Paul Di' Anno announced some live dates all around Greece and what an excellent opportunity to listen to some early IRON MAIDEN favorite songs sung by the original singer. The fact that the touring would be consisting from well-known Greek musicians (the most famous probably was the guitarist Kosta Vretos) and the reasonable ticket price gave an extra motive to even the most hesitant fans to attend this live event at Rodeo club.

Around 22:00 the CONVIXION took the stage. The Greek speed / thrash metal band with the recently released debut album "Convixion" focused their setlist on new songs and added some from the EP "Metal Drinkin' Conspiracy ". The band throughout the performance was energetic, passionate, full of humor and gave 100% on stage. To my surprise many most of the young fans in the front rows knew some of the songs, supported the band and even created a couple of mosh-pits (that sometimes I couldn't hesitate to participate in). In their 45 minute live they played songs that made an impact like "Matter of Faith" –this was dedicated to Ronnie James Dio- "Heavy Metal Re Mounia", "Drink Metal", and a cover of EXCITER's "Violence And Force". For the last four songs a friend of the band came on stage to play guitar with them. CONVIXION totally gave their soul in their performance and managed to transmit this unbelievable energy and passions to the audience winning a really warm applaud. A really good performance that exceeded everyone's expectations!

As time passed by, Rodeo was welcoming more and more fans who were waiting patiently to see Paul Di' Anno. So, at 23:40 the band showed up with the instrumental "Ides Of March". What followed cannot be easily described in words. To put it simply panic was created when Di' Anno got on stage under the sounds of "Wrathchild". The set contained songs from the first two IRON MAIDEN albums and some songs from his various projects giving us all the all time classics we love. The Greek members of the band performed every song in a really great level and seemed to enjoy the gig. Great musicians! As for Paul Di' Anno everyone knew that his voice was past its prime but none really cared. He was really passionate performing every song with his soul in it and it was a unique experience to watch him sing. He also had a great sense of humor commenting and joking about everything; the unbearable heat, his knee problem, the beer tasting like piss, even commenting with frustration about the fact that day he just divorced his wife (as he at least said to us). "Prowler", "Children Of Madness", the incredible "Remember Tomorrow" (which was dedicated to the departed Ronnie James Dio), "Killers", "Phantom Of The Opera", "Running Free" made the fans feel ecstatic. The reactions from the fans were simply unbelievable! We even saw some crowd surfing in such a small club that if a tall guy rose his hand he could easily reach the ceiling…

During the encore the band performed the instrumental "Transylvania" and did a cover on RAMONES' "Blitzkrieg Bop". But the best was left for the end: "Iron Maiden" and hell was unleashed. Crowd surfing, pit and during the last minutes of the song the 1-2 front rows literally climbed on to the stage! In the end after 75 minutes Paul Di' Anno and the rest of the band left the stage under a thunderous applaud.

All in all, despite that Rodeo was not suitable for such a big audience, that most of the audience could not see the stage and the unbearable heat, everyone had a great time enjoying a very good live listening so many songs we love with their original singer. Horns up for Paul Di' Anno !

Paul Di' Anno setlist:

01. "Ides Of March"
02. "Wrathchild"
03. "Prowler"
04. "Marshall Lockjaw"
05. "Murders In The Rue Morgue"
06. "The Beast Arises"
07. "Children Of Madness"
08. "Remember Tomorrow"
09. "Faith Healer"
10. "A Song For You"
11. "Killers"
12. "Phantom Of The Opera"
13. "Running Free"

Encore:
14. "Transylvania"
15. "Blitzkrieg Bop" (RAMONES cover)
16. "Iron Maiden"

Thanks to Nikos Kakarot for trying to get descent photos despite the fact that one made it here...