Bruce's Maiden England performance

chaosapiant

Ancient Marinade
I've seen two shows from the 2012/2013 Maiden England show, and wanted to get some feed back from other folks who have seen the show. I'm primarly concerned with Bruce's performance on these shows. On the first show, he was high energy, hitting all the right notes, but simply not holding certain notes for very long, particulary in the "break" he does during the "whaoooo..oh oh oh" thing in Seventh Son that used to be one continuous note.

On the second show, his voice was much better, though the Seventh Son thing still stuck around. However, I noticed a marked lack of energy from Bruce. For what seemed like 3/4's of the show, he was just walking around, and didn't seem as "into it."

I'm curious if anyone else got the same vibe from him that I did. For the record I saw the show in Bristow Va in 2012, and in Raleigh in 2013. This isn't meant to be a knock against him or the band, the performances were outstanding. It's just sad to start actually being able to feel his age.
 
I didn't notice that myself in the one gig I saw.
His voice was solid and he was jumping around like a maniac.
 
Not at all at the one I saw. He was bounding around all over the place. I only noticed a few high notes he didn't go for.
 
He was super energetic at the first London show and said "Scream for me" a gazillion times. I couldn't see much at Download festival other than the backs of people's heads. :D
 
I saw them four times over the course of the tour, and I didn't really experience anything bad on Bruce's end. He didn't hold out some notes on Seventh Son long enough at most shows (each show I went to, and just about every show I've seen online), and I just assumed it was because, obviously, he is not as young as he used to be, so doesn't want to hold out the whole note/wear out his voice.

But then he sounded phenomenal on songs such as Moonchild, The Prisoner, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Phantom of the Opera, The Clarivoyant, etc...

So overall, I thought he sounded amazing.
 
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I saw three shows (Lisbon, Donington and Zagreb) and Bruce was in great shape, jumping around and sounding great. Certainly better than on the UK leg of "The final frontier" tour, when his voice was quite tired.
 
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His voice wasn't perfect the one time I saw them but still very good, taking into account all the running and energetic performing. He rocks.
 
For those who feel his voice hasn't been very good, one question: in comparison to what? There is tons of YouTube footage out there now (pretty much every show Maiden do is filmed by hundreds of folk) & in practically all of it Bruce sounds better than most of the stuff Maiden have officially released. Just listen to the original ME; Bruce is pretty poor.
 
For those who feel his voice hasn't been very good, one question: in comparison to what? There is tons of YouTube footage out there now (pretty much every show Maiden do is filmed by hundreds of folk) & in practically all of it Bruce sounds better than most of the stuff Maiden have officially released. Just listen to the original ME; Bruce is pretty poor.

I've always felt this way. I have and always will say that I believe Bruce's voice has gotten better with age, and that the stuff he's done post-2000 beats most of his 1980/90's performances.

The '88 Maiden England though didn't seem too bad; I've watched it maybe a dozen times since it officially released, and I feel that it is probably their best 80's performance (in my opinion).
 
I think Bruce has lost a bit of his edge. In my opinion he peaked around 1997-2001, and I can't honestly say that he sounds as good now as he did then. He is still very, very capable though and he sounds fine. I just think he's gradually worn off a bit every few years since.
 
I think Bruce has lost a bit of his edge. In my opinion he peaked around 1997-2001, and I can't honestly say that he sounds as good now as he did then. He is still very, very capable though and he sounds fine. I just think he's gradually worn off a bit every few years since.

I think he peaked around that time too, but it is nice to see how he is still capable of delivering the goods. He certainly sounds much better live nowadays than 25 years ago.
 
I saw the 3rd August London show and it was the first time I'd ever seen them live. I thought that they were all totally and utterly fantastic. In comparison with performances from times gone by, based on the evidence of the DVDs I've seen my impression is that Bruce may have lost a smidgeon of his acrobatic ability but he has gained a lot more power. As to hitting the high notes (or not) I think he has just worked out how avoid strain on his voice so he can perform to full capacity for the maximum time possible (I gather he used to find some of those early shows pretty hard work). It doesn't necessarily mean he couldn't hit those notes, just that he's decided discretion may really be the better part of valour after all. On the energy and enthusiasm scale though, he scores 150%.
 
I have noticed that Bruce does struggle a bit on Aces High, but that is a difficult song to sing and for the most part, he does a great job.
 
I think Bruce has lost a bit of his edge. In my opinion he peaked around 1997-2001, and I can't honestly say that he sounds as good now as he did then. He is still very, very capable though and he sounds fine. I just think he's gradually worn off a bit every few years since.

Totally agreed. He sounded amazing on his solo tours, he nails every song on Scream for me Brazil and sounds amazing on Rock in Rio.
 
He has always struggled on 'Aces high'. I think the closest he was to nailing that song live was in 2008-2009.

Agreed. I may be a bit biased, because it was the first ever song/instance I'd experienced Maiden live; but Bruce's vocals on Aces High at Chicago, 2008, were absolutely phenomenal.
 
Agreed. I may be a bit biased, because it was the first ever song/instance I'd experienced Maiden live; but Bruce's vocals on Aces High at Chicago, 2008, were absolutely phenomenal.
I thought his whole performance that night was the best I've ever seen him. Aces in 2013 certainly pales in comparison...
 
It could be age, or it could be that Aces High was later in the set in 2012/13.
 
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