Erasure Radio!! Radio!! Tour

We’re going to see Erasure!

They were one of those 80s pop bands that Debs and I both loved back in the day, and we still listen to them pretty regularly now, so when the Radio!! Radio!! Tour was announced we couldn’t really let it pass us by.

We’re seeing them on Saturday 8 May 2027 at the first direct bank arena in Leeds, which also gives us the perfect excuse for a nice meal at Trinity Kitchen beforehand.

The timing couldn’t be much better either, as it’s Debs’ birthday the day before, so it should make for a cracking birthday weekend.

OK, I paid a little more for the tickets than the face value, but worth it for my wifes birthday.

Based on some of the other 80s bands we’ve seen over the past few years, I’ve got a feeling Erasure are going to be ruddy amazing; although Vince Clarke has said that he's retired from touring, so it will be interesting to see what Andy Bell will be like on his own on stage, Vince is still doing the music for it, so I'm sure it will just sound the same.

Once we’ve been, I’ll come back and turn this into a proper review.

Virgin until Iron Maiden!

I was listening to some 80s music with Debs, which always takes us back to our younger days. We were both born in the late 60s, so it doesn’t take much for a song to bring back a particular time, place or memory.

Anyway, Debs casually mentioned that she saw Adam and the Ants when she was just 13.

Ruddy Nora! I was 18 before I went to my 1st concert, although I didn’t choose too badly. It was the mighty Iron Maiden at the old Town and Country Club in Leeds.

They were chuffing amazing.

More recently, my wife and myself saw Maiden together in their phenomenal Run For Your Lives Tour in London in 2025.

My Fave National Anthems

Another top list I was thinking of putting together was a list of my favourite National Anthems, I thought about this while watching coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, there are some dreadful ones!

I might have to do two lists, one just music and one with lyrics, I think it might make a difference!

Some early contenders are:

• Italy
• Uruguay
• South Africa
• Mexico

My Fave Iron Maiden Songs

I need to list my Top 10 Iron Maiden songs, in order at some time.

The list is likely to include:

• The Trooper 
• Number of the Beast
• Hallowed Be Thy Name
• Iron Maiden
• Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Phantom of the Opera
• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
• Man on the Edge
• Transylvania (might come as a surprise to many)

I have noticed that this only goes up to the mid 90s, gonna have to listen to some of their later stuff as there are some good tunes in there.

Ooo. Wicker Man, Hell on Earth, The Writing on the Wall.

But I will listen to albums from the last 20 years before I make my final decision.

Up The Irons

Music Time Machine - thanks OMD

Saw OMD, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, last night, 8 July 2026, at Bradford Live. They were brilliant.

I have to say, Bradford Live was brilliant too. It’s a stunning old venue, and the sound seemed to fill the room perfectly.

OMD themselves sounded just as sharp as they did in the 80s. Andy McCluskey’s vocals were spot on, and his signature energetic windmill dancing was one of the standout highlights for us.

The band seemed to genuinely enjoy the show as much as the fans did, and they had a great connection with the crowd all evening. Enola Gay, and yes, I bought the T-shirt, was one of those proper shared moments. Maid of Orleans drew a huge emotional response too, with everyone around us singing every word back at them.

More importantly for my wife and me, seeing acts like this takes us right back to when we were younger, fitter, and didn’t have a care in the world, apart from getting our homework done.

This whole 80s music revival has been a massive bonus for us. We’ve recently seen Madness, Pet Shop Boys, Paul Heaton, Iron Maiden, and a few more besides. Every single show seems to open the same little door back to those carefree , I wonder who we will see next!

Thanks for the music, and for the memories it keeps dragging back with it.

Van Halen Were Basically a Novelty Act

I love rock music and metal, but I’ve always carried around what feels like a slightly controversial opinion about Van Halen.

To me, they often felt like a novelty act.

Not in the sense that they lacked talent, because that would be (partly) ridiculous, but in the way they presented themselves. The spandex. The songs designed solely to show off Eddie Van Halen's guitar skills. The massive hair. The goofy onstage antics. David Lee Roth bouncing around like some chaotic circus ringmaster. At times they felt less like a dangerous rock band and more like a cartoon version of one.

They definitely has the style over substance thing down to a fine art.

