News Burning Ambition Documentary

srfc said:
Agreed, but also the american guy saying Maiden had to sink to rock bottom to come back to the top, was a bit OTT, they played to 50,000 in a stadium in Brazil with Blaze, both albums were number 1 in Greece. Relatively, it's obviously Maiden's least successful period, but it's hardly rock bottom anywhere other than America.
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Well they also didn't come back to the top either so i just took that comment with a pinch of salt. Maybe there wa a time they were the biggest metal band in the world, sometime in the mid 80s if i had to guess, but after the Black album absolutely no chance.
 
dickinson1978 said:
Even in europe with xfactor they played in small places than with bruce. During virtual xi seems they changed to a bigger places but during xfsctor they went down.not in south america that is true.
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True. In Belgium they played X Factour in a venue with a capacity of 2000 people, during the Virtual XI tour they moved to one with a capacity of almost 9000.
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
I recall a metal hammer live review from 1998 in which they speculated “Maiden’s future will look like Motörhead’s, where the albums become less important but live remains vital.” Or words to that effect.

I agree with you it wasn’t rock bottom in all territories yet. But a third and even fourth Blaze album probably would have made that metal hammer speculation come truer. To be fair to that American guy in the film, it was truer in the USA already compared to elsewhere.
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I remember the same article alright.

I think I'm more triggered by the phrase "rock bottom", it conjures up images of when Bart was fantasing about being in a band
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Ex-IRON MAIDEN Guitarist DENNIS STRATTON Says Burning Ambition Documentary ‘Rushed Through’ the Band’s Early Days: It’s ‘A Little Bit Sad’

“I’d never met Blaze [Bayley, former IRON MAIDEN singer] before until we got on the red carpet [at the London premiere], and Blaze was in front of me. He turned around, we had a hug, and we had some photos done together. We said, ‘We finally meet after all these years.’ Then we had a long chat. It was great.

“But at the same time, watching the film, I felt really sorry for Blaze, because the way it was narrated, it was as if the minute Blaze joined the band, they went downhill. People started burning records, talking about this devil cult, and suddenly they’re playing clubs. I thought, ‘Hold on a minute…’ It felt like it was angling toward Blaze getting the blame for the band going downhill, which it was nothing like that.

“Blaze did — I think it was three albums — really good albums. As Steve [Harris, IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder] said to me on the phone, he contributed toward those albums. So you’ve got to take your hat off to Blaze for walking into the boots of Bruce [Dickinson, longtime MAIDEN vocalist] and trying to pick up where Bruce left off. It’s a killer job.

“And the way that was portrayed was like, ‘Oh, now they’re playing in clubs.’ Then the punchline was when Bruce came back and Steve said, ‘Why do you wanna come back?’ and he went, ‘Because I’m fed up playing small shows. I wanna play big shows.’ So it was as if the minute Bruce came back, the band was massive again. It didn’t really gel in a friendly kind of way, if you know what I mean.”

Dennis continued:

“I don’t want the MAIDEN family or the MAIDEN fans saying it’s sour grapes or that I’ve got the hump because I’m not in the band. I haven’t. It’s a film for the fans.

“I’m proud of what I did in MAIDEN’s first couple of years, and also what I brought into it while working on those early songs. Because, yes, in 1979, it’s been said many times that the band was very punky and very aggressive — and that’s how we liked it. But you still had to have a bit of class.

“That’s when separating the guitars and adding a couple of little vocal harmonies started making the songs more interesting — not so punky, not so raw. And that’s what I’m pleased about.

“The fact is, we worked on those first two albums, and I think they came out pretty well. So, as I say, the film’s fantastic for the fans, but for me, it’s just a little bit sad that they rushed through the early days, that’s all.”
 
dickinson1978 said:
Same in spain
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I went to Madrid on the X Factour and they played in a sold out gig at then Real Madrid Pavillion, with 10k to 15 k of capacity. Pamplona and Barcelona were sold out concerts too. It was the Maiden loudest concert I've been. I remember My Dying Bride as support band and they were great too. As you said in 98 they came among Halloween to fill bull rings and a small capacity stadiums. From 95 to 98 they played a lot of cities through the country with absolutely success. Spain was a great Blaze and Maiden country supporter.
 
