Iron Maiden: Rock in Rio (2001)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Dean Karr
Edited by Steve Harris
Recorded at Rock in Rio, 19 January 2001

Features:

• Interviews with all band members
  
• ”A Day in the Life” docu, showing an average day on tour from the band’s perspective
  
• Ross Halfin photo gallery, with commentary by the photographer
  

Rating: NR, suitable for 13+

Anamorphic: Nope.

My advice: Own it if you ever hung “Eddie” on your bedroom wall or stitched him to your denim jacket.

At the close of their 2001 world tour in support of the Brave New World album, Iron Maiden played the Rock in Rio festival. In front of a crowd of a quarter-million rabid metal fans, and a live global television broadcast, Bruce Dickinson and company brought the proverbial house down. Sporting a two-hour set (impressive for a band getting a bit long in the tooth), their energy seems endless, and the music is as tight as the band has ever been.

The set-list leans is a veritable 19-song greatest hits collection covering the band’s career from their earliest albums to their latest. Classic favorites like “Run to the Hills” and “2 Minutes to Midnight” blend seamlessly with “Brave New World” and “Blood Brothers” from their most recent release. Iron Maiden is nothing if not consistent (at least with Dickinson out front), and this show really makes that plain.

The filming is spectacular, utilizing almost twenty cameras to capture the action, and then cut and edited together to provide a solid approximation of the concert experience for home viewers. Bassist Steve Harris served as editor for the footage, and knows better than anyone what is the essence of live Maiden, so the final product provides exactly that. The band pulled out all the stops for the show, as well, keeping the energy of the performance pegged out at the top of the gauge for a full two hours.

The bonus features are solid, and run to nearly an additional hour. The interviews are interesting, though fans of the band are likely familiar with their outlooks and opinions on basic issues of music. The “Day in the Life” documentary is quite good (also edited by band member Harris), and pretty much forever puts to bed the myth that rock stars work two hours a day for their paycheck. Who knew the life of a metal god could be so hectic, Mark Wahlberg not withstanding?

If you spent the 80s in a denim jacket, covered with patches, and had posters of grim reapers and axe-wielding zombies all over your bedroom, then this disc is for you. Even if you’ve since moved on to more “refined” musical tastes, this one’s worth checking out at least for the nostalgia. You might find that you still like the music more than you think. If you can’t stand high-speed guitar work and the fine vocalist art of “scream-and-sustain,” the set probably holds only minimal appeal.