Sometimes they only seemed a couple of steps removed from Bad News.

And yet I do understand what Van Halen brought to the genre.

Eddie Van Halen changed rock guitar forever, and it wasn't just technically. The tapping, the tone, the production ideas, the sheer energy in his playing. Rock guitar after Eddie sounded different because of Eddie.

Then there’s the fact that I realise that novelty acts tend not to dominate arenas for over a decade. They don’t release multiple huge albums. And they definitely don’t survive replacing an iconic frontman with somebody completely different (or at least I'm struggling for an example of when they do).

Van Halen somehow pulled off one of the hardest tricks in rock history when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth (Iron Maiden did it and just about got away with it IMHO).

Van Halen changed style massively, became more polished, more melodic, and arguably more consistent. I’d even say they became a better band under Sammy Hagar, although I know that opens up another argument entirely.

So maybe the truth is that Van Halen were both things at once.

They looked ridiculous. They acted ridiculous. Their songs are just ridiculous, and parts of the whole thing were pure theatre.

But underneath all of that was one of the most important rock bands ever assembled.

And maybe that’s why they worked so well, even though I don't like them!

ABBA Voyage Review, London

Strange but true, the day after seeing Iron Maiden live at the London Stadium, we went to see ABBA Voyage on Sunday 29th June 2025. Heavy metal one night, cheesy pop the next... it was certainly a weekend of contrasts.

That was partly the idea. Iron Maiden was mainly for me, while ABBA Voyage was mainly for Debs, so it seemed a pretty good way of making a full weekend out of the trip.

This was the 2nd time I'd seen ABBA Voyage and probably the 3rd or 4th time Debs had been. It was originally set up as something of a pop-up event and, if I remember rightly, there was talk of the show eventually travelling around the world. Instead, it seems to have found a permanent home in London, at least for the time being.

When I first heard about bands being recreated using holograms and digital avatars, I imagined something like a glorified video screen, or perhaps an image projected onto glass or smoke. ABBA Voyage is nothing like that.

The digital versions of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid genuinely appear to move around the stage, walk towards the audience and interact with each other. Huge screens help give the whole thing the scale of a proper arena concert, while the lighting, sound and acoustics add enormously to the illusion. There's also a live band on stage, which makes a bigger difference than you might expect.

Honestly, within about 10 or 15 minutes you completely forget that the four members of ABBA aren't actually standing in front of you. You just buy into the whole thing.

I love the venue too. The purpose-built ABBA Arena somehow manages to feel fairly intimate despite holding a lot of people, with a mixture of standing areas, normal seating and the more private dance booths or 'pods'. We've tried both standing and seated tickets now and, for us, standing wins. You can dance, move around and get more involved, whereas the seats make it feel slightly more relaxed and theatre-like.

The audience certainly plays its part as well. Every time we've been there have been plenty of sequins, platform boots, flared trousers and long wigs. The ABBA avatars are based on how the group looked in the 1970s, so all of that dressing up just adds another layer of nostalgia to the night.

The set isn't completely fixed either. Songs are changed from time to time, so if, like us, you go back every so often, there's usually something slightly different to see.

What really impresses me is how much thought has gone into the whole experience. From arriving by train, to the photo opportunities, the bars and the purpose-built arena itself, everything has been designed around this one show. It never feels like ABBA have simply been dropped into an ordinary concert venue; the entire place exists to make the experience work.

And it really does work.

We've already seen ABBA Voyage several times between us, and I can't imagine this being the last. We'll definitely be back.

Iron Maiden at London Stadium - Run For Your Lives Tour 2025

As part of their Run For Your Lives World Tour, Iron Maiden played the London Stadium on 28 June 2025. It was something of a homecoming, with Maiden's roots firmly planted in this part of East London, where they started playing pubs and clubs around 50 years earlier.

So my wife Debs and I joined around 75,000 other fans for what turned out to be an absolutely amazing gig.

I've been a massive Iron Maiden fan since 1980. Debs kinda liked them, but the chance to see Maiden live, for the 4th time for me, was something we really didn't want to miss.

We turned it into a whole weekend, staying at the ibis in Canning Town. In a slightly bizarre change of musical direction, we then went to see ABBA Voyage the following day. Iron Maiden one night, ABBA the next. That's quite a weekend.

