horrible opening bands, stage performance was horrendous, that wasn't even singing, the iron maiden songs were completely murdered and his own songs are not enjoyable at all. No wonder Maiden replaced him!
Paul Di'anno was rocking on Thursday night at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana. This was my first show here and it was a very nice cozy place to play. Paul was Iron Maiden's first important singer. He is part of the Iron Maiden family. He was with the group from 1978 to 1981. He was the singer when they got noticed (signed record deal), when they first recorded their demo, and recorded their first and second albums. Paul also played a lot of the local pubs and clubs in England. Iron Maiden also played the Metal for Muthas tour, supported Kiss and Judas Priest in 1980. He also led Maiden on the Killers World Tour. The show was good...Paul sang well and the band Icarus Witch played well too. Paul kept the crowd into it and kept us entertained for two hours.
He played all the classics maiden songs he sounded dead on he dint miss a step
great show,paul gave it 100% dispite his 20+hour flight that day and even took the time to meet with the fans after the show. it was awesome hearing all the classic songs ,sancuary,phantom of the opera,killers ect.. along with some of his own songs. there were a few mistakes by the band ,but paul was great with the crowd and everyone had a great time.I would recommend this show to anyone who is a fan of heavy metal or iron maiden
I bought these tickets for my teenage son and his best friend. They said the show was awesome. They enjoy seeing shows at BB King Blues Club.
Great to see the Original singer of Iron Maiden singing the songs that launched the "Irons". he did not disappoint. Just as good as I remembered from almost thirty years ago .
Well. If you transported me to B.B. King's in Times Square tonight in the middle of this show, it would have taken me a minute to figure out what I was watching. A few minutes. Original Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno looks a bit different these days, and he sounds different too. By the way, thank you to my friend Neil for the photo. Of course, who doesn't look different and sound different than they did a quarter century ago! But Di'Anno wasn't trying to cover anything up. He admitted throughout the show that he's "too old for this shit" but he gave a spirited performance, backed by opening band Icarus Witch (which kind of gave the gig a heavy metal Crazy Heart vibe, if you get the reference). The band were more Queensryche than Iron Maiden in my opinion, but they did a good job backing Paul, who gave 110% - he even came back after a stage diver crashed into his leg, causing him a lot of obvious pain (and forcing him to stop "Phantom Of The Opera" - luckily, he started over when he stopped seeing stars). He reminded the audience that he's been making lots of music since leaving Maiden in '81 - he played a number of songs from his post-Maiden career. And the crowd were with him. But what everyone was there to hear, mostly, were the songs from the first album, 1980's classic Iron Maiden. The show was advertised as focusing on that album, and it did (as well as a few songs from the follow-up, 1981's also classic Killers). Paul's voice isn't as preserved as well as, say, Rob Halford's; he's more like Ozzy Osbourne: it's not about being technically perfect, it's about having a lot of heart, and Paul does. What struck me during the show was that he could have just as easily been in a punk band as a metal band: he seems as influenced by Johnny Rotten as by any hard rock singer. Some fans looked annoyed when he spit out the lyrics to "Murderers in The Rue Morgue" hardcore punk style. It's hard to imagine him staying with Maiden much longer than he did. I could maybe picture him singing the songs on Number Of The Beast, but after that, no way. Powerslave? No way. This dude would sooner kick your ass than sing "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner." So, anyway, the show: was it as great as Maiden were in the early '80s? I doubt it. But it was probably more satisfying to the fans of the old stuff than Maiden's recent tour, where they focused on material from their last decade. And much cheaper: tickets tonight were $15 and $20. And hearing "Running Free," "Remember Tomorrow," "Killers," "Murderers In The Rue Morgue" sung by the guy who first did the vocals for them all those years ago, it was worth the price. A bittersweet moment of the show came when Paul dedicated a song to original Maiden drummer Clive Burr, who now suffers from MS (Maiden have done fundraisers to raise money for him to help pay his medical bills). Apparently Clive isn't doing very well, but Paul talked fondly about always getting into trouble with with him and founding guitarist Dave Murray (who is still in the band). Perhaps more surprisingly, he talked about Maiden's bassist and boss, Steve Harris, saying that he doesn't hate Steve, and in fact they are still great friends. Read the rest of my review at my blog, No Expiration (you can Google it).
This show was awesome! I got to meet him just before the show and got a quick autograph from him.... The show itself was incredible! Song after song was so great hear the original songs sung by Paul Dianno himself. He was funny as hell too....making jokes with the crowd..... Icarus Witch made a great backing band for him as well playing note for note just like Iron Maiden.... If you have a chance...go see him.....you won't be disappointed.
Opening band Icarus Witch (also the backing band for Di'Anno sans the lead singer) was fantastic. Classic heavy metal in the vein of Queensryche and Fates Warning. Paul Di'Anno sounded fantasic from the opening of "Ides of March" to the cover of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell". Great sense of humor and engaged with the audience throughout the show. Vocals were amazing and the band was fantastic. Took me back to 1982. Highly recommended and would love to see him come to the Showcase Live again !!!
In a word - AWESOME. I've seen Dickinson do some of these songs many times, but to see and hear them sung by the original was great. His voice is still as powerful and he had a great command of the stage and audiance. Very comfortable chatting between songs, but put everything into every song he sang.
