This is part 42 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!  And we still ain’t done!

IRON MAIDEN – Flight 666 (2009 CD, DVD)

In lieu of releasing a live album from the A Matter of Life and Death tour (where Maiden played all of the new album live front to back), they instead chose to document their Somewhere Back In Time tour with a movie, directed by Canada’s own Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage).   A live soundtrack was released not long after the film.

My buddy Peter and I got our tickets and got in line to see the movie the one and only time it played in town.  Turns out that Tom and Meat were there too.  Of course they were — who would want to miss this?

The film itself documents Maiden’s massive undertaking of the tour — resurrecting the Powerslave stage and a lot of the old songs.  More important than that, it chronicles the logistics of singer Bruce Dickinson doing all the piloting himself, aboard the private charter jet lovingly known as Ed Force One.  23 concerts, 5 continents, from Mumbai to Toronto.  Nobody had ever done that before.  Due to regulations about a pilot’s rest time between flights, this is something that will probably never happen again.

Regardless of historical nature of this tour, some people bitched and complained.  Another Maiden live album?

Yes, another Maiden live album, and this one with classics available on Live After Death and elsewhere.   It’s still relevant.

Ever since Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the band in 1999, I feel Maiden have never been stronger. The way the three guitars of Smith, Dave Murray, and Janick Gers have meshed is something to behold. I really enjoy listening to the three-guitar version of Maiden, and once again producer Kevin Shirley has provided a strong mix where you can hear every nuance of those three guitars. Not to mention Bruce’s vocals, Steve’s bass, and Nicko’s steppin’! In other words, this album sounds great.

As for the track listing itself, it sure is great hearing all 13 minutes of “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” once again. I never thought Maiden would ever play “Moonchild” or “The Clairvoyant” again either. “Powerslave”, “Wasted Years”, “Heaven Can Wait”…so many classics! As Steve Harris notes in the liners, some of these songs may never be played live again, so it’s great to have this document. Some fans will wish there were more old tunes such as “Flight Of Icarus” or “Running Free” instead of more common songs like “Fear Of The Dark”. Another tour, perhaps?

Worth mentioning, each song is taken from a different live gig from the Somewhere Back In Time tour. There’s some fade-in and fade-out between songs. Don’t let that bother you though.  The whole idea was to give fans the sense that, “Hey, I was there!”

When Flight 666 was released on DVD, it went to #1 in Canada and almost every other country it was released in.  The DVD is a great package, mixed in 5.1 by Kevin Shirley, but also including a hell of a bonus feature.  Just in case you wanted a straight Maiden live DVD without the songs being truncated by the documentary, it’s all here.  Every song from the movie can be viewed complete, in sequence, on the bonus DVD.

It would have been nice to see a new Eddie painting on the cover…but if you look closely he’s still there.

5/5 stars (both CD and DVD)