FLIGHT 666 documents the first leg of Maiden's legendary SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR which took them 50,000 miles round the planet playing 23 concerts on five continents in just 45 days. One of the stars of the movie... more » is the band's customized Boeing 757, Ed Force One, which carried the band, all their crew and 12 tons of stage equipment and was piloted by Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, a fully qualified and active Airline Captain with Astraeus Airlines. Taking you on a visual global tour from Mumbai to Sydney, Tokyo to L.A., Mexico City to Costa Rica, Bogota to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Santiago to New York and Toronto and places in-between, you travel with the band and crew on the plane, to and from shows, in the bar and during leisure time, while experiencing the exhaustion and fan pandemonium that comes with such a mission.« less
First rate audio and video quality, band in top form.
R. Pagoulatos | 06/27/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you are a fan of Iron Maiden, this is the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind. Watching this concert in 1080P projected on a 133" screen is awe inspiring. The DTS-HD MA audio mix is appropriately aggressive and captures the band's sound perfectly. It definitely helps that the band is obviously having fun with the enthusiastic crowds, and are in fine form, especially vocalist Dickinson, who sounds effortless hitting all of his signature high notes throughout the set. I may be crazy, but he appears to have even better control of his voice now than on earlier concert films like the classic "Live After Death" when he was barely 26 years old (and theoretically in his prime!). Impressive indeed.
Drummer Nicko McBrain literally puts on a drum clinic on several songs, and the set provides some great angles of his playing, especially a particularly well edited segment of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which had my jaw on the floor. The guitar playing is also pretty great throughout, and surprisingly very tight considering there are 3 guitarists in the line-up. It's hard to pick "highlights" because the whole set is basically guitar riff heaven!
As others have stated, this is a great concert to introduce people to Iron Maiden. Oh, and there is also a pretty good documentary on the disk as well... ;)
The actual documentary is pretty light on content, and emphasizes fun moments more than shedding any real light on the inner workings of the band. I was ok with that, even as a pretty huge fan of Maiden since the 80's, but I can certainly understand where someone that wants to know what color underwear Steve Harris wears would be disappointed here. Ah well, you can't please everybody! And apparently there is a mountain of footage not used, so I'm sure we'll eventually see it released in a retrospective of some sort when the band gets to that point in their careers (10 years from now would be my guess).
But for now, I can't recommend this disk highly enough. Do not hesitate- even if you are only a casual fan- buy this NOW, especially if you have a good sound system and a 1080P display.
"
What do you know? It's a Maiden Documentary!
Renfield | Edmonton, Canada | 06/10/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"On January 30th 2008, Maiden embarked on the first leg of their most adventurous tour: the "Somewhere Back in Time" tour. Their means of transportation was a Boeing 757, which carried the band, the fans, and the crew, as well as up to 12 tons of stage equipment. The pilot? Vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
Flight 666 is an incredible documentary that documents the first leg of this adcenturous tour. Made by Samm Dunn and Scot McFadyen, the geniuses behind two other awesome documentaries, "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" and "Global Metal", this film is a treat for all Maiden fans.
During the 112 minutes, we see the band travel from country to country, with some breathtaking shots of the plane flying, and some great footage of the band when they're NOT on stage too. We even get gootage of the band on the plane, having fun as usual. They do such things as go golfing, visit the Mexican pyramids, and much more too. Thbe band are their usual selves with their usual sense of humor, which is expected! Of course Nicko has his usual hilarity too!
The concert footage is flat out amazing. Real up-close-and-personal footage, it gets my blood pumping every time I think of it. No overdubs in the audio as well, and the great audio quality is enough to make you feel like you're at the concert. Watching this movie made me think back to when I saw them on the second leg of the tour, and what a magical night it was too.
In short, this movie is a must see for all Maiden fans, and all fans of good music in general. It's a must-own too! I own the blu-ray, and have already watched it 3 times! But you know the deal, 3 times is never enough... not even 1000 times is enough!
