The good news: if you couldn't make it to Fort Lauderdale last Thursday for the first Iron Maiden show in Florida since '95, frontman Bruce Dickinson swore up and down multiple times Maiden would return to our state in 2011.
The bad news: the classic Powerslave-era stage decor and the old-songs-only mantra of the Somewhere Back In Time tour are now a thing of the past ... again.
I waited half my life to see this band in person. Were you to peruse my apartment, you would find no less than three dozen Maiden releases. Multiple copies of studio albums due to varying reissue bonuses. Rare singles. Multiple live albums some on both CD and DVD. Even the ridiculous Eddie's Archive metallic casket of rarities. It's silly and excessive(ly awesome), I admit. Given the band's lengthy absence from Florida, I'm positive many others shared my situation. But would the British Heavy Metal legends live up to years of expectation?
Before the band could answer that question I had to sit through the worst case of rock 'n' roll nepotism since I saw The Poor open for AC/DC at what used to be the Thunderdome (Angus Young's nephew played drums): the rock star aspirations of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris' daughter.