 Here we are on the metal voice You know, we're talking round table from the four guys who went to see Bruce Dickinson live on the Spoken or the speaking world tour or North American tour tour for that matter. Yeah The second to last date, I guess in March 23rd. We went to see him in Montreal, Canada at the Mtellis or the metropolis the metropolis Mtellis is the type of cell phone Metropolis is a venue I never accepted those commercial Thank you. All right, so principle, that's right. So It was an interesting show It was and you know what I'll ask the questions for everybody around we'll go around the table and and you know Give give what give your opinion of what you thought of it So for the people when he continues this tour Bruce the people what they can expect our reaction our review All right First of all, the biggest question is an asked if and What was your expectation? And what was the reality after watching it just quick high level? um, I had read his book I had read his biography and Because I've seen made in so many times in concert I do know for a fact that Bruce Dickinson is an extremely eloquent Cultivated and and pretty smart guy So by going to a spoken word tour. I was expecting to see a great storyteller With a good sense of humor who could really really captivate an audience Without music And I think I got my money's worth Um, I do have some reservations about some of it But we paid money to hear a great storyteller And he delivered great stories for almost three hours with just one break Uh, I thought That if you're into that kind of stuff You know if you find Bruce's banter between songs interesting If you find made in lyrics interesting even though most of them are written by steve harris you will find Bruce Dickinson Super interesting. So what you're saying is expectations were met expectations were met Except for one Okay, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Allen. Mr. Dixon. Mr. Late Dixon With the big iron maiden poster behind you I agree with Stefan You know Bruce, uh, I think uh, you know, he said, you know, he's probably a ritalin child growing up and uh, we forget sometimes his comical side You know, if anybody read this book by Bruce Lord if he Lord if he quote raised you can see he's completely wacky. He's completely insane And um, but he was able to pull it off. I was a little worried at the beginning I mean Bruce being Bruce he always Attempts to speak the local language. So he did a great job opening the show in french Uh, I was just worried he was going to do it the whole show. It might have been a long night, but uh, it was it was a great attempt and Overall, I think he delivered it was hard to you know You can't say we're stand-up comedy if you read his books or the maiden thought biographies Some of the stories were familiar Uh, but overall, yeah, he definitely captured our attention for almost three hours. So So he met your expectation Yeah, there were some moments I was wondering especially at the beginning, you know, uh People were really laughing as much or he wasn't gonna be the effect He had everybody at the power of his hand by the end. All right. So parent did he meet your expectations? Well, first let me say my expectations were pretty low, right? I I haven't well, that's it That's it. That's key there. That's I want to be honest about that right like going into this You know coming out of the pandemic. Hey bruce is coming to town You know us guys get to hang out together I get to go see a person who's always been a favorite of mine as a singer and as a band Uh, but not necessarily as a writer or speaker. So, you know, I was asking myself can I take Two to three hours of bruce dickinson's banter because let's be honest, right bruce is a great singer And he can be engaging for two or three minutes between songs But you know, I found his book a bit of a tougher read than some other rock metal biographies And bruce has the reputation of someone who can be a bit You know pompous for lack of a better word So I said to myself going in is this going to be fun and funny and engaging? Or is this going to be kind of like a university lecture? So my expectations were exceeded because You know, it did wind up being kind of fun and funny and engaging And I might have kind of heard a story or two that I hadn't heard before Uh, and I too like alan like for the first 10 minutes I was like, uh, oh because the first 10 minutes or so was about like his parents and his upbringing And I always hate the early part of the books when they get into their childhood Because sometimes they just go on and on about it too long But he kept that short and then he got on to other things And I really enjoyed the night. So I have to say that my expectations were exceeded And not even because they were low, uh, even if my expectations have been kind of higher I have to say it was money well spent and I enjoyed the night I got and I'm gonna just throw this out. I was very impressed. He transitioned from a singer To a stand-up comedian and that is no easy feat as the only x stand-up comedian on this panel I can tell you It's not easy