The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[MirrorMask]

The Trooper is the overplayed song that I never get tired of, 'cause it's a short rush of adrenaline and oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ing. I'm fine with Hallowed going, but I'd have The Number of the Beast going before that.

[El Barto]

Fear of the Dark is always my first choice to get the axe, but it'll never happen. And honestly, does anybody really care about seeing Iron Maiden played live every damn show?

[cramx3]

Yea, dropping IM for any other song would be an instant boost to the setlist IMO.  I've never even found that song enjoyable and the only thing that makes it alright live is the Eddie appearance, which can be added to any song really.

[MirrorMask]

Yes, it's so iconic that it would feel that something is missing, and it's the best excuse to shout "Iron Maiden" and see a big Eddie.

It could and should have been dropped earlier in their history, by now it feels just so wrong to go without it.

About Fear of the Dark... they never should have played it in the history tours. I can accept it being always in the set, but the history tours were a golden chance to get rid of it. They did that only on the Early Days tour.

[Stadler]

Yes, it's so iconic that it would feel that something is missing, and it's the best excuse to shout "Iron Maiden" and see a big Eddie.

It could and should have been dropped earlier in their history, by now it feels just so wrong to go without it.

About Fear of the Dark... they never should have played it in the history tours. I can accept it being always in the set, but the history tours were a golden chance to get rid of it. They did that only on the Early Days tour.

Yeah, I'm with you guys on that; I can take "Iron Maiden"; it's 3 minutes, you get Ed, you get history, blah blah blah.   FotD is a very good song, but not 'every single tour' good.   There are ten songs - and not even deep cuts - that I would rather hear than that. 

[cramx3]

Fear of the Dark definitely should not have been included on the history tours.  Otherwise, I love it live.  I would say it's my second favorite of the live staples behind Hallowed.

[MirrorMask]

By now with Fear of the Dark I look forward only to the initial slow part, it always crack me up to see whatever variation of "You / Nation name / Town name" Bruce comes up with, he never really does twice the same thing, and that little funny moment alone is worth to have it in the set 

[TAC]

Yeah, I'm with you guys on that; I can take "Iron Maiden"; it's 3 minutes, you get Ed, you get history, blah blah blah.   FotD is a very good song, but not 'every single tour' good.   There are ten songs - and not even deep cuts - that I would rather hear than that.

That's how I feel about The Number Of The Beast.

[El Barto]

Yeah, I'm with you guys on that; I can take "Iron Maiden"; it's 3 minutes, you get Ed, you get history, blah blah blah.   FotD is a very good song, but not 'every single tour' good.   There are ten songs - and not even deep cuts - that I would rather hear than that.

That's how I feel about The Number Of The Beast.

Yeah, but the various devil's they've always brought along are far more interesting than the various Eddies. I can live without seeing Eddie play with Janick for 5 minutes. The BoS devil was great, but I also liked the earlier one that always followed Bruce around with his eyes.

[PowerSlave]

Every time that I've seen the band they've played Hallowed. I know that it was their "staple" closer, but after all these years I thought that they were missing an opportunity to pull out some of their other epics. I think that if they played To Tame a Land that it would be very well received. Of course, they've never played Alexander live, either. There are plenty of other choices.

[Mosh]

Iron Maiden (the song) gets a pass for being short and the cue for Eddie. Fear of the Dark should go. I get that it's a crowd pleasure but that song honestly bores me. Hallowed is in a similar boat at this point. Every time they play it it feels like they're going through the motions. NOTB is hit and miss. Run To the Hills should've been retired 10 years ago at least. The Trooper is still awesome.

[TAC]

So, this is what bothers me about most long term bands building setlists. If they have 3 or 4 songs played every tour, then I can accept that. But it's those secondary songs that get played over and over. Granted Powerslave and COTD are great tunes, but they have been on most of the recent tours, no?

[Mosh]

Not necessarily. Both were played on the SBIT and Ed Hunter tours, Children was played in 2007. So not super common, although they could go deeper.

[TAC]

I guess you're right, but I just feel like the secondary pool of Classic Era songs to choose from is relatively small.