Before the gig I wanted to visit the Maiden pub that had been set up for the occasion, serving, amongst other things, a range of Iron Maiden beers. Unfortunately, it was absolutely rammed and we couldn't get anywhere near the bar.

We also wanted some merch, which turned into an expedition of its own. We queued for well over an hour to buy a couple of hoodies and ended up missing most of Halestorm's set, which I was gutted about.

Thankfully, once Maiden came on, any frustration disappeared pretty quickly.

They were absolutely on top form.

The band had their usual brilliant rapport with the crowd, with Bruce Dickinson regularly pausing between songs to whip 75,000 people into an even bigger frenzy.

One of the big changes on this tour was the stage production. Bands doing stadium shows like this have traditionally relied on enormous painted or printed backdrops, and Maiden themselves have used some fantastic ones over the years. This time they had a huge digital screen instead.

I'd read beforehand that some Maiden purists weren't keen on the idea.

As a fan, I bloody loved it.

It gave them the opportunity to make the backdrop part of the show rather than simply scenery. Right at the beginning, while The Ides of March played, we were taken on an animated journey through East London and some of the places associated with Maiden's early years.

We travelled virtually through streets, roads and alleyways, passing locations including the Ruskin Arms and The Cart & Horses, where Maiden played during those early days. Every recognisable location seemed to get another huge roar from the crowd before the journey eventually brought us face-to-face with Eddie.

For a band already famous for turning its concerts into theatrical productions, the technology suited them perfectly.

During Hallowed Be Thy Name, a digital version of Bruce was chased along a path by a ghoulish apparition. During Powerslave, the visuals seemed to take you right inside Eddie's Egyptian temple. Maiden's traditional giant Eddie also entered the digital age, with a huge 3D version dominating the screen.

It looked stunning.

There had also been a significant change within the band. Bruce Dickinson was, of course, on vocals, Steve Harris on bass, and we still had the three mighty galloping guitars of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers.

Nicko McBrain had previously announced that he would no longer be touring with Maiden, so behind the drums was Simon Dawson, who also plays alongside Steve Harris in British Lion.

Dawson was brilliant. His relatively stripped-back drum kit somehow seemed perfectly suited to a set drawing so heavily from Maiden's earlier material.

And what a setlist it was.

To the delight of us old-school fans, although there were plenty of much younger Maiden fans around us too, the opening section leaned heavily into the Paul Di'Anno era. After The Ides of March intro came Murders in the Rue Morgue, followed by Wrathchild, Killers and Phantom of the Opera.

Hearing some of those songs live again was something special.

From there we headed into classic Maiden territory with The Number of the Beast, The Clairvoyant, Powerslave and 2 Minutes to Midnight.

One of the biggest treats of the night was the return of the epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. At nearly 14 minutes long, it's one of those songs that shows exactly what Iron Maiden can do when they're given the freedom to go completely over the top. It hadn't been played live since 2009, so hearing it again was a real moment.

Then came Run to the Hills, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The Trooper, Hallowed Be Thy Name and Iron Maiden.

Not a bad run of songs!

The encore began, unusually, with Aces High before probably Maiden's ultimate live anthem, Fear of the Dark.

There's something quite spectacular about tens of thousands of people singing the melody to Fear of the Dark together in a stadium. It doesn't matter how many times you've heard the song, being there in the middle of that crowd is completely different.

And then they finished with Wasted Years.

I'm a huge fan of the song anyway, so having that close the biggest Maiden show I'd ever been to was just about perfect.

I've seen Iron Maiden four times now and been a fan since 1980, but this one felt different. Maybe it was the location, the 50th anniversary celebrations, the early material or simply seeing 75,000 people of all ages sharing the same experience.

The new digital production worked brilliantly for me, the band sounded fantastic, and the mix of rarities and enormous Maiden classics made the whole thing feel like a celebration of where they'd come from.

For the casual fans there were songs like Run to the Hills, The Number of the Beast and Fear of the Dark. For those of us who've followed them for decades, we got Killers, Murders in the Rue Morgue and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Everybody won.

Iron Maiden absolutely smashed it out of the park.