Review by Hugh Spence for MPM
Well this is a night (day) I’ve been looking forward to long before it was even announced that Blaze Bayley would be coming back to Ireland, back when he announced that he was going to tour for the 25th anniversary of Silicon Messiah I was delighted, then I spent months checking social media every day hoping he’d do an Irish tour for the album, along with dropping some friendly hints on his Facebook page, then the day finally came last September that the tour was finally happening thanks to SD Entertainment. The reason this meant so much to me is because Silicon Messiah is one of my favourite albums of all time, back when I was younger and getting out of my Nu-Metal phase I was on a voyage of discovery to find different genres of metal, a good friend of mine and to the Irish metal community, Big John Hegarty, gave me the album and I instantly fell in love with it, It spoke to me in ways I hadn’t experienced before and it helped me understand who I was too.
Anyway, that’s enough of the back story on why this gig means so much to me, on to the day of the gig, Belfast is the last date on the Irish tour which has been a huge success for the band having played Dublin, Limerick and Drogheda already this week, the unique thing about this gig in Belfast is that its an afternoon gig with doors at 2pm. Having left the house in the west to head for Belfast in the east its my good friend John giving me a lift, the metal community never dies.
We arrive shortly after the doors open to a quickly filling venue, there is no support today, just Blaze doing a 2 hour set. At 3pm Luke, Chris and Martin hit the stage with Luke playing the gorgeous bass opening to Samurai before Blaze comes out to huge cheers from the anxious crowd, before launching into the song properly Blaze gives us a welcome speech, the first of many uplifting and positive talks he’ll give us tonight. Blaze knows how to control an audience and from the get go he has us in the palm of his hand.
As Samurai comes to an end it’s time to get into the Silicon Messiah album, although the album was written over 25 years ago, Blaze tells us about billionaires storing their minds on computers, although it sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory you just never know and is an excellent way to lead us into the opening track “Ghost in the Machine”, which is about that very thing. The thunderous drum intro played by Martin so heavily gets the crowds heads banging and with Blaze’s vocals being spot on after all these years really its no wonder he is adored by his fans. After Ghost in the Machine its straight into “Evolution” and the title track “Silicon Messiah” with no breaks, just heavy riffs played to perfection by Chris Appleton. After Silicon Messiah Blaze takes time to give us another positive talk, a speech on how we are all different, we are all strange but just because we are it doesn’t make us any less valuable as humans, being a metal head in a “normal” world can be tough when people don’t understand us but its all worth it for the love of the music.
This leads us unto “Born as a Stranger”, probably the song I’ve been song I’ve been looking forward to the most, it is my favorite song of all time and despite seeing Blaze many many times, big venues, small venues and festivals, its a song I’ve never witnessed live. As the opening riff hits along with the tapping of hi-hat and delicious bass line I feel the hairs on my arms stand and chills run through my veins. Judging by the singing of the crowd along with Blaze it seems like its a fan favourite. Blaze does a mighty job belting out every note with pitch perfection.
As Born as a Stranger comes to an end, I feel a moment has been knocked off bucket list as the band continues into “The Hunger” with Chris masterfully playing the guitar solo like he’s a king, the band just gel so well with Blaze, even though Karl is missing from the line up it doesn’t take anything away from the stunning performance these amazingly talented lads put on, “The Brave” is up next, fast and furious, it hits hard before taking a short break so Blaze can give us a story and another perfect introduction to “Identity”, a song about identity theft and the experience Blaze has had with bots and scammers, especially in recent years with scammers trying to rip off his fans by joining fake fan clubs, to be in the Blaze fan club all you have to be is a fan. The song has a slow start with a beautiful riff to add more atmosphere to this already phenomenal afternoon, with the crowd singing along with every word, its clear Blaze just never lets up with his fans.
