Bro, let me tell you something you won't see on the news. At the Iron Maiden concert on Lia Manoliu, besides the 35,000 fans who came face to face with Eddie, there were also cops on horses - yeah, on horses, like in the movies, guarding the entrance so no rocker would jump the fence. And that's not all: in the area, man, you couldn't catch any internet even if you begged Eddie. They blocked it, so people wouldn't take pics with the mascot, supposedly for security. Me, my girl Mioara told me: 'Watch out you don't get fined, you got no guts.'
The crowd, bro, was more varied than at Fane's barbecue: from kids who didn't know 'The Number of the Beast' to veterans with gray hair and wrinkled t-shirts. Average age? Right between Metallica fans and Korzh fans, meaning neither too young to jump around everywhere, nor too old to sleep standing up. On Facebook, people went wild: some bragged that 'we're patriots, look what concerts we have,' others complained that 'if war with Ukraine comes, we won't even catch Iron Maiden.' That's Romania, bro: from rock to geopolitics in one comment.
And it didn't end there. A controversy also popped up between Mihai Mărgineanu and Florin Chilian, over some covers. Mărgineanu, with his cover band, went after Chilian for allegedly stealing his songs. The crowd, of course, mocked the whole story: 'Dude, Metallica also did a cover of Mărgineanu twice, so you got nothing to say!' So, instead of arguing, maybe they should make peace and sing together at a barbecue, because hey, we're all Romanians.
Among the spectators, Delia also showed off, posting a picture in a swimsuit, and people started joking: 'What, Loredana, is that you?' Yeah, Loredana, without Loredana, was the subject of jokes: 'The age difference between her and her daughter is bigger than between Iron Maiden and manele.' Ouch, that's a Facebook joke for sure.
In the end, bro, although geopolitical tensions are eating us all up - Ukraine, Moldova, the war - Romanians still party at concerts. Resilience and humor, the way we know best. Now, let's see if next year we catch another concert without them blocking the internet and without cops on horses. Until then, I'm listening to 'Fear of the Dark' in the car and telling Tyson to bark along to the beat.
