Moments when Maiden really surprised you

Kalata said:
-- I think they should have done a 90's era tour (at least in 2014) or a Deep Cuts tour instead.
Maybe they should have played the whole album back then (well, they rehearsed Infinite Dreams and only had two songs left). I always wondered why they left out Only The Good Die Young for the 1988 tour - perfect live song imo.
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Well I'm all for deep cut heavy sets and wouldn't mind a good selection of 90's cuts, but there's no way that would have been anywhere near as solid selling point for a tour when compared to 80's heavy thing like Maiden England. In any case, I'm super happy that I got to see that Seventh Son centric setlist. Moonchild, Madness and The Clairvoyant sure were played in 2008 and The Evil That Men Do got it's stint in 2009 and 2011, but aside from the last mentioned none of those songs were even near to a setlist staple at the time and the monumental title track was obviously a huge centerpiece for that tour. With The Prisoner and Afraid to Shoot Strangers thrown in, the deep cut/rarities ratio for that tour didn't really pale in comparison to any other tour from the past 10 or 15 years, but the Somewhere in Back in Time repetition could have been admittedly cut down a little bit and it probably makes the set seem worse than it actually was. That being said, the 2011-2014 was probably their most generic setlist period for ages and I'm glad how fresh setlist approach for The Book of Souls tour shook things up a bit and it's been quite adventurous ever since.

Looking at the 90's thing you mentioned, I'd say that Be Quick or be Dead, Bring Your Daughter..., Futureal and maaaybe Lord of the Flies are pretty much the only potential live cuts and notable songs from that time that haven't been played within the last decade or so; Fear of the Dark, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Sign of the Cross and The Clansman have given us fairly good setlist coverage of that era, even if spread across a handful of tours. I mean, as much as I would've loved a straightforward FEAR FACTOR 2014 tour or whatever, I don't think that Maiden of that particular period of time would have rehearsed anything more interesting from the 90's than the songs we've already got on these recent tours, like Sign of the Cross. Be Quick or be Dead and Futureal for sure, buuuut honestly, having witnessed the outstanding treatment that Sign of the Cross & The Clansman got for Legacy of the Beast tour, I wouldn never trade Seventh Son & and co. for a chance to see one or two dusted off 90's rockers... as good as they are. ;)

Anyway, while I get most of the criticism towards Maiden England tour, I still think that a setlist that opens up with Moonchild, Can I Play With Madness and The Prisoner, has Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Phantom of the Opera, Wasted Years, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and The Clairvoyant and serves goodies like Aces High and The Evil That Men Do in the encore is pretty damn good Iron Maiden set. It also shows how big of a difference the setlist position of the song can make. Moonchild opening the encore in 2008 was definitely a gigantic surprise, especially with the acoustic guitar on stage and Adrian playing the intro live, but it's a very different beast as a concert opener with the explosions at the beginning, blood red lighting, Bruce standing on the ramps and giving a dramatic and sinister take on the song... just perfect.

I have said this in every discussion regarding Maiden England tour and I'm saying it again... Aces High as a encore opener was a cool, fresh move at the time and the pyro and the backdrop worked out fine and even though the tempo wasn't quite there and Bruce had tough time with it often enough, it worked very well when you were there,... what a way to come back on stage for the encore! Then again, throwing in Be Quick or be Dead to open the encore and/or Bring Your Daughter.... to the Slaughter for that tour would have been a very clever way to tackle that "early 90's revisit" thing for good. Even as it was, Fear of the Dark album had equal or more representation than Somewhere in Time had on both, Somewhere Back in Time & Maiden England tours, so it wouldn't have been too far-fetched.

Then again, is (or has there been) a real demand for a specific "revisit" for the 90's anyway? As mentioned, most of the biggest songs of that time have been played within the past ten years and while catching them all at once would have been fun, I don't think it's exactly a bucket-list thing for that many fans, really. Especially since the 90's don't have any monumental visual setting that connects to a few centerpiece songs. World SBIT brought back the Egypt stage, iconic opening with Aces High and later on Powerslave and Rime of the Ancient Mariner with the beefed up theatrics. Maiden England saw the return of the icebergs, Moonchild being the sinister, explosive opener and scribe Eddie makes a glorious return during Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and the album cover Eddie makes an appearance during Iron Maiden, with the ice sculptures. And now, The Future Past tour is giving us Blade Runner intro & Caught Somewhere in Time, with a modernized take on the visual setting of Somewhere in Time. None of the 90's songs or albums have that iconic imagery that would serve as a fitting setting and reason to play more than 2-3 of those songs within the same set. On the contrary, some of those songs have gained their most notable live props and (on-stage) visual associations later on, most notably on the Legacy of the Beast tour with the sword for The Clansman and the cross, cloak and an amazing lights & pyro show for Sign of the Cross.

