Our eagerly anticipated Saturday night arrived. Our faces painted in a tribute to Ed, T-shirts adorned; we were ready for Maiden!The Iron Maiden story is an incredible one and one I probably would not have shared if I had not have been snowed in in New Zealand with nothing to do but spend 6 hours engrossed in a four part documentary on Iron Maiden. As the DVDs continued, my perception of their talent changed. I no longer saw them as just a heavy metal band; I saw a tight knit group of talented and passionate professionals. Incredible storytellers whose focus on continuous improvement and creating a strong culture forms the basis of their success.3 things Iron Maiden taught me about leadership  Be authentic - the best you can beTheir story is an incredible one, did it resonate with me because one of their previous drummers Clive Burr had MS, or the fact that Bruce Dickinson is a commercial pilot and flies their Ed Force One jet they tour on, or was it because as their story unfolded I learnt of a group of enthusiasts who each searched to challenge the status quo?  

You could never call them ordinary and I have long been fascinated by what drives people to be extra-ordinary. Fisher Cat Sailboat For SaleSkill, passion and beyond belief ability! 4 Bedroom Houses For Sale In Plymouth UkIn the corporate world, that recipe directly impacts on the bottom line!Linoleum Floor Repair Kit Home DepotOn stage, these guys perfectly transcribe that recipe.  There is something to be said about watching a person in action who you can trust to deliver something more than ordinary. These guys love what they do! And why wouldn't they when their fans are beside themselves revelling in their art.Take what you do seriously, have a vision and a shared goalBe wildly passionate and deliver your message with conviction. 

These guys get the statistics: 55% body language, 28% tone of voice and 12 % words. They never stop moving, every action designed to ignite passion and commitment to their cause. An orchestrated show where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Bruce Dickinson, with his incredible voice, Adrian Smith's spectacular rifts, they quickly capture your attention and respect as they immerse you in their passion, vision and beliefs. Every song perfected to reflect what they believe the DNA of their music to be. Say no to average!Steve Harris’s galloping beat on the bass, his hands miraculously orchestrating the story, Nicko McBrain’s busy drum patterns and tremendous technique, Dave Murray’s devilishly fast guitar playing, the flashy performance style of Janick Gers on guitar; I am not known for my musical talents, but those boys can string together a bar or two which is guaranteed to make your soul soar! I don't know how they do it, but they connect, involve, model passion and share.

Share the dream that if you believe.... Michael Burrough The Raven Age….The answer is simple, success takes hard work!With the concert over, we headed back to the hotel to debrief on the highlights and continue revelling in the atmosphere with fellow Iron Maiden enthusiasts. Little did we know, the highlight of the night was still to come. Michael Burrough fronts the Iron Maiden support band, The Raven Age. A chance meeting at the bar started a night of amusement and opportunity to ask what he attributes his success to. I loved his honest answer: hard work and commitment.Michael left me with no doubt that if you believe it is your journey, you will succeed! The Raven Age stage show and album is a tribute to his beliefs. I gained such insight on leadership and created memories that this girl will never forget!They came, they saw, they conquered. Iron Maiden have once again torn through Sydney as a part of their world tour in support of last year’s double album, The Book of Souls. It was a night of adventure, anthems and awesome feats of heavy metal incarnate.

So let’s put the pedal to the mettle (pun intended) and chalk up the 20 most metal things about Maiden’s Sydney voyage. Words by DAVID JAMES YOUNG. Photos by TROY CONSTABLE. Even before the band had played a single note, a handful of dedicated fans and photographers had gathered out near Sydney Airport to witness Ed Force One – Maiden’s own private jumbo jet, as piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson – touch down. From all reports, it was a sight to see – and quite literally metal, too. But not the kind you’d think. Minutes before Maiden took to the stage, their PA test-out/walk-on music was ‘Doctor Doctor’, the 1974 single from the relatively-obscure hard-rockers UFO. It definitely served as a proper rile-up for those into their classic rock and metal – which, as it turns out, was pretty much everyone. After an extensive and unintentionally-hilarious 3D-animated video (perhaps made by the same guy who made the clips for AC/DC’s and Black Sabbath), the top tier of the stage shed the spotlight on an ominous, hooded figure.

It was there that Dickinson let out the opening lyrics of ‘If Eternity Should Fail’, the opening number from The Book of Souls, looking into an ominous cauldron of dry ice and seemingly summoning the spirits with his grandiose gestures. Hell, it probably wasn’t even special effects – he’s probably got the power to do exactly that. He might be the band’s third guitarist, but he’s far from the third wheel. In the first of many tricks (and the first of several points dedicated to him), the lanky shredder popped his left leg up on the stack and riffed away like nobody’s business. There are few guitarists in the world of metal that can rile an audience up like this guy right here.Did you see that? How on earth did he get such air time on that? How did he land perfectly? How did he not tumble off the stage? How did he not miss a beat the entire time? What kind of creature is this Dickinson customer? We’ve all seen a swing around the neck, but how about turning the fucker inside out and twisting it every which way in a split second?

