All these talks about setlists made me think about the history tour, which were beyond awesome but could have been more representive of their specific eras.
The way I understood it is that the Somewhere Back in Time tour was a celebration of the '80s, then it became so insanely successful that, aside from doubling the tour the year after, they realized how huge the Maiden England tour would be.
With some more pre-planning, the tours could have been more diversified, here's what happened and some realistic changes I offer..
THE EARLY DAYS TOUR, ACTUAL SETLIST:
The Ides of March
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Another Life
Prowler
The Trooper
Remember Tomorrow
Where Eagles Dare
Revelations
Run to the Hills
Wrathchild
Die With Your Boots On
Phantom of the Opera
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Iron Maiden
=================
Running Free
Drifter
Sanctuary
No real complaints here. Early days it was, early days it has been. Sure, every song off the first four album bar 2-3 tops (Quest for Fire, I'm looking at you) deserve to be played and we could discuss at lenght about which songs are missing, but this is an excellent compromise. Killers is the most glaring omission here but with foresight it could have been spared for the Maiden England tour.
SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME TOUR, ACTUAL SETLIST:
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number of the Beast
Can I Play With Madness
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
=============
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Well, for starters this is a massively awesome setlist, one of the best concerts I've ever seen and a dream come true for any Maiden fan. Still, the foresight for Maiden England could have left some more room for extra cuts, and I still remember being so ready for Hallowed when I was hearing near the end of the set four slow counts, and then FOTD started. The hell Fear of the Dark is doing here? shoo, shoo, away! let people miss it and then enjoy it more next time around.
Here's my suggestion for a still '80s oriented set, but more focused on the early part of it:
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
22 Acacia Avenue
Flight of Icarus
Can I Play With Madness
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
Phantom of the Opera
Iron Maiden
=============
The Number of the Beast
Wrathchild
Hallowed Be Thy Name
SIT and Seventh Son get a song each, Acacia and Flight who were missing on the Early Days tour and were played in the World Slavery tour came back, and replacing Moonchild made me go back to Number of the Beast as the usual encore opener. Wrathchild is there to honor Killers, so that every album up until Seventh Son is honored, and screw Fear of the Dark.
****NOTE: There's been a second leg of the SIT tour with more changes, but since I'm doing revision history, it makes little sense to offer an alternative setlist of what is already an alternative setlist (Children of the Damned was brought back, and also Phantom that I included here in place of Fear of the Dark for example).
MAIDEN ENGLAND TOUR, ACTUAL SETLIST:
Moonchild
Can I Play With Madness
The Prisoner
2 Minutes to Midnight
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
The Trooper
The Number of the Beast
Phantom of the Opera
Run to the Hills
Wasted Years
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The Clairvoyant
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
==================
Aces High
The Evil That Men Do
Running Free
Knowing that some songs were saved last time around, this was the occasion to go full throttle on the latter part of the '80s, so here's my suggestion, one is very obvious:
Moonchild
Can I Play With Madness
The Prisoner
2 Minutes to Midnight
Infinite Dreams
The Trooper
The Number of the Beast
Killers
Run to the Hills
Wasted Years
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The Clairvoyant
Heaven Can Wait
Iron Maiden
==================
Aces High
The Evil That Men Do
Running Free
Infinite Dreams takes his intended place in the set, Killers finds a way in, and screw Fear of the Dark again. An alternative would be to sack 23:58 for Killers, rather than Phantom, but both got ice-themed backdrops so it was a pity to renounce both of them. This way more of the original setlist is honored, and I guess we could go really hardcore and replace The Trooper with Still Life since we're at it.
Also next year the setlist was changed slightly, that was maybe the occasion to make the final "nostalgic" tour more comprehensive of the '80s and maybe, just maybe, sneak in Fear of the Dark, but even though these tours were some of the best concerts I've ever seen, they could have dared with the set just a little more.