doing stand-up and it's material that you have to rehearse Over and over again to get a laugh. I did see a couple of weak spots, but I grew with everything everybody said Stefan What were the sour points? And I want to talk about this parent alluded to it uh Bruce is very pompous And and sometimes in his storytelling. I felt he was a bit too pompous It was me me me me me from the beginning to the end. Okay um and Knowing bruce and how well educated he is I thought he would be more a bit more philosophical About life in general But it was really really about him From the beginning to the end. It says this is what my book says. Here's I'm gonna summarize it to you For the next three hours um I felt that the comedy bit uh were not As strong as what you would hear from a profession professional comedian I mean the jokes the setup and all of that was nothing to write home about You know, they were bar jokes, you know tavern jokes. They were not developed That's what I said before, you know, I could tell like there was there's weak spots in this comedy, right? That did you mean it to be comedy? That's what I see I asked myself Did he mean it to be comedy or Is he just a guy telling some stories that are somewhat funny? No, he put a funny twist To his life story and told it in a funny way. That's the way I look at it um, and I must say that before the break I was you know, I'm used to comedy shows, you know, where A great act will perform 75 minutes of of perfect material then drop the make it drop the mic and leave And I'm there like it's okay. It's nearing two hours It's not straight comedy I thought it was getting a bit long And then he announces a break and they're like, oh, there's more to an age I I could easily have shaved off half an hour to keep it a little tighter Did he come across as a compassionate, lovable man? No, he came across as this Very lucky ambitious Uh hard-working extremely smart Man, and that's what he wanted people to remember. So he wasn't very humble about himself Despite a couple of self-depra... What's the word I cannot pronounce in English? Deprecation, yes, and uh Those moments were were rather few and far between but he had a few Good flashes when he was talking about Thundersticks makeup And said he looks like, you know, Justin Trudeau and we all had this Yeah, that was the local twist But you know what I got to say this and Alan, I want to hear what your The negatives were Why do Canadians like salmon like you said all you Canadians love salmon But I was like kind of wondering I like salmon, but I didn't know that was the Canadian food Well, he's probably staying in four-star hotels and eating good salmon Okay, before we get to Alan Here's what made in kebek says I really enjoyed the show. I really enjoyed liandro's question This is pat la long saying this this is a kind of guy I would listen to for hours So as you know made in kebek a big shout out to pat la long the singer Of made in kebek alan. What did you not like about this show? No, I mean it was really almost like just to add to what stephans said. It was almost two different shows Before the break in the q&a. It was a very well rehearsed show Maybe too well rehearsed in spots and you know looking for the big punchline that just didn't come And then the second with the q&a after you take the break. He seemed to be much more relaxed And just going with the flow more and I think I enjoyed that part a little bit more and and of course Your question that from made in kebek and the Stefan and I were lucky enough about the thousands of thousands of questions I have our comments or questions asked during the q&a Yeah, all right What could you not did you not enjoy about the show? Yeah, and just like I alluded to like I I felt like I thought the show started a bit slow and You know, I get it. I guess the show is flowed kind of like with the story arc of most books, right? So it starts with his home life and his upbringing and then his schooling And then his getting into music and finally joining samson and made in and I just felt like the piece about his upbringing and his schooling was a little bit like I hope there's not going to be too much more of this like for me the show didn't really start Until he started getting into his appreciation of deep purple and music or joining samson that that's when the show really started for me So thank god Like most books the upbringing part is only a chapter or two and of this show That was only a chapter or two because just hearing about his parents and his grandparents and his uncle and That kind of stuff just didn't Didn't interest me so like the first in my mind in the first 10 15 minutes I was like, uh-oh was this a good idea And then after the first 15 minutes for the rest of the almost three hour show I was like, yeah, I really enjoyed it But this it started a bit slow for me But he did book he did bookend the beginning And then we saw why he spoke about his his uncle and his great uncle and it kind of bookended and you know I love comedy that has those type of there was a story arc. There is a for anyone who might see the show in the future