We draw close to the end of the Silicon Messiah set with “Reach for the Horizon” and “The Launch”, a fast and very “maiden-esq” song that shows the influence that Blaze had on Iron Maiden and the influence they had on him, in my opinion Silicon Messiah is better than anything Maiden was putting out at the time it was released, a controversial opinion but a hill I’m willing to die one. The final song on the Silicon Messiah set is of course “Stare at the Sun”, the song itself is an emotional journey but for myself this whole set has been an emotional journey 25 plus years in the making, as I hold back the tears I sing my little heart with Blaze lapping up every moment of this experience. Like most songs on this album this is another fan favourite with everyone around me belting it out with fists in the air.
Blaze then makes us feel more at home with a story on how we the fans and the good people of Belfast makes him feel at home when he comes, of course this leads us into “Calling You Home” from the Infinite Entanglement album, part of the William Black trilogy of albums, another masterpiece created by Blaze and the Absolva lads.
With the end of the Silicon Messiah set Luke and Martin get a little break as they nip off the stage to get a pint of Guinness that awaits them behind the door, freshly prepared by Joe May. Playing a set as energy driven as what they’ve just played its a well deserved break. No such luck for Chris as he and Blaze stay on stage to begin the Iron Maiden part of the set, playing a song close to Blaze’s heart and a song the Iron Maiden have never played live, its the catchy and contagious “Como Estais Amigos”, the final track on 1998’s Virtual XI album, the crowd sing along with the “no more tears” chorus as its just impossible not to.
The rest of the band come back on stage to play my personal favourite Iron Maiden song, Virus, a very underrated song that was never officially released on any Maiden studio album, it was however an added track on 1996’s “Best of the Beast” compilation. An uplifting song with a euphoric guitar riff and catchy chorus that is truer now than ever before in the world we live in today. We then get treated to an outright cover of Wrathchild from Iron Maiden’s Killers album with an overwhelming positive reaction from the crowd. Next up is “Man on the Edge” from 1995’s The X Factor, the first album Blaze did with Iron Maiden, which we are told was written by Blaze and the Maiden lads as when he joined Iron Maiden they had absolutely nothing written or prepared for this album but Blaze being the professional he is stepped up to the plate. Before the final Maiden track of the night Blaze addresses anyone in the crowd that are in a band to give them a “pep talk”, telling them to believe in themselves, to keep fighting for your dream and if anyone knows about fighting for his dream its Blaze, a man that has constantly had “nay sayers” trying to put him down, including his step mother apparently. So this song is about fighting for your future, it is of course Futureal from Virtual XI.
Just before the final song of the night the gentleman that is Blaze Bayley insures to thank absolutely everyone that makes his gigs possible, from the Absolva lads, the sound engineer, the merch staff and person who keeps the “grumpy git” happy, his wife Kate. He fittingly ends the afternoon madness with a song Iron Maiden always open their shows with, UFO’s Doctor Doctor, half way through the song Blaze walks off the stage to leave Chris, Luke and Martin to have fun with their instrumental covers of Thin Lizzy’s Emerald and Jailbreak before Blaze comes back on stage to continue with Doctor Doctor and finish off this amazing show, a show I’ve dreamed about for years.
Although Blaze will no longer be doing his meet and greets, for health reasons, that he’s famous for doing after his gig he still makes sure to shake everyone’s hands that are around the front of the stage, the man is a true gent. We leave the venue with a sense of euphoria back onto the wet streets of Belfast.
Blaze will continue to bring this tour around Europe, having already just finished a tour around Spain, he will be playing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Romania, Germany, Austria, Czechia and Sweden before doing an Iron Maiden tour around Europe for the summer and the UK in October. If you haven’t seen Blaze before I cannot emphasize enough the necessity to catch one of his shows, the man has never put on a bad show in his life.
Setlist:
Samurai
Ghost in the Machine
Evolution
Silicon Messiah
Born as a Stranger
The Brave
The Hunger
Identity
Reach for the Horizon
The Launch
Stare at the Sun
Calling You Home
Como estais amigos
Virus
Wrathchild
Man on the Edge
Futureal
Doctor Doctor / Emerald / Jailbreak / Doctor Doctor
Photography by MPM
