Iron Maiden – Ed Force One Route To Mexico (Apocalypse Sound AS 161)

Ed Force One Route To Mexico (Apocalypse Sound AS 161)  

Arena Monterey Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico February 22, 2008  

Running Time 1 hour 48 minutes  

Intro, Aces High, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Revelations, The Trooper, Wasted Years, The Number Of The Beast, Can I Play With Madness, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Powerslave, Heaven Can Wait, Run To The Hills, Fear Of The Dark, Iron Maiden, Moonchild, The Clairvoyant, Hallowed Be Thy Name  

Ed Force One Route To Mexico is the second release by Apocalypse Sound covering Iron Maiden’s world tour in support of the official DVD release Live After Death, the 1985 concert film chronicling band’s massive Powerslave tour. Like the previous release, Ed Force One Route To Brazil AS 140, it is sourced from the video feed and is of excellent picture and sound quality.  

The DVD starts with the video from showing the band on the Ed Force One plane, followed by Churchill’s Speech with footage of World War II before the band storms into Aces High, probably one of the most high energy tracks to open a Maiden show. The band storms through Two Minutes to Midnight and Revelations, next up is The Trooper, with Bruce wearing his calvary uniform and waving the British flag. Some of the between song banter has Bruce sounding short of voice but you would not know it when he sings. The only real drawback thus far is the lack of crowd noise, there is virtually none, but during the slow part in Rime of The Ancient Mariner it is nice to hear the subtle interplay of the musicians. As the Mariner fades the howling winds lead into Powerslave, Bruce has his Hours mask on and again the three guitar attack provides so much more layer and depth to the song.

When you look at the setlist one track kind of stands out as being out of place, when the opening notes are played you become enveloped by one of the bands most signature tracks, Fear Of The Dark. Without hesitation they launch into Iron Maiden and we are treated to the cyborg Eddie in all his glory bringing an end to the main set. Again the highlight of the encores is 1988’s Moonchild followed by The Clairvoyant and Hallowed Be Thy Name. High marks must be given to Apocalypse Sound for releasing such high quality products to the collectors, this release like their others is a simple tri fold adorned with beautiful full color pictures from the tour, a simple menu making it easy to navigate. As with the previous Ed Force One title you get energetic, superbly played concert in excellent quality, what more could you ask for ? Simple, a trip Somewhere back in time to the year 2000 and my next review Iron Maiden Live At Red Rocks.