Iron Maiden: Flight 666 DVD Review

Published on June 28, 2009 by Christina Zawadiwsky   ·   No Comments

At the beginning of Universal Music’s June 9th DVD release of Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (beautifully produced, written and edited by Canadians Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn), a reporter in India asks, “It’s every guy’s dream to be a rock star, and you guys are living that dream. What is it like?” Although a band member jokingly retorts “We could tell you, but then we’d have to KILL you!”, this documentary more than answers the question! Amazingly, Iron Maiden decided to do what purportedly couldn’t be done, with little help from radio or TV. They took their 2008 Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 50,000 miles around the planet, playing 23 concerts on 5 continents in 45 days to almost 2 million fans! How? Lead singer Bruce Dickenson, a pilot himself (a fully qualified active Captain with Astraeus Airlines) had a 757 Boeing modified to carry his band and all their equipment and stage sets and a 70-person crew (this plane modification taking over a year in itself to accomplish), and then flew the plane all over the world to reach a new generation of Metalheads – in many instances both parent fans AND their kids came to enjoy the how – which was reminiscent of their 1985 World Slavery Tour.

Why was the plane called Flight 666? Well, they’re Satanists, aren’t they? Not at all – the plane was named after the official airways flight call, and the band contends that they’re not Satanists (although the Catholic Church has worried about it), just Britishers who play heavy metal! If I myself were going to categorize their songs (besides being highly energetic!), based on the lyrics alone I’d have to call them Celtic or English literary, down to a song called The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (with the albatross around his neck, et. al.!). And is this a band of carousers, womanizers, alcoholics and druggies? No again – at least according to this documentary – since drinking a lot would take away from the show(and they are very disciplined), on the very few days band members get some time off they play golf, attempt to play tennis with famous tennis stars, or view local world sites, like the pyramids of Mexico! Some bring along their children, wives, or entire families, and in some parts of the world they have to pay the price of fame, not being able to leave wherever they’re staying (in Chile they were met by a governmental militia who had decided that they wanted to start a revolution, when in fact they just wanted to play heavy metal to heavy metal enthusiasts!). Also a huge portion of their time seems to be spent pre-signing hand-out photos on buses and in hotel rooms!

In Tokyo, Japan hordes of young girls mob them and try to give them toys and wish that they were Steve Harris’s daughter (the bassist, who’s written many of the songs). In Australia they encounter a New Age minister who’s tattoed symbols of them all over his body, in the center of which he’s “trapped” Adrian Smith (one of Iron Maiden’s guitar players). And everywhere they go they are certainly a well-identifiable presence and phenomenon, always going on with the show despite pandemonium and exhaustion.

Constantly carrying the stress of flying their “own little magic carpet”, Bruce Dickinson, two of whose family members were in the RAF, is always humbled, saying that the sky and the weather control you, not vice-versa. The others say that he’s always had and will always have a perpetual flow of ideas that never slow down, no matter how old he gets. Fans feel that in this massive resurgence of attention to their work, Iron Maiden has not changed their spirit, their _expressionism or their roots. “Iron Maiden will NEVER disappear!” the fans cry out, as an entirely new young audience seems to be experiencing the same sense of release that their original audiences felt.

Bill Conte, their stage manager, says that when you’re on the road with Iron Maiden “there’s no time off, it’s 24-7.” Everyone goes from extreme to extreme to extreme, from the heat of Papua, New Guinea to throwing snowballs in Anchorage, Alaska, to recording at the Cave Studio in Malibu, California. Watching the audiences (the majority of which are male) there is a strong tribal sense, and an intense earthy feel of separateness finally blending with universality. In Costa Rica they have their biggest gig ever in front of a crowd of 27,000 in a VERY charged atmosphere. Fans interviewed before the show say many of them had even quit their jobs to travel and attend the concert, because it was “THE thing” in this, “the armpit of the world” (a third-world country).

And as Bruce Dickenson, the lead singer, says to the audience in their last gig in Toronto, “If you like our music, God bless you, and if you don’t like it, God bless you!”

Running Time: Film 112 minutes/Concert 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: June 9, 2009
The Band: Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, Nick McBrain, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith

DVD Review by Christina of Movie Room Reviews

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