The Blu-Ray quality is stunning. The picture quality is the best Blu-Ray quality, no doubt. There is an added grain in some shots, but that is to add a dramatic documentary look. Everything looks AWESOME here. The concert footage is awesome, makes you feel like you're there. The sound quality is stunning too- the DTS HD audio is awesome, if you have your system hooked up properly you can feel the music as if you're at the concert! The bonus concert footage is awesome as well. You get the full songs, with footage of the cities the songs are performed in before the songs.
So do NOT miss this film, and especially do NOT miss this blu-ray release too!"
A review of the concert footage..mainly**
Mick Schnabel | Tacoma,Wa | 07/21/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"To put it plainly,like all the other reviews,this is one AMAZING BLU RAY DISC!..SOUND AND FOOTAGE.Now I have to admit,I haven't watched a whole lot of the actual documentary footage..because I simply can't get past the actual concert.The sound is some of the best I've heard for live concert footage on DVD/BLU RAY.You can really crank this one up to 10!I've been waiting patiently for a quality metal blu ray and this is it,hands down so far..unless your NOT a Maiden fan(then your just nuts anyways!)My wife is even stunned by this disc(because she's an awesome metal-head like myself) Don't even think about buying this if your a fan..DO IT.IMMEDIATELY.This will be watched close to a hundred times at least while I own it!!"
Thank you.
Jason Lockridge | Birmingham, AL United States | 07/08/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Iron Maiden...
Just Thank You.
Thank you for letting down the guard that so often separates reality from the "glamours" of stardom. Seeing how "real" the band is, understanding what Iron Maiden is all about, feeling the "soul" of the music---it's all lovingly accomplished in this wonderful documentary. Even if you're not a fan of Iron Maiden (you will be), you will enjoy this film. "But there's more..(!)"...
Seeing the tears in the eyes of the people of Latin America. Wondering what was behind those eyes...
Seeing Bruce actually fly the band around the world in a 757. Umm...wow. That is certainly a first.
Seeing Steve and the musicianship, the family, the love for what Iron Maiden represents, and the integrity to hold on to that.
Seeing the absolute, nonforced, unabated JOY on the faces of the band, who truly seem to appreciate their audiences throughout the entire tour, in the face of the 2000's cynicism that pervades what passes as "popular music" most of the time today...
Thank you to Iron Maiden, to the filmmakers, and to the audiences of this tour for making something real, something tangible, and something to believe in. Kudos to all of those involved. 5 Stars all the way."
A definitive piece for the Live Concert collection
Felipe Quintana | Atlanta, GA | 09/30/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not a big fan of Maiden, but i do like a lot of their songs. I watched the preview of this Bluray, and I felt i had to get it. So I did.
The bluray features 2 ways to watch the concert:
- a film, half of it is the live performances in the diferent countries for each song, and documentary footage in between each of the songs, where you can see the band doing different kinds of stuff both at the country of the concert and in flight, interviews, backstage, you name it.
- full concert, what you were expecting to see, the songs played back to back, no interruptions.
Video quality is absolutely amazing, one of the best i've seen for a live concert dvd. Crisp, clear picture. one of the best in my collection. (maybe I'm still overwhelmed by the blu-ray quality)
Audio quality is great, it sounds very good in my 2.1 system, very clear sound. I bet in a 5.1 HD would sound amazingly good, but that's for you to find out.
I had a lot of fun watching the whole film, an interesting and never before seen documentary of the things a band would do, and that you have always wondered. Perhaps that is the suprise about this film, since you realize these guys do just the usual things normal people would do.
The song selection was amazing. You can see most of their big hits, and you can feel the power and energy deployed on stage by these great musicians playing their own songs
I give this Blu-ray 5 stars because of the excellent video and audio quality, because it is a fun movie/concert to watch, the good edition, and the great song selection."