Okay, The Future Past tour actually brings the backdrop/visual setting for Fear of the Dark back, just more refined, so there's that.
 
Randalf said:
Well I'm all for deep cut heavy sets and wouldn't mind a good selection of 90's cuts, but there's no way that would have been anywhere near as solid selling point for a tour when compared to 80's heavy thing like Maiden England. In any case, I'm super happy that I got to see that Seventh Son centric setlist. Moonchild, Madness and The Clairvoyant sure were played in 2008 and The Evil That Men Do got it's stint in 2009 and 2011, but aside from the last mentioned none of those songs were even near to a setlist staple at the time and the monumental title track was obviously a huge centerpiece for that tour. With The Prisoner and Afraid to Shoot Strangers thrown in, the deep cut/rarities ratio for that tour didn't really pale in comparison to any other tour from the past 10 or 15 years, but the Somewhere in Back in Time repetition could have been admittedly cut down a little bit and it probably makes the set seem worse than it actually was. That being said, the 2011-2014 was probably their most generic setlist period for ages and I'm glad how fresh setlist approach for The Book of Souls tour shook things up a bit and it's been quite adventurous ever since.

Looking at the 90's thing you mentioned, I'd say that Be Quick or be Dead, Bring Your Daughter..., Futureal and maaaybe Lord of the Flies are pretty much the only potential live cuts and notable songs from that time that haven't been played within the last decade or so; Fear of the Dark, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Sign of the Cross and The Clansman have given us fairly good setlist coverage of that era, even if spread across a handful of tours. I mean, as much as I would've loved a straightforward FEAR FACTOR 2014 tour or whatever, I don't think that Maiden of that particular period of time would have rehearsed anything more interesting from the 90's than the songs we've already got on these recent tours, like Sign of the Cross. Be Quick or be Dead and Futureal for sure, buuuut honestly, having witnessed the outstanding treatment that Sign of the Cross & The Clansman got for Legacy of the Beast tour, I wouldn never trade Seventh Son & and co. for a chance to see one or two dusted off 90's rockers... as good as they are. ;)

Anyway, while I get most of the criticism towards Maiden England tour, I still think that a setlist that opens up with Moonchild, Can I Play With Madness and The Prisoner, has Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Phantom of the Opera, Wasted Years, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and The Clairvoyant and serves goodies like Aces High and The Evil That Men Do in the encore is pretty damn good Iron Maiden set. It also shows how big of a difference the setlist position of the song can make. Moonchild opening the encore in 2008 was definitely a gigantic surprise, especially with the acoustic guitar on stage and Adrian playing the intro live, but it's a very different beast as a concert opener with the explosions at the beginning, blood red lighting, Bruce standing on the ramps and giving a dramatic and sinister take on the song... just perfect.

I have said this in every discussion regarding Maiden England tour and I'm saying it again... Aces High as a encore opener was a cool, fresh move at the time and the pyro and the backdrop worked out fine and even though the tempo wasn't quite there and Bruce had tough time with it often enough, it worked very well when you were there,... what a way to come back on stage for the encore! Then again, throwing in Be Quick or be Dead to open the encore and/or Bring Your Daughter.... to the Slaughter for that tour would have been a very clever way to tackle that "early 90's revisit" thing for good. Even as it was, Fear of the Dark album had equal or more representation than Somewhere in Time had on both, Somewhere Back in Time & Maiden England tours, so it wouldn't have been too far-fetched.

Then again, is (or has there been) a real demand for a specific "revisit" for the 90's anyway? As mentioned, most of the biggest songs of that time have been played within the past ten years and while catching them all at once would have been fun, I don't think it's exactly a bucket-list thing for that many fans, really. Especially since the 90's don't have any monumental visual setting that connects to a few centerpiece songs. World SBIT brought back the Egypt stage, iconic opening with Aces High and later on Powerslave and Rime of the Ancient Mariner with the beefed up theatrics. Maiden England saw the return of the icebergs, Moonchild being the sinister, explosive opener and scribe Eddie makes a glorious return during Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and the album cover Eddie makes an appearance during Iron Maiden, with the ice sculptures. And now, The Future Past tour is giving us Blade Runner intro & Caught Somewhere in Time, with a modernized take on the visual setting of Somewhere in Time. None of the 90's songs or albums have that iconic imagery that would serve as a fitting setting and reason to play more than 2-3 of those songs within the same set. On the contrary, some of those songs have gained their most notable live props and (on-stage) visual associations later on, most notably on the Legacy of the Beast tour with the sword for The Clansman and the cross, cloak and an amazing lights & pyro show for Sign of the Cross.

