Scream For Me Boston!

Time for another trip to Boston, this time to see Iron Maiden. I had not seen these guys live since I was 18, when they played in Maine for the Seventh Son tour back in '88 or '89. Since some kind of nostalgia had kicked in a couple of years ago, and I've been on a supplementing my punk rock/hardcore diet with some metal and hard rock, I was excited to go see them tour for their new album. My friend Jeff was a member of the Maiden Fan Club, so he was able to buy tickets before they went on sale to the public, getting third row tickets, center stage. We planned that it would be fun to head down to the show with our wives and spend some time in Boston before the show.

We ended up leaving a little later than expected, but we still had plenty of time to stop at Nuggets to do some record shopping. Having Meesh and Jen with us didn't afford us the luxury to really take our time and browse, but I was able to pick up a few things.

• Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute : Classic live record from Ozzy featuring Randy Rhodes on guitar. This thing was in great condition at $10.99, and had a gold promo stamp on the back. I've got a thing for that promo stamp...my copy of Bark at the Moon has one as well. Promo records are generally the first ones off the press, which means that the plates are brand new and gives the recording the very best sound. Plus, since the were never really made available to the public, they are more collectible.
• Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes : I was never a big fan of the Scorpions while growing up. While discussing live albums with Jeff, he mentioned that I should check out Tokyo Tapes if I was to come across it. Well here it is. The cover for this copy was a little beat up, but for $4.99 I figured that I could give it a try. I like it...it's not as commercial as the MTV era singles.
• Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love : Man, those old Alice Cooper records came in quality packaging...always something different. Billion Dollar Babies has the oversized billion dollar bill and trading cards, the album cover for School's Out folds out with legs for a school desk while the vinyl is wrapped in a pair of panties, and the Muscle of Love album comes packaged in a cardboard box, and it includes a book cover for the kids to use to cover their school books. Great imaginative packaging. Muscle of Love is near the end of the classic Alice Cooper line-up, and I picked this copy up for $6.99.

After shopping and grabbing dinner at Bertucci's, we head up to Boston University for the Maiden concert. Having seats on the floor at a rock show was kind of weak, but it did mean that I was able to stand with my wife and friends for the show. Iron Maiden threw us a curve ball, playing the entire new album, start to finish, and then ended the show with a small handful of classics like Fear of the Dark, 2 Minutes to Midnight, Iron Maiden, The Evil That Men Do, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. While I was disappointed to not hear more of the older songs, hearing the new album live did make the experience more memorable and special.