[wolfking]

I guess you're right, but I just feel like the secondary pool of Classic Era songs to choose from is relatively small.

You're right.  Those songs are like a backup go to set of songs to warrant the need for change in the sets over tours.  They are not there every tour so I reckon gives the band that peace of mind that they are giving the something a little rare, even though to die hard fans, they really aren't.

[Mosh]

For sure. I was slightly disappointed that they went with COTD after hyping up a "rare" song. I was hoping they'd go deeper. I always thought Sea of Madness in particular would go down well nowadays, Bruce would sound better on it than in the 80s. Or for a song that has never been played live, Flash Of the Blade is perfect for the 3 guitar lineup.

I will say that in the band's defense, 7 years is a reasonably large gap for a song. I'm sure it did seem like a rare song for people who aren't as hardcore. Still, there's plenty of room for just one actual rare song per tour.

[wolfking]

Yeah, sometimes they do have a decent break between these second tier rarity songs, but when the band have so much quality material, there's endless options.  I guess the band are getting older and still tour so much, they really wouldn't have the energy or patience to bring out something from the closet.  And, really, you can't blame them.

[El Barto]

Yeah, sometimes they do have a decent break between these second tier rarity songs, but when the band have so much quality material, there's endless options.  I guess the band are getting older and still tour so much, they really wouldn't have the energy or patience to bring out something from the closet.  And, really, you can't blame them.

This is my take on it. I just don't think they're the sort of guys that can re-learn to play Icarus during a few sound-checks. Not to mention working in a pointless 3rd guitar. And that second point might be a key problem here. I might be off base, but it's possible that of all the songs they might want to work into a live show, only some of those could work well with Janick thrown into the mix.

[cramx3]

I just don't think there is any incentive to play anything else.  They play the newest songs and that's fresh for them and fulfills a lot of the hunger from fans.  Then they satisfy the rest with the classics.  They don't have to practice so much or prepare (beyond the new songs), the show is simple since it's the same every night, and they walk away with tons of cash after each show.  Playing a rare song only opens up the possibility of criticism from the old fans for not playing a classic and the new fans for "Janick butchered Adrian's solo" or whatever. 

[cfmoran13]

[This is my take on it. I just don't think they're the sort of guys that can re-learn to play Icarus during a few sound-checks. Not to mention working in a pointless 3rd guitar. And that second point might be a key problem here. I might be off base, but it's possible that of all the songs they might want to work into a live show, only some of those could work well with Janick thrown into the mix.

C'mon!  We all know Janick's guitar isn't plugged in.   

[Mosh]

Yeah, sometimes they do have a decent break between these second tier rarity songs, but when the band have so much quality material, there's endless options.  I guess the band are getting older and still tour so much, they really wouldn't have the energy or patience to bring out something from the closet.  And, really, you can't blame them.

This is my take on it. I just don't think they're the sort of guys that can re-learn to play Icarus during a few sound-checks. Not to mention working in a pointless 3rd guitar. And that second point might be a key problem here. I might be off base, but it's possible that of all the songs they might want to work into a live show, only some of those could work well with Janick thrown into the mix.

I don't know about that. Many of their 80s tunes already have more than 2 guitar parts and they already have a system for dividing up rhythm guitar (Janick plays high, Dave does midrange power chords, Adrian does low chords/drop D).

FWIW, they've been entertaining the idea of playing songs that have never been played live before quite a bit in interviews lately. Nicko has wanted to do that for years but now Steve has mentioned it a few times too. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens on the next nostalgia tour.

[El Barto]

Yeah, sometimes they do have a decent break between these second tier rarity songs, but when the band have so much quality material, there's endless options.  I guess the band are getting older and still tour so much, they really wouldn't have the energy or patience to bring out something from the closet.  And, really, you can't blame them.

This is my take on it. I just don't think they're the sort of guys that can re-learn to play Icarus during a few sound-checks. Not to mention working in a pointless 3rd guitar. And that second point might be a key problem here. I might be off base, but it's possible that of all the songs they might want to work into a live show, only some of those could work well with Janick thrown into the mix.