Some sort of wizardry on offer from the band’s secret weapon. Truly living proof that everyone thinks the best thing to wear to an Iron Maiden show is an Iron Maiden shirt – including Iron Maiden. The only person who has never left Iron Maiden in its 41 years as a band is Steve Harris. He is the glue holding this entire operation together, and it was nice to see him get a brief moment in the sun as he chugged away on some bass chords under a spotlight to lead into ‘The Red and the Black’. Solid as a rock – or, indeed, some kind of metal. Although we sadly didn’t see a drum solo from the long-standing sticksman, we did get a fairly extensive tour of a drum kit that was so overwhelmingly massive that he literally couldn’t be seen from straight on when he was behind it. Even with a dozen cymbals and toms, it was no secret what everyone wanted to see implemented – the giant gong hanging behind him. It’s one of the great rockstar indulgences, and it suited this concert to a T.

Since 1999, Maiden have been a three guitar band – Gers, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray. For many bands, it’s a pointless exercise, but Maiden are certainly the kind of band that can use all 18 strings to the very best of their abilities. Watching this half of the band powering through the band’s hits is a sight to see – especially when they’d all form a huddle of sorts in the middle of the stage; as if to say to one another “show us what you’ve got.” Between each song, a banner would change in the background. Each one symbolised the next song in question by means of its artwork. So naturally, when Eddie turned up in a red coat and a flag in his hand, one dude toward the back of the room screamed nice and loudly for anyone that hadn’t already figured it out: “THE TROOOOPAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” This, of course, lead to… Even reading that name, you’ve probably already got the distinctive dual guitar harmony riff stuck back in your head. This still stands as one of the band’s finest moments, and it was given all of the love it deserves.

Bruce even turned up in the red coat himself, waving about the flag and dangling it over Janick’s head while he was trying to do a solo. During the title track of The Book of Souls, the band’s mascot Eddie made his way out onto the stage to one of the biggest cheers of the evening. The honeymoon period didn’t last long, however – Eddie had a bone to pick, and came after the band to promptly seek revenge for one thing or the other. Typically, Dickinson was having absolutely none of it. He did battle with the fucker and literally ripped his heart out of his chest. That move again, people, is rip his heart out of his goddamn chest. When he was done, he held it up in his face. Then to the crowd, who lost their shit. If that wasn’t enough of an insult to injury, he then went ahead and tossed it straight into the moshpit. Even more shit-losing, and another victory for Bruce. Nearly 25 years on from its release, the title track from Maiden’s 1992 album Fear of the Dark remains a beloved set staple.

The voices were raised in full force when Gers began to pick out the unforgettable melody, upholding a long-time metal tradition with aplomb. The song remains one of the most theatrical and epically-proportioned songs in the Maiden canon, and it naturally killed as one of the set highlights. As Kanye once said: “Every superhero needs his theme music.” For Maiden, it’s their title track; which also happens to be one of their heaviest, fastest and toughest tracks. The crowd lapped it up by screaming back every last word, and the band rarely sounded as tight as they did in this moment. If that wasn’t enough, we also got the return of Eddie. Because you can’t keep a good demon down. Eddie reappeared toward the end to recreate The Book of Souls album cover as a giant inflatable version of himself. Truly, the metal dream is to have enough in the budget to warrant some bouncy castle blow-up shit. The band walked off the stage after ‘Iron Maiden’, but every single person in attendance knew that it wasn’t over just yet.

We had a certain Satanic ritual to get to – that being the summoning of the devil himself through the demonic metal classic ‘The Number of the Beast’. That’s not just an expression, either – some sort of weird goat-demon thing rose out of the ground during this song. Nothing short of terrifying. Unless you’re really into prog, there’s not a great chance you’re going to come across anything that isn’t played in the 4/4 time signature in traditional heavy metal. That’s where ‘Blood Brothers’ comes in. It’s predominantly in 6/8, but it also has a section in 3/4 – AKA waltz time – and it gave Dickinson a chance to teach the Maidenheads about the double clap in time with the one-two-three, one-two-three. They could have easily crossed their arms at something so outlandish, but – being the legends they collectively were (and are) – they went along with it in full force. The last song of the evening belonged to a song that, while not always regarded as a classic in the same breath as ‘Two Minutes to Midnight’ or ‘Run to the Hills’, bloody well should be.