The Official Book of Souls Tour 2016 Thread (Warning: Spoilers within!)

I've never done the whole earplugs thing, but I might try it for the first time this year, probably at the Oslo show. I may have assorted Maidenfans screaming in my ears as it is. ;)
 
I've never done the whole earplugs thing, but I might try it for the first time this year, probably at the Oslo show. I may have assorted Maidenfans screaming in my ears as it is. ;)

Except for the first few shows I went to, I have pretty much always used earplugs. Not only to save my hearing for when I am older, but also (as you said), it helps drown out the screamers around me so I can hear the music better. By blocking out the excess volume and treble it stops the "crackling in your ears" sound some metal shows bring.

Only downside to using earplugs, is it makes hearing the guitars (the treble) more difficult.
 
Interesting suggestion. I will try when I see Maiden, because I just can't bear a whole festival bill without protection.
 
Yes. I hate crackly treble when I hear bands live. They often kick bass right up to compensate, and you lose all those beautiful mid tones.
 
I use nicer, washable earplugs that filter sound pretty nicely. If the treble isn't loud enough while wearing them, I pull them out a little bit. Any protection is better than none!
 
I don't worry about damaging my hearing because it's never been very sharp anyway. Improving the experience of a live performance is a big incentive, however.
 
About 2017, do you think the tour will be extensive like in this year? Going through South America, Asia and Oceania again? Or the tour will be limited to North America and Europe (UK) only?
There are lots of interesting rumours out there, actually.
Rumours? Pff. Let's just get the facts out there Brigs...

There will be 11 UK shows, plus Belgrade, two Paris shows, Athens, Dubai, Mumbai, & Tel Aviv. In 2017. Cried says it's happening.
 
There are earplugs on eBay for about 10-15€ that are decent, better than the average 50 cent pharmacy ones. It's not a big investment, and it'll improve your concert experience (exactly, they "filter" out the crackle/distortion caused by excess volume).
 
Someone said earlier, Bruce recently mentioned returning to the US next year. Agree with Cried, although I knew nothing about about Tel Aviv, Dubai or Mumbai. Keep on diggin'. :p
 
There are earplugs on eBay for about 10-15€ that are decent, better than the average 50 cent pharmacy ones. It's not a big investment, and it'll improve your concert experience (exactly, they "filter" out the crackle/distortion caused by excess volume).

This would make for an interesting discussion on what brand of ear plugs people do use here for attending events and how well they work vs price. I checked out many different brands before opting to not buy any after enduring sound being too loud at the Megadeth show while Suicidal Tendencies was on. I saw a teenager with plugs in his ears there and thought to myself that was kinda silly to pay for a concert and then block out the sound. Granted, I hadn't been to a metal show in many years and it certainly wasn't as loud as AC/DCs canon indoors, which left me effectively deaf for a day or two, but it was loud enough I had to look into this earplug thing. (Here's to hoping AC/DC and Brian can get back together and work it out so he can still sing live instead of Axl for the US dates to come. :()
It seems that The Raven Age had similar sound issues in Detroit. Maybe this is a recent thing with some opening/younger bands wanting to push the db limit for effect? Live loudness wars? It seemed that the Bass drum was emphasized more than it needed in both cases. Ear plugs may have helped but I had no issues with Maiden's or Megadeth's sound setup and I didn't want to miss anything because of something stuck in my ears. Not to mention some people's reviews reporting needing medical procedures to remove plugs that were evidently too small and got stuck in their ear canals. :confused:

Here are some I looked at:
Etymotic ER20
Downbeats
Hearos
Earpeace
Earlove
Earasers (I believe endorsed by Eddie Trunk)
V-MODA Faders
Doppler Labs Dubs
Killnoise
Fender Concert Earplugs
LiveMusic Hearsafe
Eargasm
Alpine Hearing MusicSafe

They have custom built plugs on the market that cost much more than a few bucks but most likely won't get stuck in your ear canal. Some of these brands do offer different sizes also. (More confusion on what to choose.)
I was even reading that Doppler Labs is developing an earplug that will work in conjunction with a smartphone app. You can get on the waiting list by signing up and stating why you should get to be part of the beta run of this product at https://www.hereplus.me/ .

These stories below also add to the recent Brian Johnson thing and fortify my belief that some form of ear protection is needed at some of these shows for everybody.

http://www.metalinjection.net/aroun...r-ear-plugs-to-shows-you-will-suffer-tinnitus
and
http://eddietrunk.com/113-tinnitus-not-a-band-much-more/
 
This would make for an interesting discussion on what brand of ear plugs people do use here for attending events and how well they work vs price. I checked out many different brands before opting to not buy any after enduring sound being too loud at the Megadeth show while Suicidal Tendencies was on. I saw a teenager with plugs in his ears there and thought to myself that was kinda silly to pay for a concert and then block out the sound. Granted, I hadn't been to a metal show in many years and it certainly wasn't as loud as AC/DCs canon indoors, which left me effectively deaf for a day or two, but it was loud enough I had to look into this earplug thing. (Here's to hoping AC/DC and Brian can get back together and work it out so he can still sing live instead of Axl for the US dates to come. :()
It seems that The Raven Age had similar sound issues in Detroit. Maybe this is a recent thing with some opening/younger bands wanting to push the db limit for effect? Live loudness wars? It seemed that the Bass drum was emphasized more than it needed in both cases. Ear plugs may have helped but I had no issues with Maiden's or Megadeth's sound setup and I didn't want to miss anything because of something stuck in my ears. Not to mention some people's reviews reporting needing medical procedures to remove plugs that were evidently too small and got stuck in their ear canals. :confused:

Here are some I looked at:
Etymotic ER20
Downbeats
Hearos
Earpeace
Earlove
Earasers (I believe endorsed by Eddie Trunk)
V-MODA Faders
Doppler Labs Dubs
Killnoise
Fender Concert Earplugs
LiveMusic Hearsafe
Eargasm
Alpine Hearing MusicSafe

They have custom built plugs on the market that cost much more than a few bucks but most likely won't get stuck in your ear canal. Some of these brands do offer different sizes also. (More confusion on what to choose.)
I was even reading that Doppler Labs is developing an earplug that will work in conjunction with a smartphone app. You can get on the waiting list by signing up and stating why you should get to be part of the beta run of this product at https://www.hereplus.me/ .

