Ed Force One...

[66Atlas]

Apparently all that luxury is a requirement to keep Janick in top dancing form.  Those are some crazy moves 

[Basvarken]

Rather pathetic.
Makes me cringe.

[uwe]

He's always done that, even as a young man with White Spirit and Gillan.





Let him, the Iron Maiden fans love him for it and the other two guitarists can't really be bothered with stage moves (at the same time their duo-chugging-the-riffs gives Janick some athletic freedom). Quite a few of those moves are actually typical Blackmore gyrations (who borrowed his share from Hendrix it has to be said), the type you would also see with little Yngwie in the 80ies. Gers is a Blackmore nut - as you cannot only see, but also hear.

Iron Maiden has  - in any incarnation - always been either cringeworthy or disarmingly down to earth and a band of the people, choose your sides, gentlemen! You're just so harsh on them, Rob, because you have the "estranged lover-syndrome" as a former fan. I always found them a little naff, even when they were still opening for Priest, but they haven't become any naffer over the decades. Just consistenly a little naff, but endearingly so.

Oh my, Iron Maiden (the song) is not exactly one of their more noteworthy compositions even if you mean well with them.  It sounds just like it came out of the rehearsal space it did emanate from. At this point, Steve Harris was no Brian Wilson (and judging from the backing vocals still isn't).

[Basvarken]

With Gillan it was nowhere nearly as ridiculous as it is nowadays with Iron Maiden. His share in guitar parts is so diminished, he must be bored out of his brains. So he decides to make a complete fool of himself with not so smooth guitar acrobatics copied from an era long gone.
 

[66Atlas]

The first thing I thought when I saw that video is that he seems to be trying to emulate DLR era Steve Vai

He looks like a complete clown doing that in group like Maiden.  But if a group like Babymetal has fans I'm sure that Janick has his.

[uwe]

Steve Vai would have made a premier league ballet dancer and I'm not joking. The way he slinkily moves across the stage in his very own fluid style is unsurpassed (I saw him live with Whitesnake and, ill musical fit that he was, he outmoved and outplayed them all that night and WS were a very image- and stage moves-conscious band in 1989) - I agree that in comparison Janick looks like a truck driver at a yoga session, but, come on!, he plays with Iron Maiden, you can't afford to be too artsy for that type of work.  In any case, Judas Priest were always both musically and stage moves-wise the more elegant band, it helps if you have a gay guy in the band with an eye for this! Here, at 2:07, (the other) Rob and his boys show you how it's done!

[Basvarken]

Haha yeah very elegant. 
I can't watch Judas Priest without thinking of these guys:

[uwe]

That owes (musically) more to Foghat though (as does the bassist's 'tache)!

Spinal Tap has cult status among heavy metal fans and bands - and there is not one musician in the genre that denies that nearly all of its observations were true (yes, Halford has lost his way trying to find the stage for the band's intro, he eventually made a habit of it singing "Electric Eye" as the opener unseen for the first verses, and, yes, he's also fallen off his motorcycle or crashed it from the stage). Says a lot about the selfdepracating nature of a niche of music that is generally identified with being less than self-reflective and/or humorless.

[gearHed289]

Wow... I wasn't aware of his moves. I've never seen Maiden live, but I did watch their "Flight 666" DVD and thought it was great. I don't recall seeing any of his antics. Maybe they were edited out, or *I* edited them out?!?! 

[uwe]

Come on, it's the final part of their marathon show, they are only giving the people what they want. It's no different than the final number at a Kiss concert.

That said, I think that by a stretch Adrian Smith is the best musician and certainly the best guitarist in Iron Maiden. But when he returned to the fold, they kept Janick because he was (i) a nice guy and (ii) much more extroverted on stage than either Adrian or Dave (Murray). So he is doing what he got (and kept!) the job for.

That doesn't change my view that - given the possibilities - Iron Maiden are severely underselling the three lead guitars potential and it's all rather hamfisted. But that is Iron Maiden for you and probably also why they still fill stadiums when no one can really tell their records and songs apart. Kind of like the Stones. Eddie and his cohorts have become an institution, their concerts an event you go to even if you haven't bought a CD from them for the last 20 years.

[Basvarken]

I find it hard to believe the Iron Maiden fans want to see someone juggling with his guitar instead of playing the damn thing.

http://www.metalstorm.net/forum/topic.php?topic_id=29194

[uwe]

I find it hard to believe the Iron Maiden fans want to see someone juggling with his guitar instead of playing the damn thing.

http://www.metalstorm.net/forum/topic.php?topic_id=29194

When there's two others doing the job just as well if not better?

I liked Gers' obviously Blackmoresque style when he was poached from White Spirit for Gillan, but if truth be told: Bernie Tormé, while not as technically adept as Janick, had more heart and attitude. Something died with Gillan when he left and Gers just administrated the leftovers. I saw him with Gillan once, he was more melodic than the "punk with a Hendrix influence"-Tormé, but Tormé was captivating on stage with his Adam Ant look.

I've seen Maiden with Gers (the tour when Bruce and Adrian returned) and his solos were flashy and designed to impress the unknowing eye, but they had none of the musicality of Adrian Smith as he hid behind his mic stand and concentrated on his fretboard. The third guitarist does nothing for me either way, he's a NWOBHM shredder if there is such a thing.

[Highlander]

The only version of Gillan I didn't see (afaik) was the exact lineup that recorded "Gillan", and Liam Genocky only played a handful of gigs with them... hands down, by far the best guitarist was Steve Byrd, but the night Mr B came on really put the nail in the coffin, from the look on his face that night...
Saw Mr Gers with White Spirit and the last incarnation of Gillan, but always though his style, even down to the antics and moves, were very much a Blackmore clone... not that I didn't enjoy his playing...
As for poor ol' Bernie "Mr Whammy Bar" Torme, everything was loud-as-pos and smack the whammy as close to/far from the body of the old start as he could... saw him pre and post Gillan, one time supporting the pre Lord/Paice Whitesnake...
Only ever saw a very early version of Maiden, with Big Den as one of the guitarists and Mr Dickenson with Samson fairly early on but never with Maiden...

[uwe]

You saw the gig where Blackers jammed with Gillan trying to lure the latter into Rainbow?

[Basvarken]

Haha, there goes another thread sucked into the Ritchie Blackhole