Okay, The Future Past tour actually brings the backdrop/visual setting for Fear of the Dark back, just more refined, so there's that.
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ME tour was filled with one classic song after another. Maiden's greatest hits! Great flow and stage pyro. It was a bit of a let down only because of the SBIT setlist.

I know a 90's era tour was never likely, but they could have played songs like Tailgunner, No Prayer For The Dying, Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter (plus maybe Holy Smoke for fun or PENO), Be Quick Or Be Dead, Afraid To Shoot Strangers, Fear Of The Dark, Wasting Love, From Here To Eternity (Judas Be My Guide!), Sign Of The Cross, The Clansman, Lord Of The Flies, Man On The Edge, Futureal (or why not When Two Worlds Collide/Blood On The World's Hands/Fortunes Of War) + some classics. It would have been more or less a ''Deep Cuts'' set. About the stage, idk maybe a wooden decor (as a tribute to their most successful 90's album) or something similar to the 2003 and 2005 stage sets. I'm fascinated with stage sets and backdrops, so I'm really curious what they would have done with this idea. I'm so glad they did a tour like LOTB (so many great backdrops and stage) and that they brought back the FOTD cover as a backdrop for the current tour. :)
 
Kalata said:
I know a 90's era tour was never likely, but they could have played songs like Tailgunner, No Prayer For The Dying, Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter (plus maybe Holy Smoke for fun or PENO), Be Quick Or Be Dead, Afraid To Shoot Strangers, Fear Of The Dark, Wasting Love, From Here To Eternity (Judas Be My Guide!), Sign Of The Cross, The Clansman, Lord Of The Flies, Man On The Edge, Futureal (or why not When Two Worlds Collide/Blood On The World's Hands/Fortunes Of War) + some classics. It would have been more or less a ''Deep Cuts'' set.
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For sure, all of the mentioned songs were and mostly still are doable for them! I just think that the challenge lies in their way of rehearsing and building live sets and the whole show structure. E.g Afraid to Shoot Strangers came on board only because Infinite Dreams didn't make it. For 2014 it was replaced with Revelations. Other potential candidates? Children of the Damned. Remember Tomorrow, maybe. I get the novelty and curiosity value of 90's/deep cuts heavy set, but for a song like Wasting Love to make it would need to "beat" a good number of vastly superior songs of the same type. Same goes for Tailgunner and much speculated Futureal (which I love!): regardless what hypothetical tour we're talking about, they would often compete against songs like The Trooper, Aces High, Where Eagles Dare, The Wicker Man, The Prisoner, The Evil That Men Do and such. I believe that's the reason why songs like Man on the Edge or Futureal haven't made an appearance since the Ed-Huntour: those songs' role in the setlist is often occupied by huge, unmatched classic cuts from the 80's or brand new songs. They can't easily surpass either categories, due to way Maiden setlist is usually built.

If we take a look at any Maiden set, there's more or less fixed number of roles available and the competition for those roles is tough. Deep cuts like the ones they're playing on the current tour or other relatively rare stuff that has resurfaced like Flight of Icarus or Where Eagles Dare are totally different things than digging into albums like The X-Factor or No Prayer for the Dying and rehearsing songs like Public Enema Number One or Fortunes of War for the current line-up when there is already a bunch of big 80's that they might want to give a one more run (Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Seventh Son, Powerslave, Phantom of the Opera....), modern classics like Dance of Death, Brave New World, Paschendale that could potentially be rehearsed for one more tour and, obviously, whatever new stuff they might play in the near future. Afraid to Shoot Strangers went down very well in 2012-13 so I wouldn't rule that out and what we've seen with The Future Past might rekindle the hopes for songs like Still Life to return, but especially after the outstanding performances of The Clansman and Sign of the Cross during the Legacy tour, it's really hard to see any of the deeper 90's cuts to make their return.


That being said, if they'll really go out with that "rarities/deep cuts" tour idea that has even publicly been toyed with, I'm most certainly not complaining. Just saying that as much as I like most of the 90's songs out there, it's really tough for them to make it into any set nowadays, just due to variety of other, often either superior, easier/familiar or more popular options for a similar role in the set.

And I know you know this very well; as you said, it was never likely to begin with! :) I just think it's interesting to dig deeper into this often presented question "why don't they play this or that for a change"
 
Wasn't there for the mid-2000s and earlier, so my 'surprises' skew more to the new side.