There's a definite story arc, right? Like there there there is an arc to how The night flows just like there's an arc to a movie or there's an arc to a book so I don't give him credit like I mean he's he understands how to you know engage with an audience He spoke for almost what three hours. How long did he yeah? I mean It was a we were there about three hours and 15 minutes and there was a 25 minute intermission But I mean yeah, I mean so he we were there over three hours and he probably spoke for Two and a half two hours 45 minutes out of that Was there a British sense of humor that kind of flew over our head a little bit You know that I know Alan's into that sort of Monty Python stuff, but a lot of people probably didn't get Maybe some of the jokes because there was a British Flavor to his comedy that doesn't transition or Connect with more than three or four that he tried that kind of just went I think there was over all of our heads for whatever reasons But for me if you if you interviewed everybody that was leaving the doors if it was worthwhile I think you'd get a 98% response that it was Yeah, I agree with that too. Yeah, the only people I see giving this bad reviews Are people who didn't go and they say things kind of like oh, I couldn't imagine going to listen to Bruce Dickinson talk, you know But uh, you know anyone who actually went from reviews. I've seen in different cities. They've all said they were happy. They went It's very uh It the other thing too is that he spoke to an audience which was in large part Francophone French speaking French is For me as a kebek francophone the british accent is extremely hard to understand and it Luckily now I'm fluent enough in english that I was able to understand most of what he said But some jokes and some, you know Playing on the words and all of that totally fell flat on me. I just didn't get it, you know But so and I'm sure I was not alone But that's because It's Montreal and then he played kebek city or is he is playing kebek city? That might be very different too because it's even more french But maiden fans The people who went are diehard maiden fans, obviously And if you're a diehard maiden fan, you know, you know, whether you're french english or Croat or serbian or you name it. You probably Learn english listening to erin maiden or reading erin maiden lyrics. So Uh, I don't think it had much of an impact on the audience where people walking What was he saying anyway? I don't know. No clearly. I think he made an effort To be understood to articulate extremely well to be understood. He did not exaggerate his accent Except when he was trying to imitate nicole mcbrain. That was very funny Actually, nicole mcbrain was was pretty good. Oh, that was my favorite part My favorite part to the show was when he was kind of, uh, you know spoofing, uh, nicole a little bit and drummers in general So he he talked about well, first of all, he spoke french stefan. Did that impress you? Like, you know, it comes out He makes that effort Bonjour tout le monde, you know, he's he's he's he's you know, he's he's making that three four five six minutes in french Well, I mean, I knew that he was fluent in french I did not realize that he could actually Because the french he used last night. Uh, well the other night It's not french. He memorized this is French from the guy who's learned to speak french and who could find his way around in french Whether he was in belgium french or or or kebek for all that matter So he did So in my opinion, he didn't translate the show He just said let me see if I can tell this part in french and he did extremely well Uh, you know, he was very very convincing Uh, you know, I couldn't see rush doing that. You know, they're And and and probably it's part of the reason why brooks is so beloved Here it's because we can identify with him. He's the guy who makes an effort and and I thought that the quality of his french My god, this is like Maybe not as good as you know, larry gowan But certain way up there, uh, you know, and the other guy who speaks excellent french Like this Is david gilmore. I think for it His french is excellent make jagger is pretty good too But bruce dickinson to go on five six minutes like this. I did not see that coming at all I did not I thought Very nice gesture. Yeah, I think so too Commercial airline pilot was that a funny bit when he's flying people all over the world or you know to their destination They have no idea it's bruce dickinson in the cockpit I thought it was a great anecdote great great anecdote and it's funny and I'll tell you why I have a connection to this I have a high school friend of mine whom I went to to school here in montreal I think I can say his name yuri van osnabrug. He was He'll is dutch and after he grabbed From high school. He went back to uh to the nettle ends Where he became a pilot for k lm And then did some charter company And he told me that he flew with bruce on several occasions You know And this is a guy I went to see made and with at uh at verdana auditorium in 1982 And I said to him like did it feel weird Says no We sit down in