Becoming

2 Minutes To Midnight

The first portion of the North American tour went peacefully enough. Bruce brought Dave a letter from his solicitor, asking him to write out – in as much detail as possible – his version of what happened the night they'd seen Jane leaving Mötley Crüe's bus. Bruce said that Jane had chosen to contest the divorce, so he needed as much evidence as possible against her. Dave obliged without question, more than willing to help his friend get free of a cheating wife.

Because of his legal issues, the singer would be going back to England over the Christmas break, but he was the only one. Nicko was going to visit his ex's hometown and spend Christmas with his son. Lorraine planned to fly in with baby Lauren; Steve planned to meet her in Cincinnati, where Iron Maiden would have their first show of 1985, while Dave and Ade opted to sightsee in Chicago over the holidays.

Everyone in the band was in a good mood as they started the meet'n'greet before their final show of 1984; Bruce somehow sourced a Father Christmas costume and put on the coat and hat over his stage clothes, plus held a sprig of mistletoe over his head whenever a woman approached – even if she was with a boyfriend. However, he did the mistletoe thing in a joking enough manner that no one got offended, and most of the women did laugh and give him a kiss, whether on the lips or just his cheek.

As usual, Dave and Ade had the smallest group around them. Having fortified himself with a few beers beforehand, Ade became more talkative than usual and got drawn into a discussion comparing Johnny Winter and Jimi Hendrix with a rather loud and opinionated bloke who completely ignored his girlfriend in his quest to prove Ade wrong about something. When he failed to sway Ade to his opinion of Jimi Hendrix, the bloke then tried to tell Ade what he ought to be doing differently onstage and how he should adjust his playing technique to sound better. The girlfriend stood awkwardly nearby, seeming uncomfortable.

Dave tried to set the young woman a little more at ease. "Have a seat if you'd like, Miss," he told her with a smile. "I promise I don't bite. I'm Dave, by the way, Dave Murray, if you didn't catch our names when they opened the doors."

"Tamar Carlson," she replied, taking the offered seat a little hesitantly. "It's nice to meet you, Dave." She looked around, taking in Bruce's antics as well as Steve and Nicko apparently relating some funny story judging by the laughter of the crowd gathered around the two of them on the far side of the room. "I'm not sure what I expected when Greg asked me to come out a day early for your concert, but I'm honestly a little nervous. I think I've only heard that one song of yours that's been on the radio lately, um, Aces High, I think it's called? The one about the Spitfire pilot fighting the Germans in World War Two."

Dave smiled. "Yeah, our manager told us that one's actually getting some airplay on the wireless over here. Seems whoever's in charge of rock stations thinks most of our stuff is too long or something."

Tamar chuckled. "Well, I have no clue how any of that gets decided. But anyway, yeah, Greg asked me to fly out and spend Christmas with his family – I'll be meeting his parents for the first time – and then he said he got us tickets to your show and to the meet'n'greet, so here I am."

"Well, we're glad to have you here, Tamar," Dave said easily. "I hope you'll decide you like our music, or at least, that you don't dislike it. Where are you from, then, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Hawaii – well, I was born in California, but we moved to Maui when I was little," Tamar said. "Greg and I met at UCLA last year, but he's in law school now, at the University of Chicago, where he's nearer to his family. That, and he said he missed having a proper winter. I think he's nuts – I've been freezing since I got here!"

Dave laughed. "I'm from a little place called Upper Clapton in East London. It gets cold there, but I have to agree with you, the weather here is bloody freezing. I'm looking forward to visiting Hawaii in spring, though, it'll be Maiden's first time playing there. We'll be in Honolulu at the end of March."