These stories below also add to the recent Brian Johnson thing and fortify my belief that some form of ear protection is needed at some of these shows for everybody.

http://www.metalinjection.net/aroun...r-ear-plugs-to-shows-you-will-suffer-tinnitus
and
http://eddietrunk.com/113-tinnitus-not-a-band-much-more/
Are you a really sophisticated bot?
 
Some concert attendance figures have been revealed.

From: http://www.billboard.com/biz/current-boxscore

I'm putting it all in spoilers because there's a lot here.
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue[/B]: Estadio Nacional Jorge Magico Gonzalez
City/State: San Salvador, El Salvador
Date: March 6, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,331,925
Attendance/Capacity: 22,041 / 22,041
Ticket Prices: $175, $15
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma
City/State: San Jose, Costa Rica
Date: March 8, 2016
Gross Sales: $996,194
Attendance/Capacity: 16,655 / 18,000
Ticket Prices: $100.36, $32.84
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Estadio Nacional
City/State: Santiago, Chile
Date: March 11, 2016
Gross Sales: $2,181,940
Attendance/Capacity: 54,911 / 56,674
Ticket Prices: $123.01, $28.94
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes
City/State: Cordoba, Argentina
Date: March 13, 2016
Gross Sales: $857,309
Attendance/Capacity: 17,680 / 18,600
Ticket Prices: $80.43, $36.86
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Estadio Velez Sarsfield
City/State: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: March 15, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,558,520
Attendance/Capacity: 32,629 / 32,629
Ticket Prices: $77.08, $37.03
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: HSBC Arena
City/State: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Date: March 17, 2016
Gross Sales: $844,709
Attendance/Capacity: 12,219 / 12,219
Ticket Prices: $156.12, $29.11
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Esplanada do Mineirao
City/State: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Date: March 19, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,165,280
Attendance/Capacity: 16,844 / 16,844
Ticket Prices: $157.31, $34.50
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Ginasio Nilson Nelson
City/State: Brasilia, Brazil
Date: March 22, 2016
Gross Sales: $631,263
Attendance/Capacity: 10,942 / 11,380
Ticket Prices: $132.45, $27.59
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Arena Castelao
City/State: Fortaleza, Brazil
Date: March 24, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,449,220
Attendance/Capacity: 23,531 / 23,531
Ticket Prices: $215.35, $13.84
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, ANTHRAX
Venue: Allianz Parque
City/State: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Date: March 26, 2016
Gross Sales: $2,844,250
Attendance/Capacity: 39,583 / 39,583
Ticket Prices: $168.17, $27.12
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Madison Square Garden
City/State: New York City, New York
Date: March 30, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,472,331
Attendance/Capacity: 13,289 / 13,289
Ticket Prices: $125, $64.50
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Bell Centre
City/State: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Date: April 1, 2016
Gross Sales: $866,918
Attendance/Capacity: 14,963 / 14,963
Ticket Prices: $67.47, $42.02
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Air Canada Centre
City/State: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date: April 3, 2016
Gross Sales: $889,288
Attendance/Capacity: 13,734 / 13,734
Ticket Prices: $74.91, $38.03
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Palace Of Auburn Hills
City/State: Auburn Hills, Michigan
Date: April 5, 2016
Gross Sales: $750,508
Attendance/Capacity: 10,232 / 10,900
Ticket Prices: $89.50, $29.50
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: United Center
City/State: Chicago, Illinois
Date: April 6, 2016
Gross Sales: $1,085,976
Attendance/Capacity: 13,968 / 13,968
Ticket Prices: $89.50, $39.50
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Rexall Place
City/State: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Date: April 8, 2016
Gross Sales: $842,035
Attendance/Capacity: 12,813 / 12,813
Ticket Prices: $74.40, $22.51
Artist/Event: IRON MAIDEN, THE RAVEN AGE
Venue: Rogers Arena
City/State: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Date: April 9, 2016
Gross Sales: $794,762
Attendance/Capacity: 12,478 / 13,405
Ticket Prices: $74.59, $22.57
 
Wow, man, it must be a bummer to experience life with that kind of anxiety and perspective....

Was wine lady in the black dress at least hot?....

Wine lady was a babe.

As for the anxiety. It sucks, but I know it's on me. I wasn't mad at the people around me. It was all in good fun, and would have been great for a typical person. But I was stressed, and that's just life.

You summed up my seats perfectly. Could feel the heat from the pyro, and the view was amazing.

I know I sounded really negative in my first post. It really was an amazing night. I think the big thing for me was cost. None of my friends like Maiden, but I didn't want to go alone, so I bought a second ticket and dragged a friend along. I just remember during The Red and the Black when I couldn't hear the solos, thinking to myself, wow, I spent $235.00 for this.

But at the end of the day, I'm so happy I went. It was my third time seeing them. And I have great memories of each of the tours I saw. Seeing Book of Souls live, is probably my greatest concert experience ever.
 
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