RUN FOR YOUR LIVES 2026

Simon just doesn't have that flow that Nicko had. I agree with the comments that his feel is a bit more stiff.

Nicko had a great legato style to his playing that few drummers have. Sometimes it even verged on being a bit loose and out of control, but it just had so much life to it.

Even Joe Lazarus despite being a fantastic drummer doesn't quite match Nickos feel. If anything he's actually tighter and more precise than Nicko, but it misses that groove.
 
Eduardo Cabeza said:
Again, I really hope he improves. But right now he ain't adding anything besides getting the band through the setlist like they are rolling through hills —not running to them.
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My guess is Simon's about as good as he'll get. He was 66 when he joined, after all, and he's been running (mostly) the same set for the second year. I've only seen a few videos where I really noticed the drums--one was Fear of the Dark, where it was played at about studio speed, which felt odd and almost tired-sounding to me, being used to the sped-up live versions we've had for years. The rest of the snippets I've seen, he's...fine.

This new wave of discontent over him not really improving over 2025's shows brings back some suspicions I had early on. Picking a 66-year-old compentent-but-nothing-extraordinary drummer when you had Joe Lazarus at hand meant Steve wasn't looking for anything long-term, or anyone who might overshadow Nicko's legacy. With his recent "eh, maybe" comments about a new album, I wonder if Steve might have just been looking to limp across the finish line of eventual retirement by picking a buddy of his who was a drummer capable of getting through the set each night until it's over.
 
Trevoire said:
Simon just doesn't have that flow that Nicko had. I agree with the comments that his feel is a bit more stiff.

Nicko had a great legato style to his playing that few drummers have. Sometimes it even verged on being a bit loose and out of control, but it just had so much life to it.

Even Joe Lazarus despite being a fantastic drummer doesn't quite match Nickos feel. If anything he's actually tighter and more precise than Nicko, but it misses that groove.
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This 100%.
 
dickinson1978 said:
Im in the camp that he didnt sing any bruce song right. He was just shouting during all songs.
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His best Maiden gig may have been Austria 1995. It's now on YouTube. He's fantastic on it.

He nails all of his own era songs. I know there was times in 96 and 98 where he did struggle with stuff like Sign of the Cross but here he was brilliant.

He nails Wrathchild.

He was fantastic as ever on Afraid to shoot strangers.

There was some Bruce songs he could kind of still get away with forcing his baritone range up at this point in the tour where they aren't too bad at all- Fear of the Dark etc.

However you notice at the end of the gig all movement has kind of stopped from him, he's in full concentration mode holding the mic with two hands and trying desperately to get through Hallowed and The Trooper. Two songs that let's be honest should never have been in the set in their original tuning with Blaze. He could never ever sing The Trooper, even on a wonderful performance night like he had in Austria 1995, and it's crazy they left it in the set and brought it back for the VXI tour too.
 
CA Bryers said:
My guess is Simon's about as good as he'll get. He was 66 when he joined, after all, and he's been running (mostly) the same set for the second year. I've only seen a few videos where I really noticed the drums--one was Fear of the Dark, where it was played at about studio speed, which felt odd and almost tired-sounding to me, being used to the sped-up live versions we've had for years. The rest of the snippets I've seen, he's...fine.

This new wave of discontent over him not really improving over 2025's shows brings back some suspicions I had early on. Picking a 66-year-old compentent-but-nothing-extraordinary drummer when you had Joe Lazarus at hand meant Steve wasn't looking for anything long-term, or anyone who might overshadow Nicko's legacy. With his recent "eh, maybe" comments about a new album, I wonder if Steve might have just been looking to limp across the finish line of eventual retirement by picking a buddy of his who was a drummer capable of getting through the set each night until it's over.
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An I crazy or was there a period, maybe a few years before Nicko's stroke where on a maiden tour the boys were playing the aforementioned Fear of the Dar really quite slow (for them)? It was a bit of a shock after being so used to it being blasted through at full speed from its inception, through the Blaze era, and the majority of the reunion era..it was the first reminder to me they were getting old.

The one I really noticed was slow though was run to the hills. This was, again, pre Nicko stroke.
 
Saw Lisbon show last night, the 40000+ crowd loved it. The sound was dreadful and having seen 6 Def Leppard concerts in the past 2 weeks the production paled in comparison. Extreme who opened for Lepps had fantastic sound each night.

Bruce was on form. Simon didn't seem to do anything wrong, gets bad comments from this forum.

Hope sound better for Knebworth. Last year at Madrid outdoors the sound was better than last night. Lisbon arena the following night in 2025 the sound much better.

Missed first 2 Anthrax songs, their sound was awful. Later in set Joey Belladonna apologized for getting city name wrong. Good evening Lithuania ...

Will see Maiden in Melbourne in November, hope sound better.
 
naranja said:
His best Maiden gig may have been Austria 1995. It's now on YouTube. He's fantastic on it.

He nails all of his own era songs. I know there was times in 96 and 98 where he did struggle with stuff like Sign of the Cross but here he was brilliant.

He nails Wrathchild.

He was fantastic as ever on Afraid to shoot strangers.

There was some Bruce songs he could kind of still get away with forcing his baritone range up at this point in the tour where they aren't too bad at all- Fear of the Dark etc.

However you notice at the end of the gig all movement has kind of stopped from him, he's in full concentration mode holding the mic with two hands and trying desperately to get through Hallowed and The Trooper. Two songs that let's be honest should never have been in the set in their original tuning with Blaze. He could never ever sing The Trooper, even on a wonderful performance night like he had in Austria 1995, and it's crazy they left it in the set and brought it back for the VXI tour too.
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Ok, wrathchild but better with bruce and afraid to shoot stranger good slow part then shouting again. The rest,shouting most of the song, difficulties to sing all the words in many songs, the speed didnt help. What i mean those were bad gigs and you could really see that were bad. Not now.
 
Spaldy said:
Better pack my suncream for Eddfest.
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Apart from hearing about the performances, it's going to be interesting to get reports on the festival infrastructure, especially when it's hot like this. Things like water, shading, sanitation, waste, security, medic facilities etc are all factors that cannot be overstated. Sonisphere is the organizer and they obviously have lots of experience but they haven't done anything in 10 years.

Also, this is Eddfest, not Sonisphere 2026. Any mishaps that can be blamed on the organizers will be put on the band. At least in the public eye. They have their reputation on the line so I hope the actual organizers have their shit together.
 
CA Bryers said:
With his recent "eh, maybe" comments about a new album, I wonder if Steve might have just been looking to limp across the finish line of eventual retirement by picking a buddy of his who was a drummer capable of getting through the set each night until it's over.
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The biggest single worry about Maiden now summed up well there - just keep it going at a stadium/festival level till the fade out.
All the talk about new music keeping the band vital and fresh was entirely correct, and I feel the absence of that drive right now. Hope to be proven wrong.
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
All the talk about new music keeping the band vital and fresh was entirely correct, and I feel the absence of that drive right now. Hope to be proven wrong.
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I think this could be about Steve specifically. We know that Bruce and Adrian are still writing for solo projects and and Adrian always has a ton of demos. Steve on the other hand just wants to tour, tour and tour. That's his priority. I hope Bruce gets his way and they record a new album next.
 
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