Iron Maiden: En Vivo!

Iron Maiden have been the undisputed kings of metal since they hit big in the 1980s, and have enjoyed a lengthy and successful career that continues to attract more fans with every turning day, and play to sold out stadiums, arenas, and amphitheaters worldwide- all without the help of mainstream attention. And in 2010, the band embarked in a rehearsal leg for the Final Frontier Tour, only to return to the stage in 2011 for a full scale, cutting edge tour, playing to several countries in several countries worldwide! And En Vivo! is a depiction of one of these spectacular shows, which shows us that even after 36 years, Maiden still rule the music world with an iron fist!This blu-ray really does showcase Maiden at their best. Even more amazing show is that Maiden play to a sold out crowd of 50,000 (or so Bruce says) in a large stadium setting, with a setlist based on NEW material, with a few classics thrown in there for good measure. The fans go WILD with every tune and the band's energy is just unbelievable, considering how old they are.The band are in top shape, folks. Bruce brings back the mic stand for the first time since 1999, but even that doesn't stop him from giving it his all here. He still runs around the stage like a hyperactive 12 year old, and, which must have had men in the audience his age reminding themselves to hit the gym. And boy, he can hit the notes better than ever! The Talisman had me wowed, and was an indicator of the amazingness to come. Adrian improvises a bit here, and it sounds damn good. And Steve, Dave and Jan? Well, amazing as aways, I can always expect the best from my favourite band knowing I'm going to get nothing but the best :) and I'm beginning to think Nicko is an alien or something. That must be the only explanation for his being able to drum that inhumanly amazing!I was taken a bit aback when I found out that it was shot on 22 cameras, but have no worry here, the fast edits found on DOTR and RIR are nowhere to be found. Instead, we get split screens, and that manages to make the show feel more intimate as a result. We get to see Dave play a solo! And we get to see different things at once. None of the split screens are distracting and it feels like you can actually see everything for longer than 3 seconds.The video quality? Absolutely superb!!! No grain to be seen at all. Shot with 22 RED cameras, the cinematography looks incredible and you can see every pore on Bruce's face, every detail of the guitars, etc. You feel like you're there At the ery front. And the HD mix? Well, it's like you're at the barrier. Just incredible.The special features are very sparse. There's an 88 minute documentary called Behind The Beast, which I'm saving for the weekend. There's the Satellite 15... The Final Frontier video, there's a making of featurette, and the intro video for the tour.Simply put, this is a MUST for any Maiden fan. Maiden have never been this amazing, and I cannot wait to see them a third time on July 27th! Ive only 3 more words to say:UP THE IRONS!!!!!!

I am not going to spend too much time on the review of this Blu-ray, that has been done professionally and met with positive reaction (Metal Hammer 8/10, Kerrang! 4/5, Allmusic 3.5/5 and Classic Rock was the most critical with 6/10).That being said, personally, I liked the split screens. Every now and then it gets a little too much, but it really helps overall, as picture doesn't change every second or two like previous releases and it flows more naturally. I also enjoyed the sound, I think it's a little better than Flight 666, the base stands out more and gives more depth to the concert. Obviously the quality of the video is superb. Someone said here that it was filmed with RED cameras (which are top of the line cameras that were basically used for every single movie in the past few years). I don't know if that's 100% true, but nevertheless, it is in HD. The only thing about video is that sometimes Bruce's face is a little overexposed, obviously due to spotlights being aimed at him, but it's not too distracting.I saw them on this tour live and I was really looking forward to this release. I have seen their old stuff and although their 80s work is one of the most influential and highly acclaimed in the metal community, I really enjoy their new songs as well. What was very interesting is the documentary. It really gave an in-depth look into how everything is brought together. I probably liked it more than Flight 666 documentary.They are the same band as they were before, because they play for themselves. Going back to Live After Death, Bruce was always jumping like there is no tomorrow and Steve would run across the stage. Nicko was always a funny man out of all of them always making faces. Adrian and Dave, for the most part, were always standing next to each other on the left side of the stage. The only addition was Janick, which, again, didn't change either from their early 90 releases.I think the documentary really shows how they feel about what they do. They didn't fall apart years ago and blew their money off and then started reunion tours to get some quick cash. They've been around since 1975, and they are not going anywhere. They play more countries, bigger stadiums and their albums are hit after hit. Just look at their albums in the past 10 years, it's been steadily moving up in charts with their last release reaching nearly No.1 spot all over the globe.

You’ve got Flight 666. It is fantastic. “Why do I need another Maiden concert film?”Because there are a lot of songs on En Vivo! that aren’t on Flight 666 - including six that couldn’t have been on it since the album they’re on came out two years after the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour. And this is also fantastic, because unlike Flight 666 this is shot at one show.

Iron Maiden fans don't really care what someone might write here. They are fully aware of the fact that Iron Maiden is the greatest rock band in the world and already have this Blu-Ray as well as the CD (and the vinyl is on order).So I'm writing this for those who don't know as much about Iron Maiden. Watch this - as well as Flight 666 - and all will be revealed to you. Both films include excellent recent concert footage as well as superb behind the scenes documentary footage. Both movies are surprisingly engaging and are done with exceptional care and quality.Most who watch these movies will see band members they will actually like, admire, and relate to - regular (but extremely accomplished) guys in a not so regular profession.Even fans that have heard some of this material many times, own Flight 666, and have seen them live hundreds of times, will still marvel at the quality of En Vivo! And when they are finished with the concert footage they will still have the all new documentary footage to look forward to - footage that's worth the price all by itself.Truly, this is as good as it gets.