaven Can Wait
Wasted Years
The Clairvoyant
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son*
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Iron Maiden

Of these songs, the ones I’ve marked are ones that I’ve never heard live before (at least I don’t remember hearing Seventh Son live) and it will be fantastic to hear all of them.

Moonchild because it’s the first Iron Maiden song to every play on my home stereo, since it opened “Seventh Son….”, my first TAPE. Seventh Son also because again it brings back that first week of discovering Maiden.

Still Life & Boots because I can remember listening to “Piece of Mind” in the car, with my parents, as they drive me and my brother to Worcester, MA to see my first concert - Iron Maiden and Anthrax back in 1991.

But there is one song. ONE SONG! One song above all that has held a special place in my heart since the first day I heard it. Seven times I’ve seen them and they’ve never played this song.

This one song my brother and I are hopefully going to go nuts for if/when they play it.

The Prisoner.

If you aren’t familiar with this song…No, you HAVE to be familiar with this song, based on the old TV show of the same title. Opening with audio from the actual show.

The moment we hear the opening (oh please play it!) will probably be the best part of an amazing show.

The drums! The energy! The CHORUS!!!

To me - this is an example of the perfect Iron Maiden song. Speed. Time changes. And a chorus that is so singable that I can’t wait to hear the thousands of people around me singing along with me.

If…..they play.

My fingers are crossed.

3 Days To Go!

mikecorreia — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:02:33 -0500

As I type this, I sit in a Starbucks in Tilton, NH, working (even though the WiFi is mighty slow). My wife is on school vacation this week (teacher, not student) so we’re up here at my in-laws house (while there in Floriday).

The snow is falling right now, even though in MA we’ve had barely anything all winter. Since I am up here, the closest Ticketmaster is in Concord, NH - a 20+ mile drive that I will happily be making on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning - when I will have my Iron Maiden tickets in my hand!

5 Days Until Tickets Go On Sale!

mikecorreia — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:25:00 -0500

5 days to go until I can get my hands on tickets to this Summer’s Iron Maiden show!

A Brave New World!

mikecorreia — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:12:00 -0500

Well, let me start off my simply saying one thing. UP THE IRONS!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you that know absolutely nothing about me - I used to host an Iron Maiden Podcast that I called….The Maiden Fan Podcast. By far it is the most successful blog/podcast I’ve ever done and I went ahead and screwed it up by not producing enough shows - and then not producing any shows.

Now, I live in an apartment where space is limited and I can’t really record late at night like I used to without bothering my wife.

But I can type.

And I do still love Iron Maiden.

So to podcast - is now a blog. If you’re interested, all the podcast episodes are still online - so fee free to check them out. I produced 10 episodes, with a couple little ones here/there but that was over a couple years. I did actually start producing an 11th episode, dedicated to “The Final Frontier” when that came out in 2010 - but I never got any further than the intro. I still am pretty proud as to how it came out so if you want to listen to it - here it is.

But alas, I came to the conclusion that the podcast is no more. So what is a 23 year fan of Iron Maiden left to do?

So that’s when I decided to switch this dead podcast over into a living/breathing blog. I find it much easier for me to create articles/posts when I don’t have to sit behind a microphone and say “Basically…” a dozen times per episode.

Basically…(wink wink) this blog is where I’m going to talk everything Maiden.

The biggest news of course is the new “Maiden England” tour we are getting this summer. Next Saturday I am driving to a Wal Mart to a local Ticketmaster to get tickets. I find that if I go through the web site, I get “okay” seats. The one time I went to a Ticketmaster broker, I got 4th row center stage - so I am optimistic.

I have one of those “smartphones” now so posting things will be a lot easier, and if you don’t hear enough from me here - make sure you follow me on twitter at @maidenfanblog. If you were following the old podcast account, you should automatically be following this one.

So look for a post from me on ticket day (and of course on concert day) and then I plan on doing a variety of posts (one idea I am stealing from a tweet sent to me from @IAmBPBurke). And even though there will be a variety of posts, there will really only be one topic.

Iron Maiden.

Up the Irons!

Goodbye Podcast! Hello Blog!

mikecorreia — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:50:00 -0500

I just don’t have the time to podcast anymore - but blogging about this band. The band I love. That I can do!

Please Follow @maidenfanblog on Twitter !

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Goodbye Podcast! Hello Blog!

Tonight - Paul Di'Anno!!!

mikecorreia — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:23:00 -0500

Tonight I am going to see original Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno in concert in Foxboro, MA at Showcase Live - part of Patriot Place!

Please Follow @MaidenPodcast on Twitter all day for my comments, updates, and pictures!

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Tonight - Paul Di’Anno!!!

Remember...Tomorrow!!!

mikecorreia — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:47:00 -0400

Can you believe it’s finally here. Today “The Final Frontier” was released in many places all over the world and TOMORROW it hits the USA. I know what I’m doing on my lunch break.

Please Follow @MaidenPodcast on Twitter all day for my comments and updates as I try to pretend to focus on work while really just putting all my focus on nothing but MAIDEN!

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Remember…Tomorrow!!!

Episode 10: Top Ten Songs I Wish I Could See Maiden Play Live

mikecorreia — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:31:00 -0400

In celebration of the ongoing Iron Maiden tour - a tour that sadly didn’t come to the Boston area - this episode is all about songs that I wish Maiden would play live someday (at a concert I am at of course…). I couldn’t decide on just 10, so there is an 11th, and a honorable mention for a song that I’ve only heard once and would love to hear again.

Please let comments and give me your list of 10 songs that you’d love to hear Maiden play live. And don’t forget to Follow @MaidenPodcast on Twitter.

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Episode 10: Top Ten Songs I Wish I Could See Maiden Play Live

Maiden Announces New Album Details - Gives Away Free Track!

mikecorreia — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:27:00 -0400

Iron Maiden announces that their new album, Final Frontier, will come out August 16th. Also they’re giving away the first single, El Dorado, for free on IronMaiden.com.

Mike talks about both of these huge pieces of Maiden news and talks about what he’s been up to.

Final Frontier Track List.

1. Satellite 15….The Final Frontier
2. El Dorado
3. Mother Of Mercy
4. Coming Home
5. The Alchemist
6. Isle Of Avalon
7. Starblind
8. The Talisman
9. The Man Who Would Be King
10. When The Wild Wind Blows

Direct Download
Maiden Announces New Album Details - Give Away Free Track!

Big Maiden Announcement Tomorrow!

mikecorreia — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Surprised to see me? Tomorrow is a big Maiden Announcement on IronMaiden.com so I could not pass up the chance to record SOMETHING!

I know it’s been over a year and I am a lazy bum, but I am really thinking about getting this thing back and running again!

Also, check me out at http://twitter.com/maidenpodcast

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Big Maiden Announcement Tomorrow!

Episode 09 : Another Email Show

mikecorreia — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This ninth episode is dedicated to your emails as I try to read and respond to them all and get completely caught up. I get through July 2008 and will keep working my way to present day - assuming I can catch it!

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Episode 09 : Another Email Show