Maiden France

Stockholm
Par Johnny B, publié le 19 septembre 1999 sur le site officiel d’Iron Maiden

How sweet a victory is ours. Let’s deal with the superb West Ham march into Europe. Both Steve Cox and the record company spent the afternoon phoning around trying to find a pub or club inn Stockholm that was showing the West Ham match… but to no avail. After a few frantic calls to the UK we found out that it was being shown live on a new digital channel called ‘Sky Sports news’ or some such malarkey. Why do these buggers have to muck about with the channels. Don’t they know ‘Arry and I wanna watch the football. Sorry to all you Newcastle and Chelsea but hey ……. there is nothing like watching the Irons live! Anyway Stevie Cox found out that only 3, yes 3 sets of Sky Digital had been sold in the Stockholm area and none of them to a pub. We were still trying to find a place to watch it 25 minutes before kick off. In the end we gave up and went to O’Leary’s, a cool pub/bar/restaurant in the south of Stockholm. O’Leary’s was real cool. The people were ever so friendly and Steve was signing autographs all night. We never got to see the West Ham match but were able to watch the scores from all the UEFA matches being updated live. We let out such a roar when we realised the hammers were 1 – 0 up that we shocked the pub who could not believe that anybody could be that passionate about a football match. ‘Arry does love his football and he loves West Ham even more. When the score flashed up 2-0 …. another round of drinks was quickly ordered. Bruce arrived just as West Ham scored there third goal. I don’t think Bruce supports the Hammers but he did that night. Great merriment and partying was had by all (even if we couldn’t see the goals). Anybody visiting Stockholm ….. check out O’Leary’s …… great people, great place …. great vibe.

What about the 1st (oh yes there is another coming soon ) Iron Maiden Wacky Races. A resounding victory for our team ….. despite what you may hear from the other team. Bruce and Jim had filed all the flight plans etc. brilliantly and we landed roughly around the time the other team were due to be taking off from Helsinki. When we landed it was a mad dash over to the terminal and into cabs. However Bruce and Jim had to pay the landing fees etc. and fill in yet more paperwork so ……… as the rules stated before the start were ‘The first to the hotel wins’ …… Nicko, Harry and myself set off for the hotel with due haste. When we arrived I rushed straight into the hotel to look for a clock to video as proof of the time we arrived. No clock anywhere!!!! Not in the reception, lobby, bar …. no where! Harry was next through the door and suggested we video his watch but then felt the other team would say he had altered it to win. Just as we were trying to come up with proof who comes running into the hotel but Steve Cox. How the fricking hell did he get here at this time. He should be in the air only 20 minutes from Helsinki. It comes to light that we were not the only team to ‘bend the rules’. They caught an earlier flight ….. crafty buggers. They then tried to claim victory that their ‘team’ was all in he hotel before ours as Bruce was outside still signing autographs. However …… Harry and myself soon noticed a flaw in their claim. Where was Adrian? It seems that he had to be dropped off at a different terminal on the way to pick up his lovely wife on the way. Can you believe they tried to claim Victory with a team member missing. Steve Cox tried to tell everyone it was a draw. Pants! Bruce Airways team won hands down victory is ours and we await our round of drinks. Talk of a double of quits match has now surfaced …… I’ll let you know. Well tomorrow is the Stockholm gig which I am looking forward to greatly. I have been told the crowds are great, the venue is outstanding and the band cannot wait to play.

Well Up The irons, Up Bruce Airways, Up the Hammers and bring on Juvé.
– Johnny B

Stockholm
Par Johnny B, publié le 20 septembre 1999 sur le site officiel d’Iron Maiden

The day started well as I logged onto the internet to upload another diary, photos and video clips. The bleariness from the night before’s late night drinkfest hung over me like the proverbial cloud of doom. It was either upload or eat breakfast. I am running tight to the wind already so ….. breakfast had to go …. MISTAKE ONE. I then get a call from Defeated Wacky races team captain Steve ‘Okay so West ham WERE great’ Cox. His Apple laptop is not happy and is throwing a tantrum. Who ya gonna call …… you guessed it ME! I then spend the next frantic hour trying to repair Steve’s fragmented and unhappy hard disk. We had purchased a complete set of SCSI to SCSI cables previously in Stockholm and I was sure that connecting the two I could repair his disk from my Rocking G3. No such luck. I was meant to be going out around the town with some of the band that lunchtime ….. but that had to go by the wind. After returning a still unhappy but working lap top to Steve I get a call in my room a few minutes later. It won’t boot up at all. The thing has just given up the ghost. This is a dead parrot! We then have a debate about the best course of action and it is decided someone should race across town with it to the Mac repair firm MACSUPPORT.

I have to say at this point a guy called ?????? Karlsson should be given the freedom of ‘Maidenville’ as he was just outstanding with his help. I arrived and he immediately took the laptop away for surgery. It was terminal. The poor old guy had a dickey hard disk. By all accounts every hard disk in the world, whatever make should be formatted and defragged regularly. This poor old guy was too far gone. Bad blocks all over the place. Sorry a new plan of action was thought of. I was piled into the back of a van and rushed to hard disk hospital or some such establishment where they decided to try and save all the info on Steve’s hard disk. They asked if had done a back up. I laughed. He¹s a Villa supporter and they NEVER think anything untoward is gonna happen to them and that is why we enjoy thrashing them all the time. They therefore decided that the whole thing should be backed up onto CDR (recordable CD). This took forever as the process kept stopping due to the bad blocks. Eventually they finished it and by now Steve had phoned a million times as all his band, tour, gig, guest lists etc. were on it. They then dropped the bombshell. I couldn’t take the laptop with me as it needed tender love and care by an expert. Also it was now 5.50pm on a Friday and everyone wanted to go home. They also are not open Saturday. The owner was a nine to fiver and wanted me to leave. This is where ???? came in. He said he had to leave because he had a van of mates outside waiting to take him to a hockey match but he would come back that night and finish it … TOP BLOKE! I then had to run like the wind. I had to get back to the hotel, pick up my G3 and get down to the gig asap. Should be a doddle …… MISTAKE THREE!

It was now Friday night traffic and it was manic. I couldn’t get a cab for love nor …… well for love anyway. As I walked back into the hotel to ask reception to get me one from somewhere two Maiden fans walked up to me and asked who I was. I answered and asked why ….. I had enough disasters for one day and didn’t fancy trying to get everyone and their mother into a sold out gig. It turns out the main man from the fan club in the UK and the guy behind taking all you English maiden fans to Paris Steve Lazarus was on the other end. After the normal jocular verbal abuse he said to get these guys in. Suddenly …. a plan came together. Steve had already organised tickets as they had helped Maiden out with a little project but they were not to know that. Thinking on my feet I shouts ‘Get me to the gig in under 15 minutes and I’ll get you in.’ They did. It was like sitting in the back of a car being driven by Damon Hill but …… we got there safe and sound in 12 minutes. They got in and enjoyed the concert. I promised a name check but …… I have a whole forest of paper in my b