1. Legacy of the Beast 2018 setlist reveal. I literally bought WiFi on my flight home to follow along. Where Eagles Dare, Icarus (though rumored), and two Blaze songs made that an experience to follow from an ocean away.
2. Future Past concept. Somewhere in Time's my favorite record, and looking at the band's past with how the album has been overall neglected for the longest time made for a great surprise in them paying tribute to it for the current tour.
3. Hell on Earth. The band's always had a knack for good melodies even in these later years, but my opinion's still the same now as it was when Senjutsu was released - the melodies on Hell on Earth are as good as anything they've ever done.
 
Flaming Blimp Crash said:
Wasn't there for the mid-2000s and earlier, so my 'surprises' skew more to the new side.

1. Legacy of the Beast 2018 setlist reveal. I literally bought WiFi on my flight home to follow along. Where Eagles Dare, Icarus (though rumored), and two Blaze songs made that an experience to follow from an ocean away.
2. Future Past concept. Somewhere in Time's my favorite record, and looking at the band's past with how the album has been overall neglected for the longest time made for a great surprise in them paying tribute to it for the current tour.
3. Hell on Earth. The band's always had a knack for good melodies even in these later years, but my opinion's still the same now as it was when Senjutsu was released - the melodies on Hell on Earth are as good as anything they've ever done.
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I remember being in a Nando’s in Harrogate pestering my sister in law for her phone to find out the LOTB set list (I didn’t have any signal)
 
There's a lot of moments where Maiden has surprised me, but at the moment one in particular comes to mind: The Book of Souls album. After The Final Frontier which is considerably slower across the board than the previous three albums, I expected Maiden to keep slowing down. But holy shit, Book of Souls has constant balls-to-the-wall moments. Not to mention how good Bruce sounds considering his ordeal, or the 20 minute epic at the end of the album. Or that they brought back the original "non-boxed" logo. Or made an Eddie that I really thought was Derek Riggs until I learned otherwise. Of all the reunion albums, Book of Souls is the one that looks back at Maiden's past the most while also pushing forward.
 
Bruce doing Futureal and Man on the Edge live. I wasnt a huge Blaze fan but some of those songs are amongst the best in the catalog. Shocked how much they dont play songs from that era. Also except for a select times I am shocked we dont hear things like Pashendale, El Dorado or some of the newer gen Maiden songs. Brave New World is a great album but no Ghost Of the Navigator? Shocked they are doing Alexandar the Great. Long overdue.
 
Great time reading the posts. The mention of Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter. I dont love that song but it should come back. Retire FOTD for awhile. I recently read Steve Harris say "they dont build the set list for the fans they build it for what they want to play." Thought that was interesting. He also said he wants to play Only The Good Die Young but doesnt think it will happen.

bravewords.com

IRON MAIDEN Bassist STEVE HARRIS Talks Choosing Setlists, Reveals Deep Cut He Would Like To Play Live - "We Don't Do It For The Audience; We Do It For Our Own Thing First"

The Future Past Tour features Iron Maiden presenting previously unperformed songs from the band’s most recent studio album, Senjutsu along with a focus on 1986’s iconic Somewhere In Time record, plus other classic cuts. Speaking exclusively with Metal Hammer recently, bassist / founder Steve...
bravewords.com bravewords.com
 
Book of Souls Tour 2017:
- Closing the show with Wasted Years
- Playing Children of the Damned, Powerslave and The Great Unknown

LOTB Tour 2019:
-Playing Where Eagles Dare, Flight of Icarus and Sign of the Cross

LOBT 2022:
-Opening the encore with The Trooper
-Closing with Aces High

Future Past Tour:
-Playing The Prisoner and Can I Play with Madness
-Opening the encore with Hell on Earth
-Bruce nailing the vocals on Caught Somewhere in Time
 
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The Red and the Black said:
But it’s actually an anti-prostitution song.
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it really feels more like a mixed song actually. it gives me the impression it encourages men to seek prostitution while belittling women for it. Clearly it was a follow up to the Charlotte The Harlot from their first album. It bashes Charlotte for being promiscuous and that wouldn't fly in the women's liberation movement of today. At least in the USA and the UK (Their home) lol 22 Acacia Avenue theoretically was an address in London's Red Light District of a whore house...
 
In addition to everything I heard live at the show in Milan I heard yesterday some big surprises for me were hearing "Children of the Damned" on the "Book of Souls" Tour, hearning both "Flight of Icarus" and "Where Eagles Dare" live during the "Legacy of the Beast" Tour, hearing "The Sign of the Cross" again live, hearning all the "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" songs I heard live during the "Somewhere Back In Time Tour," and hearing all of the songs on "A Matter of Live and Death" live which was very impressive. Iron Maiden are phenomenal!
 
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