The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[El Barto]

I think that's part of the problem when you have an unwritten rule that if they don't play the song on the album tour, it doesn't get played.  Kind of limits the pool of songs they end up choosing from.

Well, except that each new album has 5 or 6 songs that get played. That should still give them an extremely large pool.

Sure, but it's still "part" of the problem.  The other part I'd guess is that of the 5 or 6 songs they play, maybe only 2 or 3 get a good crowd reaction and are worthy (in their minds) of being played again.  Could also be timing, as in a song like Dream of Mirrors which got played during the BNW tour is just too long to get rotated back in, so that pool of songs we are talking about ends up being under 5 minute long songs mostly.  Another part could be willingness to re-learn songs.  They've kind of used that excuse to not bring back Alexander the Great.  I do think it's a shame so many good songs don't get played live or only get played live on the album tour and never again.

And using crowd reaction isn't always the best indicator of the rightness of a song. On opening night of the tour with DT they played Brighter pretty early in the set. By day two in Houston they replaced it with Wratchild because they didn't think it got a good enough reaction. Nobody should ever use Dallas as a measuring stick for how a song might go over. And therein lies the problem. Not only will different audiences react differently to a song, the band's enthusiasm will elicit a different reaction, and that can vary from night to night.

My understanding was they dropped the song because Nicko had trouble playing it.  But maybe crowd reaction played a role in that too.  I do agree, crowd reaction is not a good reason to not play a song.

They dropped Paschendale because Nicko had trouble playing it. It was already an every other night song, rotated with Dance of Death, so they just stopped swapping them. They dropped Brighter because the Dallas audience didn't seem to be into it (I certainly was--great song).

[cramx3]

Ah ok, I was confused then.  I do recall that swap happening and being pretty upset, not just from dropping a cool newer song, but because of what replaced it

[El Barto]

I thought Bruce's show was quite entertaining. The dude moves it along at a really fast pace, so you're never spending too much time somewhere, and he's a pretty funny guy. The first act was just starting to drag on a bit, which is exactly where he ended it for a rather long intermission. The Q/A is interesting, in that he kind of takes a politician approach. Some of the questions he just answers, and some of them he uses as a means to segue to a story he wants to tell. I suspect that's why different people get different stories; it depends on how the questions set him up. Last night's best story was probably Nicko flying him home from some place and them all nearly dying, which put Nick off of flying entirely, and gave Bruce the itch to take it up. Bruce doing Nicko is actually pretty funny.

And at no point did it feel like 3 hours.

[goo-goo]

I'll be going to tomorrow's show in Austin. Pretty excited about it.

[goo-goo]

So great to witness greatness in an intimate setting. No wonder Bruce is THE BEST frontman ever. Keep us engaged all the time. Funny, sarcastic, Nico McBrain's impersonation is worth the price of admission itself. He sang Eternals a cappella (a few lines anyway). He answered a 13 year old boy's question. Question was: I'm 13 years old and  don't know what to do. Bruce replies: DO EVERYTHING. You are 13. You are supposed to try everything and figure it out a long the way. You are 13, you have a long way to go. Not saying do DRUGS, but do everything else!!! And then you'll know what you want to do in life. Definitely didn't feel like a 3 hour talk. I enjoyed every single minute of it.

[Stadler]

So great to witness greatness in an intimate setting. No wonder Bruce is THE BEST frontman ever. Keep us engaged all the time. Funny, sarcastic, Nico McBrain's impersonation is worth the price of admission itself. He sang Eternals a cappella (a few lines anyway). He answered a 13 year old boy's question. Question was: I'm 13 years old and  don't know what to do. Bruce replies: DO EVERYTHING. You are 13. You are supposed to try everything and figure it out a long the way. You are 13, you have a long way to go. Not saying do DRUGS, but do everything else!!! And then you'll know what you want to do in life. Definitely didn't feel like a 3 hour talk. I enjoyed every single minute of it.

Ours he did a few lines of "Tears Of The Dragon".   Magical.

[cramx3]

So great to witness greatness in an intimate setting. No wonder Bruce is THE BEST frontman ever. Keep us engaged all the time. Funny, sarcastic, Nico McBrain's impersonation is worth the price of admission itself. He sang Eternals a cappella (a few lines anyway). He answered a 13 year old boy's question. Question was: I'm 13 years old and  don't know what to do. Bruce replies: DO EVERYTHING. You are 13. You are supposed to try everything and figure it out a long the way. You are 13, you have a long way to go. Not saying do DRUGS, but do everything else!!! And then you'll know what you want to do in life. Definitely didn't feel like a 3 hour talk. I enjoyed every single minute of it.