the cockpit and they tell him you realize I've seen you in concert when I was a teenager I get that all the time And and next thing you know, they're flying and they're super professional Pilots are Professionals and once they're flying they're flying and you're my co-pilot and and that's how they work And he told me that the bruce he knew because they both my friend and bruce were living in london Is that bruce would leave his home in west london Getting the subway in his captain's uniform You know with the stripes and everything Put a cap on his head Read a book or the newspaper Then gets to get with getwick airport, which is where they were working from and Yep, I'm going on a On a flight. We'll be back tonight. We'll be back tomorrow and Back to his fancy home in west london Probably worth 10 times more than an than an average pilot could ever afford I think the pilot part Is extremely Interesting in a sense that you know, most people would say well You know a rock star Becoming a pilot. Oh, you know how Snobbish he has money so he can afford to buy himself a license Well, no learning to become an airline pilot in a 747 pilot Is a big deal. Not everyone makes it. It's like medical school. Not everyone is cut out to be and for me it gave me an additional insight into his intelligent and wealth of culture And and being able to do so many things. Yeah, okay. I'm good in fencing others are good in basketball Other are good in football Good for him but You know a ph or or an mba Anybody can can do an mba if they have You know the basic university education And I think when he talks about Becoming a pilot And working not just showing off but working as a pilot I think this is where he comes across as the most Down-to-earth modest guy Because he doesn't need to be a pilot. He's already a multi-gazillionaire But he does it because he likes it and he doesn't mind picking up a bunch of drunken Uh Charter jet going to the beach isn't mine. Oh, it's kind of cool. I'm gonna fly a big rig I just want to disagree with Stefan because the flights did get awkward when bruce goes scream for me first class True All right, what about the cancer bit so he does the thing about you know, he talks about his cancer. He did in his book Do you think he kind of You hear their sphincters get tight when he started talking about it because it's not a it's not a subject That's very pleasant to speak about but the way he did it. I mean, obviously he went through it He's allowed to talk about anything Anyways, he wants but it was a nice touching moment. It's another bruce came out the other side and He's there. He's still, you know, he's obviously alive and well and doing this I think you I think it played out very well that that's he was a bit vulnerable there Like he made himself a bit vulnerable and kind of put himself out there a little bit and look You can't have a night like this or a book and not tell that story because it's a pretty significant thing that happened Alan was was there enough maiden? Was there enough maiden for the maiden fans and I'm gonna even ask everybody out there who was there Was there enough maiden stories? Well, it is book And I agree with parents one of the ones that took me it only picked up I think in the last quarter of his book. I struggled with three quarters of that book And again, why because it wasn't about maiden So the show is is true to true to himself in that respect If we're following the book and some of the stories that were repeated from from his autobiography I mean, yeah, I can see why, you know, we were all one a little bit more There was a lot of iron maiden t-shirts in the crowd I'm sure a lot of people would like to have more anecdotes behind the behind the scenes Stories, but for me it was it was, you know life on the road anecdotes from on the road in his life So Very did you want more iron maiden stories in there because it kind of like to me Kind of fast forward a little too fast Look, you would always you would always want more maiden stories what maiden fan wouldn't but like Alan I wasn't necessarily expecting that, you know, and uh, there was enough for me, you know, I think I think what I was enjoying what I was expecting and I got was the transitioning from samson into maiden And we got a couple of funny maiden Road stories that give you a little glimpse, you know You know what happens behind the scenes when you're in poland and what happens, you know behind the scenes when you're in germany and You know just just things that the average person hasn't encountered in their life So while that wasn't the inner workings of maiden It was funny things that happened on the road with maidens. So I wasn't expecting a knight's Take us through power slave take us through, uh, you know, no prayer for the dying I wasn't really I I wasn't expecting An album by album What was your guy's mindset when you were recording someone were in time? Like I wasn't expecting that and I didn't get it But I did get a few funny road stories and I got a few and I got some insight into Maiden recruiting him from samson to join the band and that was enough for me