The_7th_one said:
I went to Madrid on the X Factour and they played in a sold out gig at then Real Madrid Pavillion, with 10k to 15 k of capacity. Pamplona and Barcelona were sold out concerts too. It was the Maiden loudest concert I've been. I remember My Dying Bride as support band and they were great too. As you said in 98 they came among Halloween to fill bull rings and a small capacity stadiums. From 95 to 98 they played a lot of cities through the country with absolutely success. Spain was a great Blaze and Maiden country supporter.
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Whilst it is true that Maiden did better in Spain than in most territories during the Blaze years, one of the reasons that partially explains this is that they did play some B and C markets that were not used to getting big bands playing there. For example, on The X Factor tour you had them playing the Pabellon Anaitasuna in Pamplona (3000 capacity) and in Granada, while in the summer of 1996 they visited villages where rock gigs were not even a thing (here is my review of my first Maiden show). Nevertheless, kudos to them for trying something new and being able to attract that many of us to their shows.

The narrative of Iron Maiden hitting (commercial) rock bottom during the Blaze years is probably only true in Anglo-Saxon societies (i.e., the UK and the USA).
 
I agree. They had to work hard many countries to don't loose market in Europe too.
I remember Blaze writing a tour diary for the fc magazine in those days and he and the band seemed to be very happy
 
but I don't agree with Bruce comments about the reunion was because he wanted to play in big places.
He also seemed very happy comfortable touring with his own band and making great albums those days.
 
Grunge definitely was a factor, but it was kind of something that all bands go through after they've been out for about 10 years or so. They aren't the flavour of the month band anymore and younger people getting into music are going to be looking for their own generation of bands. There's a question of are they going to become "past it" and split up, or are they going to be seen as a "legacy act", not much interest in new material from the fans but people still going to the live show, like the comments @Helmuth Von Moltke brought up regarding Motorhead and Maiden. I think that was really the main issue for Maiden, and like @GhostofCain says Bruce certainly felt Maiden were going to end up "past it"
 
The_7th_one said:
I went to Madrid on the X Factour and they played in a sold out gig at then Real Madrid Pavillion, with 10k to 15 k of capacity. Pamplona and Barcelona were sold out concerts too. It was the Maiden loudest concert I've been. I remember My Dying Bride as support band and they were great too. As you said in 98 they came among Halloween to fill bull rings and a small capacity stadiums. From 95 to 98 they played a lot of cities through the country with absolutely success. Spain was a great Blaze and Maiden country supporter.
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The old pavilion was sold out? I went to 98

El antiguo pabellón del Real Madrid (conocido como Pabellón Raimundo Saporta) tenía una capacidad oficial de 5.000 espectadores.

Real madrid pavilion 5000
Palacio de los.deportes 1000? Palcio de los deportes was bigger for sure

The first tiime i saw them was in 96 in a small footbal "stadium" in albacete.

Btw i found this

 
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srfc said:
Grunge definitely was a factor, but it was kind of something that all bands go through after they've been out for about 10 years or so. They aren't the flavour of the month band anymore and younger people getting into music are going to be looking for their own generation of bands. There's a question of are they going to become "past it" and split up, or are they going to be seen as a "legacy act", not much interest in new material from the fans but people still going to the live show, like the comments @Helmuth Von Moltke brought up regarding Motorhead and Maiden. I think that was really the main issue for Maiden, and like @GhostofCain says Bruce certainly felt Maiden were going to end up "past it"
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I think people doesnt uderstand now the grunge vs metal fight because now people listen to all but back in the 90s there were 2 fronts for sure. And most of the people who listened to metal thought that grunge was crap and the other side too. With bands making fun of others and some metal singers going to "another sounds" lol. Btw i dont think bruce skunkworks was that grunge
 
dickinson1978 said:
I think people doesnt uderstand now the grunge vs metal fight because now people listen to all but back in the 90s there were 2 fronts for sure. And most of the people who listened to metal thought that grunge was crap and the other side too. With bands making fun of others and some metal singers going to "another sounds" lol. Btw i dont think bruce skunkworks was that grunge
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I find it very funny looking back, I was definitely in the "hate grunge" camp when I was 14, I remember being delighted when Cobain died because I thought now my music was back (remember I was a stupid teenager at the time). But when I hear bands like Pearl Jam or Soundgarden now, they aren't my thing, but they aren't a million miles away from it, certainly miles better than nu metal.
 
srfc said:
I find it very funny looking back, I was definitely in the "hate grunge" camp when I was 14, I remember being delighted when Cobain died because I thought now my music was back (remember I was a stupid teenager at the time). But when I hear bands like Pearl Jam or Soundgarden now, they aren't my thing, but they aren't a million miles away from it, certainly miles better than nu metal.
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And then oasis,blur and the britt pop. Yes now i can listen to all and have fun. Nirvana its not my type but i like some songs. Back in the 90s i didnt like it
 
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