Iron Maiden
Fastway
August, 1983
New Haven Coliseum
Foiled again! Saxon, who I had been trying to see since they started touring the US in 1980, were supposed to be second on the bill, bit were inexpiably a no-show! They were supposed to open for Sabbath on the Mob Rules Tour in 1981, but Wrabit filled in, they were supposed to play a shit-hole in Bridgeport, but probably saw the place and hightailed it outta there! And they’ve gone and done it again with the maiden tour in 1983. Oh well! The newly formed Fastway with ex-Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke lead his band through 30 minutes of Zep-influenced rock. Their debut album was taking off in the US, so this was a very apt time for them to tour with a big name band. They played the majority of their debut with “Heft”, “Easy Livin”, and “Say what You Will” scoring big with the fans, though sadly there was no Motorhead on the set list.
Maiden was on their first arena tour in the US. “Piece of Mind” was riding high on the charts thanks to the success of “Number of the Beast.” I was never a fan of Bruce Dickinson after he joined Maiden. I much preferred him when he was lead vocalist in Samson. When Paul DiAnno left Maiden, I think he took that edge with him as well. In any event, much of “Killers” was left out in the cold in favor of most of the numbers from “Number of the Beast” and “Piece of Mind.” Of course, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Iron Maiden”, “Sanctuary”, and “Running Free” were aired from their debut. The one visual I remember was when gigantic Eddie walked onstage only to have Bruce perform a lobotomy on him! Good fun, but just not the same with DiAnno gone.