Stefan, what would you have liked to see that wasn't there? um Like I said after a while The me me me me sort of got to me In a sense that I thought He could explore themes Beyond the experiences he's learned in life You know, I thought he would be a bit more philosophical in general, but it always Focused on incidents and anecdotes and funny things um Given how intelligent he is I thought walk out of there with a few life lessons I did one is that when you work really really hard And you're really ambitious And you have incredible amount of discipline Well, you too can become bruce dickinson And and in the end, I think this is what we got Uh, you know the guy obviously has a very sizable ego And he delivered that ego But not in a narratable not in a annoying way He did it in a likeable way the bruce we like the bruce. We've always liked I didn't Come out of there and and say You know, oh what an asshole. No, no The only time bruce ever came across as an asshole to me Uh was during the uh os fast store when he kept making fun of of ozzy and sharon every night And we all know how that ended on the last night and For me, this was bruce at his best arrogant. Yes but with reason controlled arrogant Are you arrogant if you can back it up? I somebody can walk the walk and talk the talk I don't have a problem with that. So I mean, he's done it all. He's he's he's an author radio Podcast he brought up to the end of the day a little plug for his podcast Fencer, yeah, okay accomplished man for sure. He's an accomplished man So parent somebody ask you, you know, the his show is coming to my town. Would you say go for it? It's worth the money or you say, you know what? Wait for the iron maiden tour. I would definitely recommend going to see it I thought it was interesting engaging and funny I wouldn't say spend a hundred fifty dollars on a table at the front. I think It's like a comedy show, right? It's like, you know, you can you can get like you can kind of sit anywhere And enjoy it and listen to it. So I would say, you know, I don't know if I would say a paid top dollar For the best seat in the house But I would tell anyone if you're a maiden fan and you're a bruce fan And you'd like a little window into his life. I think you should go I'm I'm glad I went and I have zero regrets Spending the 60 dollars I spent on our balcony tickets What about if I could just touch on what both the parent and Stefan said as well I walked in. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know it was going to be chronological Order from his birth all the way up to where he is now I thought it would be more like Stefan alluded to is Lord of more philosophy, you know, what he's learned throughout his life Taking side trips based on certain events. So overall, I mean, okay, it's chronological We've all been there seeing that hurt it. But again, overall, I think it was Very well done. And I think he came across You know, you know, there's some parts were pure stand-up. So I think he did a great job So Alan, he's coming back to town with a new routine We'll call it And maybe this time, you know, he's talking about stuff He didn't of course he didn't talk about last time would you go? Yeah, I'd go. Yeah. All right. So that that means a lot, right? If you'd go back Stefan What about you? Would you go or would you recommend this to a friend? Hey, Stefan Bruce is coming to my town Should I go? Should I pay 50 bucks? Should I go see him? What would you say? It would be how big a maiden fan are you? Oh, well, you know, back in the days I bought live after death and I thought Field of the Dark was pretty cool. That's pretty much all I know No, it's not for you But yeah, I got every record and I go see them every time and I think Bruce is an engaging guy between songs It says go You know what? Actually, you just touched on something Does this actually I think it did I think if you don't know Bruce and you don't know our maiden you went to see the show You could probably sit through it and enjoy it Because it was there wasn't a lot of maiden, right? It was just basically his life and stories But of course it does help if you are a maiden fan because you could connect the dots a lot easier But I would tell my friend to go. I would I would say yeah go. It's worth it. I liked it I enjoyed it. That's pretty much it. Is there anything else you guys want to say? This defense say fear of the duck That's an inside joke for the people who've seen the show Had to see the show I'm curious I'm curious to see how much of each show is identical to the next. I would assume most of it is Yeah, I would think the first part is identical more or less with a couple of quirks here and there And the q&a obviously Is the part that would differ every night, right? And just we haven't mentioned it But like in the lobby of the show they had these cards Where you can write your question and allegedly backstage bruce reads them all and they pick Questions that are different or interesting and uh, you probably went through 10 or 15 questions Some of them really quickly and some of them in depth Answered it's because of you And