Collection / Amsterdam 2023 The release, in hand · what's this? ? Never heard a bootleg? Here's why people chase them →
× Step 1 of 4. What you're looking at
This is a bootleg, not the official live album. The actual night itself, recorded
from inside the crowd, with the mistakes and the roar left in. This is the concert
as it really sounded, before anyone cleaned it up.
Step 2 of 4. The person who saved it
Ever seen someone at a gig standing dead still, not filming, just there? They might
be recording. Two hours holding steady, so this night doesn't vanish when the lights
come up. Every bootleg exists because one person in the crowd decided it was worth
keeping, for you, a stranger, years later.
Step 3 of 4. "But it's all on YouTube"
Is it? Those old concerts you find there are bootlegs too, someone recorded them,
someone passed them on, someone uploaded them. YouTube didn't replace the collectors.
It lives off them. And what you get is three phone-shot minutes with no context, gone the
day the account is struck. The whole night, in full, doesn't come from an algorithm.
Step 4 of 4. Why it matters
Which is the whole point. Somewhere in here is a night you can never attend, because
it happened before you were born. 1984, behind the Iron Curtain, a crowd that fought
the militia to get in. You weren't there. You couldn't be. But someone recorded it,
so you can still step inside.
// Full facts The show
Date 2023-07-11
Venue Ziggo Dome
Location Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tour The Future Past Tour // Tracklist 01 Intro (intro videos from YT-members: Iron Maiden & Iron Beast) 02 Tape intro: Doctor,Doctor 03 Intro: Bladerunner (End Titles) 04 Caught Somewhere in Time 05 Stranger in a Strange Land 06 The Writing on the Wall 07 Days of Future Past 08 The Time Machine 09 The Prisoner 10 Death of the Celts 11 Can I Play with Madness 12 Heaven Can Wait 13 Alexander the Great 14 Fear of the Dark 15 Iron Maiden 16 Hell on Earth 17 The Trooper 18 Wasted Years // The nightOne sold-out night at the Ziggo Dome, around seventeen thousand in. The Dutch press latched onto one moment above all: 'Alexander the Great', played on Dutch soil for the first time since its release thirty-seven years earlier. Reviewers also noted Bruce, nearly sixty-five, covering more of the stage than the year before, when hip surgery had still been visible in his movement.
Sources PitKings review (Anton R.) · Metalfan.nl review (Tonnie)
// What the press said The highlight of the evening is 'Alexander the Great'. For the first time since its release in 1986, this song is played live on Dutch soil! PitKings Anton R. Read the full review → An evening full of goosebump moments: Iron Maiden once again proved why they are still the greatest hard rock band in the world. Maxazine John van Empel Read the full review →
The rating Close The rating is mine, and it is the only quality mark here. The number from 1 to 10 next to a recording is my own listening judgement: how much I enjoy putting it on, everything weighed together.
I do not hand out an "objective" grade, because nobody can grade a live recording objectively. One collector's ears are not another's.
A tape can be clean and still rate lower if it leaves me cold, or rate high in spite of its flaws because it captures the night. Higher means I reach for it more often.
Take it as one ear, then trust your own.
About these releases Close The disc you see in these photos is burned by me and the cover is printed by me, by hand. Each one is a single copy for my own shelf, put together while I catalogue the collection.
This is not a label, and nothing here is a product. Nothing is for sale and nothing is for trade.
If a release looks finished, that is just the fun of the craft. Please do not write asking for a copy. I make them for no one but myself.
