Sword-and-sorcery and heavy metal are among a small handful of my great passions. I write about these and other related topics on my blog, The Silver Key (https://thesilverkey.blogspot.com/). Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery (2020, Pulp Hero Press) is my first book. I'm working on a second book, a heavy metal memoir.
Share
Arcane Arts: Dispatches From The Silver Key
Published 2 months ago • 5 min read
Dispatches from the silver key
Arcane Arts
This weekend I played with madness. I drove 5 hours to see Iron Maiden, with opening acts Anthrax and Megadeth, at a sold-out Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
Bruce! Taken at the show, not by me.
Two-word review: Fucking awesome.
Longer review (with setlist spoilers). Maiden played exclusively classic material, the newest “Fear of the Dark” which is 34 years old at this point. They opened up with FOUR songs off their first two albums: The Ides of March (recorded instrumental) followed by “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “Wrathchild,” “Killers” and “Phantom of the Opera.”
Killer(s).
My highlight was a couple of bangers off Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. According to Bruce’s monologue Maiden hadn’t played “Infinite Dreams” in 35 years, but we got to see it and it sounded incredible.
Maiden sounded fantastic, easily among the best sound quality experiences I’ve had at a live show. Bruce is still soaring as a vocalist. They are still bringing huge energy and played without pause for two hours and 5 minutes. I was tired watching them.
The venue, which typically hosts a major league soccer team, was sold out. The listed capacity of the arena is 25,000, and even though a couple large sections behind the stage were roped off, the entire floor which typically is an empty field was packed with bodies. A sea of bodies. There had to have been 25K fans there. And they sold out a SECOND night, on Sunday.
A sea of humanity.
WTF. Metal lives, man. Live After (purported) Death. We’re not giving up the ship.
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me
The stage show was astounding. There were real props--Eddies on stilts, a cage for the condemned man of “Hallowed,” and Union Jack flags for “The Trooper” and the like--but a massive, high-definition screen projected visuals so immersive and detailed it felt like you were inhabiting the Egyptian world of "Powerslave," the mean streets and dirty back alleys of 1970s London, the deck of a haunted galleon of “Ancient Mariner,” and the cold wastes of “Seventh Son.”
It was half rock show, half opera or a high-end Broadway performance.
If had any criticism—and this is a reach, I’m straining to find anything to complain about—the show was almost too produced, to the point of absence of rawness or spontaneity. I can see why Steve Harris with British Lion and Bruce and Adrian Smith with their side solo projects seek the release of small venues and solo side-projects.
Again, complaint? Hardly. Just an observation. Also, last I checked people are still trying to exit the parking lots. Parking was kinda trash.
Megadeth sounded great except for Dave’s voice, which has lost much of its power. But he gets a pass, he’s been ill and details his struggles with cancer in a new memoir In My Darkest Hour which I’m sure I’ll buy.
Anthrax played a short setlist but were great and played two of my favorites in “Indians” and “Medusa."So I was happy.
Did I mention I’m going AGAIN tonight?
The summer of insanity tour rolls on.
A welcome metal reunion
An amazing moment Thursday occurred amid the buzz of the release of Growing Up Metal. My old friend Pete McKinnon messaged me several times, letting me know he was reading the book on Kindle and greatly enjoying it.
I’ll be honest I was swept up with emotion, a mixture of gratefulness and relief. I didn’t get much done the rest of the day.
I haven’t seen Pete since our 10-year high school reunion. That would have been 2001… 25 years ago. The one and only reunion I’ve attended. But if you want to reconnect with old friends I guess the answer is, write a book.
Of all the people who appear in Growing Up Metal Pete was the person about which I was possibly the most apprehensive (wife aside, but she had already read the draft). Pete was the ringleader of our friend group, a bass player who joined a metal band named Den of Thieves—which I thought was really fucking cool at the time (it still is!). He meant a lot to me then, and still does. We hung out constantly in the late 80s, through high school and into college, when changing life circumstances caused us to drift apart. All detailed in the book.
I wanted to do that period in our lives justice. I wasn’t sure if I had, until I heard from him.
I found out much more. He’s married to his high school sweetheart Liz. The two have a daughter heading into her senior year of college—just like my younger daughter Libby.
And he’s still playing bass, in a band called the Drinkmore Brothers (love the name). With his permission I’m sharing a link to the album, Pour Decisions (love that name too):
Any writing award that encourages good writing and celebrates authors is welcomed.
This celebrates the muscular, military-infused fantasy Drake was known for and many (raises hand) still enjoy. Per the release, “In the spirit of military science fiction and fantasy written by David Drake, especially the Hammers Slammers and RCN/Lieutenant Leary series, the contest will seek engaging stories with military themes.”
It keeps Drake’s name alive. I haven’t read most of his stuff, but the stories I have encountered have been uniformly good. “The Barrow Troll” is in my top 25 S&S stories. I also am a fan of “Killer,” “The Mantichore” and The Dragon Lord.
We still need a dedicated award for sword-and-sorcery but this at least puts us in shouting distance.
Sword-and-sorcery and heavy metal are among a small handful of my great passions. I write about these and other related topics on my blog, The Silver Key (https://thesilverkey.blogspot.com/). Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery (2020, Pulp Hero Press) is my first book. I'm working on a second book, a heavy metal memoir.
Dispatches from the silver key Arcane Arts We were blessed with a particularly beautiful fall foliage here in New England, startling orange and red and bright yellows. But in the past week the color drained out as the leaves fell all at once. Caring for an ill parent impacts your mood and mindset. But life isn’t unrelentingly dark. There’s always something sorcerous to report on. So let’s get to it. Howard home nears funding goal In April 2023 I attended Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains,...
Dispatches from the silver key Arcane Arts I appreciate the well-wishes and support after last week’s email. Please keep my father in your prayers. He’s getting a lot of support from family and caregivers, and he needs it. We’ve since learned more about his diagnosis, and it is grim: Stage IV cancer of the esophagus, with metastases to his lungs and adrenal gland. But we’re fighting. His oncologist is recommending chemotherapy. Last Friday I took him to the hospital for a port-a-cath...
Dispatches from the silver key Arcane Arts I’ve had a blessed year. Fantastic times with family and friends, interesting travel, and rewarding writing and publishing. But I’ve lived long enough to know that luck has a way of shifting, and the Fates sometimes morph into Furies. For a few weeks my father had been experiencing discomfort and reflux while eating solid food. We were thinking GERD or an aggravation of an old hiatal hernia or some other chronic condition. His PCP prescribed a trial...