jimmy we haven't said this but let's look he was very honest I mean the question probably comes up every night why he left maiden and I think one of the more interesting parts Was his reasoning for leaving iron maiden and he was very honest about that And then you know people wanted to know what's going on if his solo work because a lot of people really love his solo work And so there was some really good pieces in there about What he's going to be doing in his solo career and some people ask questions about chemical wedding Which I think is his best record and he he was answering questions about chemical wedding So, uh, we haven't said a lot about the q&a, but the q&a alone was probably worth the price of admission Uh, because he didn't really yes, he's picking what questions he wants to answer Uh, but you know, he didn't shy away from things like why did you feel like you had to leave iron maiden? So I thought the q&a was very, uh, interesting as well I was pretty blown away that again, I'll say this that I said at the beginning He transitioned from a lead singer To a stand-up comedian in a sense that transition is not easy These stand-up comedians so you guys know and you probably do know they work their material You know on the open mic nights on the money nights and they work and work it and they work it for years until it's refined And then they go on stage and they can even bomb when they go on stage He's just jumping right into it and you can see there's a couple of holes there in his stand-up his delivery and maybe his punches, but he you know I'm pretty impressed. He pulled it off. He pulled it's like a ted talk When you say stand-up comedy though, you know, we don't want people to get the Dave Chappelle or kevin hart kind of stand-up comedy I mean in britain day that a long history of just telling stories that bill billy connelly being probably the greatest example of that He gets on stage. He doesn't even know where his routine is going to go He's just going to tell story after story and one story might inspire another story. So it's a little that You know, you can see it was well rehearsed because of the powerpoint presentation kind of behind him there But I would like to see the very first shows when he attempted this. I'm sure he's come a long way That's right. You know what works on what doesn't work. And I think on that note unless you guys have something else to say Um, I'm looking forward to the next bruise show which will be in Ottawa in october Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I already made it Back up band iron something The backup band Alan you're good Yeah, I'm good You're good Yeah, I'm looking uh, you know what this is probably the wave of the future We're probably going to be reviewing a lot of spoken word tours because as our heroes get a bit older and write their books Uh, and maybe can't tour as much We're probably got to be doing a lot more. I'm sure we'll be reviewing the gene Simmons spoken word tour and the Paul Stanley spoken word to her And the rob howlford spoken word tour at some point. So, uh, you know, Henry Rollins Recreated the blueprint 20 years ago and here we go. We're off to the races Well, sorry if I'm not Metal t-shirt today. I'm at a funeral Uh, but there is life after death. So I'll be at beyond the show next week Actually, I should say this before we start stop He didn't do his acapella. He didn't sing any songs like he's been doing in all the other cities I was expecting like Stefan wanted prowler or a fan of the opera, but uh, he didn't do it I think someone had to ask a certain question for that to happen I think that those were always prompted by questions. So We didn't ask the right questions. We didn't ask We know we we know that the q&a section is not planned or rehearsed He might have stories that he wants to connect to certain questions But we we're the living proof that you know, it was it was spontaneous because He used two of our questions. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, and he didn't use the other two Yeah He didn't like mine mine was Would you be okay to have a maiden fest with blaze bailey paul diano and all the other legacy players You're lucky to get thrown out. You're you're you're lucky to get thrown out I've asked blaze this question like 10 times. I've asked diano this question. I ask every single iron maiden Legacy player this question, but bruce would not answer this question It's a great question But they had to have about 400 questions easily or the amount of people that mine is the best question Monty python there. He loves monty python Alan won bruce's heart with the monty python question And the spitfire was the one liner that one one liner joke was for stefan Yeah, and of course paladon gets the uh, you know, he made in kebek. He gets that the big applause He got name dropped. He got name drop. You got name drop. You got name drop I said, you're you're staying correct today because he did sing let it be remember. Yeah That's that's the only somebody just wrote that you're fired. You're the singer. All right guys have yourself a nice weekend