What does this button do?

[TAC]

Adrian Smith turns 65 today.

[wolfking]

Adrian Smith turns 65 today.

Wow, and he looks fucking amazing and still cool as fuck.

Happy Birthday H! 

[Dream Team]

I was checking out the largest Maiden website (Maidenfans) and they have a album ranking thread going. Just for fun I tallied up the 30 or so entries and arrived at his consensus ranking. Couple of surprises:

Seventh Son
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Brave New World
Number of the Beast
A Matter of Life and Death
Senjutsu
Book of Souls
Iron Maiden
Killers
Final Frontier
X-Factor
Dance of Death
Fear of the Dark
No Prayer
Virtual XI

For me, Dance of Death and Final Frontier are too low and Brave New World, Senjutsu, Book of Souls and AMOLAD are too high. But interesting anyway.

[soupytwist]

I was checking out the largest Maiden website (Maidenfans) and they have a album ranking thread going. Just for fun I tallied up the 30 or so entries and arrived at his consensus ranking. Couple of surprises:

Seventh Son
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Brave New World
Number of the Beast
A Matter of Life and Death
Senjutsu
Book of Souls
Iron Maiden
Killers
Final Frontier
X-Factor
Dance of Death
Fear of the Dark
No Prayer
Virtual XI

For me, Dance of Death and Final Frontier are too low and Brave New World, Senjutsu, Book of Souls and AMOLAD are too high. But interesting anyway.

I tend to find i'm onboard with the ranking of the 80's classics.   But the 6 albums since Bruce came back I'm opposite - Dance, Frontier and Book are the 3 I really like, whereas I'm not so bothered about the other 3.

[pg1067]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

[nick_z]

I mean, I'm not sure how representative these 30 fans are of Maiden's overall fanbase 

Having said that...

...As far as I'm concerned, I'm more shocked by Brave New World ahead of Number of the Beast.

Also kinda surprised by Dance of Death being ranked so low. It is my favorite reunion album, but regardless, I thought it was generally held in higher regard...

[425]

Maidenfans has always loved those late 80s albums. I agree that Seventh Son is their best 80s album and that both are better than Powerslave, but I have Piece of Mind above Somewhere in Time.

Maidenfans also disproportionately likes The X Factor, which is why it's relatively high.

As we all know by now, I just fundamentally disagree with putting all the reunion albums below all the 80s Bruce albums, so my list would look very different, but this does not surprise me as a composite of opinions on Maidenfans.

[cramx3]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

[wolfking]

The debut is ranked pretty high too.  Kind of surprising over FF and DOD at least.  Probably a few Maiden purists over there.

[Stadler]

1   Senjutsu
2   Powerslave
3   Killers
4   Number of the Beast
5   Piece of Mind
6   Final Frontier
7   Dance of Death
8   Seventh Son
9   Somewhere in Time
10   Iron Maiden
11   Book of Souls
12   Fear of the Dark
13   A Matter of Life and Death
14   Brave New World
15   Virtual XI
16   No Prayer
17   X-Factor

[pg1067]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

[cramx3]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

The 4 albums in question are a big toss up.  Typically I would rate SSOASS and SIT above POM and Powerslave, but these are 4 great classic albums.  I wouldn't fault anyone rating them any way.  I just really love SiT personally and rate that very highly.

[Stadler]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

The 4 albums in question are a big toss up.  Typically I would rate SSOASS and SIT above POM and Powerslave, but these are 4 great classic albums.  I wouldn't fault anyone rating them any way.  I just really love SiT personally and rate that very highly.

Unfortunately (for my list) some of this stuff is moment-to-moment.   To me, "Killers" isn't anything like SiT, but both are great albums.  It just depends on the mood.

[cramx3]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

The 4 albums in question are a big toss up.  Typically I would rate SSOASS and SIT above POM and Powerslave, but these are 4 great classic albums.  I wouldn't fault anyone rating them any way.  I just really love SiT personally and rate that very highly.

Unfortunately (for my list) some of this stuff is moment-to-moment.   To me, "Killers" isn't anything like SiT, but both are great albums.  It just depends on the mood.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at with it being a toss up.  These are all so good and sometimes just mood and moment could have me change rankings.  I do think, for me, SiT is top classic IM so that doesn't shake too much, but the other 3 albums definitely do.