I don't know about that. Many of their 80s tunes already have more than 2 guitar parts and they already have a system for dividing up rhythm guitar (Janick plays high, Dave does midrange power chords, Adrian does low chords/drop D).

Fair enough. I'll certainly defer to you on that.

[Stadler]

I think Cram is closest, though that theory goes out the window with the "history" tours.  They already play over half a set of new material that most people will not be intimate with, so to have the "older" stuff all be nuggets is probably asking more than Steve is willing to do.   Plus, theirs is not a stage set that lends itself to a Grateful Dead style set juggle.  I don't know; I suppose I'm making excuses for them now, but it could be a lot worse. 

[wolfking]

I think they are so proud and reliant on the new material also which hurts the opportunity of old gems coming out.

[jjrock88]

I think it's impossible for a band like Iron Maiden to please all of their fans with the set list so like Wolf said, they play a good chunk of the new songs because they are proud of them. And they should be because they are outstanding songs. And then they just throw in a handful of safe known older songs that the majority of fans all dig. It's a good formula and is clearly working for them.

Bring on a new live album!

[Mosh]

I think Cram is closest, though that theory goes out the window with the "history" tours.  They already play over half a set of new material that most people will not be intimate with, so to have the "older" stuff all be nuggets is probably asking more than Steve is willing to do.   Plus, theirs is not a stage set that lends itself to a Grateful Dead style set juggle.  I don't know; I suppose I'm making excuses for them now, but it could be a lot worse. 

Of all the classic prog/hard rock/metal bands, Rush had the winning formula. They always pulled out plenty of rarities and usually left certain spots open for rotating songs while still allowing the rest of the set to be bound to the stage show. Granted they did 3 hour concerts, but I think Maiden could do something similar. Have COTD and Blood Brothers be rotating spots for example.

[Mladen]

I attended the two Oberhausen shows several days ago. Fantastic gigs as always. The Great unknown isn't one of my favorites on the album but it works remarkably well live and it really was one of the highlights, very exciting point of the show. As far as the other set list change is concerned, they might as well retire Hallowed be thy name - even though it's a masterpiece, it's been played to death and it can make room for some other songs. Wrathchild, however, was the laziest possible replacement. 

[MirrorMask]

Indeed, even The Wicker Man, Rainmaker or Different World would have been better.

[Mladen]

The Wicker man would have actually been fantastic, especially at that spot.

[Logain Ablar]

I attended the two Oberhausen shows several days ago. Fantastic gigs as always. The Great unknown isn't one of my favorites on the album but it works remarkably well live and it really was one of the highlights, very exciting point of the show. As far as the other set list change is concerned, they might as well retire Hallowed be thy name - even though it's a masterpiece, it's been played to death and it can make room for some other songs. Wrathchild, however, was the laziest possible replacement. 

Interesting - not a particular favourite for me either, but it's not a bad song. I'll be seeing them in Dublin tomorrow night, so we'll see how it goes over. I think the song I'm most looking forward to from the new album is the title track - it's one of the standouts, along with Empire.

I don't really care for The Red and the Black at all. Just far too much repetition.

It will be interesting to see if they play The Trooper. They definitely didn't play it on the last tour in Belfast. Unfortunately, politics is still an issue here, and the waving of the Union Jack hasn't gone down well in the past.

[Logain Ablar]

https://youtu.be/GLyNLkmGcOQ

Fantastic show in Dublin last night! We did get The Trooper, and it went down a storm - one of the highlights of the night.

The new material was well received too, and despite what I said about TRATB, it did go over really well live.

[TAC]

The live clips from TRATB from the last leg were incredible. So happy that stayed in the set.

[El Barto]

Yeah, I don't much fare for TRatB, but it really does come off great live.

[TAC]

I've always loved that long instrumental part. Sure, it's a bit repeating, but I like that kind of thing. I just thought the rest of the song wasn't up to snuff. But watching the clips of it live, it is awesome. Would've been very bummed if I missed that.

[Architeuthis]

Just saw the Iron Maidens last night, and they rocked! Best tribute band I've ever seen, almost as good as the real band.....almost! Very entertaining show and they were all very nice ladies at the meet and greet afterwards. Anyone else ever seen them?