[Sebastián Pratesi]

A friend is moving to another country, and he's getting rid of all his stuff. I bought his Maiden CD collection. So, I've been listening to lots of Maiden throughout the past 3 weeks.

Somewhere In Time has stood out since my first listen. I love the overall sound, and can't get "Deja Vu" out of my head. It might be my new favourite Maiden tune. How come they have never played that song live?

I also got to rediscover AMOLAD and The Final Frontier, which I hadn't listened to in ages.

[WardySI]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

Whoah!  Infinite Dreams is like no other Maiden that came before it, a prog masterpiece not to mention a personal fave, The Clairvoyant, The Evil and the often overlooked killer that is Only The Good Die Young are all up there with anything they had done by that point or post Seventh Son (IMO)!

[425]

Somewhere In Time has stood out since my first listen. I love the overall sound, and can't get "Deja Vu" out of my head. It might be my new favourite Maiden tune. How come they have never played that song live?

Unfortunately, a substantial part of the answer to this question for a lot of Maiden songs is "because they decided not to play it on the tour for that album." They have never once played a song that was not played on the tour promoting its album.

[RodrigoAltaf]

Somewhere In Time has stood out since my first listen. I love the overall sound, and can't get "Deja Vu" out of my head. It might be my new favourite Maiden tune. How come they have never played that song live?

Unfortunately, a substantial part of the answer to this question for a lot of Maiden songs is "because they decided not to play it on the tour for that album." They have never once played a song that was not played on the tour promoting its album.

Right before the Book of Souls tour, there was a rumor that they rehearsed Deja Vu, but I don't know if  they tried and decided not to play i, or if it wasn't true to begin with.

[wolfking]

Somewhere In Time has stood out since my first listen. I love the overall sound, and can't get "Deja Vu" out of my head. It might be my new favourite Maiden tune. How come they have never played that song live?

Unfortunately, a substantial part of the answer to this question for a lot of Maiden songs is "because they decided not to play it on the tour for that album." They have never once played a song that was not played on the tour promoting its album.

Right before the Book of Souls tour, there was a rumor that they rehearsed Deja Vu, but I don't know if  they tried and decided not to play i, or if it wasn't true to begin with.

That would have been a very cool deep cut to bring out.

[RodrigoAltaf]

Indeed! Sadly though, as pointed out above, they only bring BACK the deep cuts, it's never a song that they hadn't played before. We're closer to hearing songs like El Dorado, Death Or Glory and Dream of Mirrors etc. making a comeback than we are to having something like Deja Vu on their set...

[wolfking]

Indeed! Sadly though, as pointed out above, they only bring BACK the deep cuts, it's never a song that they hadn't played before. We're closer to hearing songs like El Dorado, Death Or Glory and Dream of Mirrors etc. making a comeback than we are to having something like Deja Vu on their set...

Yeah that's a good observation mate.

[devieira73]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2D1perHt0&t=15s

Smith/ Kotzen featuring Nicko McBrain - Wasted Years - Live in London

[RodrigoAltaf]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2D1perHt0&t=15s

Smith/ Kotzen featuring Nicko McBrain - Wasted Years - Live in London

Imagine you attended the Piece of Mind Tour and was a Maiden fan since forever...then you become a professional musician and get to share the stage with these guys. A dream come true, right?

[TAC]

I finally watched the video and I must say it had me smiling.

[TAC]

Steve Harris turns 66 today.

[wolfking]

Steve Harris turns 66 today.

 

[gazinwales]

NOTB is 40...
Licks Of The Beast breaks it down
https://youtu.be/aHclVxweJsQ

[Dream Team]

SSOASS and SIT ahead of POM and Powerslave?

LOL

Sounds good to me!

I just do not get the love for SSOASS that a LOT of folks obviously have.  After Moonchild and the title track, there is a HUGE drop off, and I don't bother with any of the other songs unless I'm doing a full catalog listen.

Whoah!  Infinite Dreams is like no other Maiden that came before it, a prog masterpiece not to mention a personal fave, The Clairvoyant, The Evil and the often overlooked killer that is Only The Good Die Young are all up there with anything they had done by that point or post Seventh Son (IMO)!

Yup all great songs. CIPWM is the only dud.