Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
That's obviously entirely up to taste. But "suffers massively" is pure hyperbole. Their live sound was amazing when I saw them in July.
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES 2025 Tour Thread *SPOILERS INSIDE*
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I've got the same impression.
matic22
Ancient Mariner
IMO, all 4 times I saw them this year, the sound was muddy because of the drum tunning. Maiden was always a crisp-sounding band with the only really low information being the kick.
With Simon having a lower tunning, especially on the snare, I feel like that shifted the snare below the very mid-heavy bass in Maiden. Nicko and Steve's instruments were tuned to eachother to perfection. Can't say that for Simon yet, as his snare tends to get lost under the mid-heavy bass.
Just my 2 cents. I also wrote before that the sound changed massively because of the drum, especially snare, tunning. And not in the right direction.
So in short, I think it's the snare tuning and not the whole kit.
matic22
Ancient Mariner
Well, if I dare to compare this year's sound to LOTB 2022, it's a downgrade. And I contribute a lot of that to snare tuning. 2023/2024 doesn't count IMO, since Nicko was clearly playing through struggles.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
BRUCE DICKINSON Says New IRON MAIDEN Drummer SIMON DAWSON Brings 'Stability' To The Band's Live Shows
In a new interview with "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern", IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson spoke about the spring/summer 2025 European leg of the band's "Run For Your Lives" world tour. The trek, which launched on May 27 in Budapest, Hungary and concluded on August 2 in...blabbermouth.net
Bruce: ''It's not weird from the perspective that what I'm hearing behind me is not Nicko. So I don't expect to see Nicko because everything about Simon is different. His drums are tuned differently, he plays the songs with a different feel to Nick. So because of that, I don't turn around and go, 'Oh, shock. Nicko should be there,' because it's obvious he's not there from the sound. The drums are tuned a lot lower, they're much fatter. And Simon kind of sticks with the program in terms of the tempo of the song and everything. He's absolutely scrupulous about cutting the right tempo every time. So we actually, as a band, really kind of appreciate that. 'Cause all the guitarists have big smiles, like Cheshire cats, Steve the same. 'Cause everybody's not feeling, like, 'Whoa, hey, steady on there, trigger. Whoa, slow down there.' So that's what Simon brings to it — there's stability. And he's doesn't try to be Nicko. You can't be Nicko. I mean, there's only one Nicko; he is unique. That's why we didn't pick a clone. And there were plenty of drummers who could copy what Nicko did, but we don't want one of those. We wanted somebody that had a different feel.''
Is he having a dig at the guy who was the backbone of the sound of the band for over 40 years?
DorotheaMe
Educated Fool
I think it is taste. I was surprised how much I liked the lower tuning.
DorotheaMe
Educated Fool
Nicko had a dig at Bruce, and now Bruce had a dig at Nicko. But we have to believe that there is nothing but jokes, love and compliments.
A completely obvious, public dispute is highly unlikely to happen in this day. (Even though something like that did happen in the past with former members.)
Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
Calling those statements "digs" is pretty exaggerated in my opinion. Have you never made deprecating jokes about good friends or yourself? What was Bruce supposed to say, "Our new drummer is not as good as his predecessor"? He has to say something positive about Simon and his steadiness is immediately obvious. The boys have become much more aware of public opinions, so it makes sense that they'd address some of the more common criticisms of the last few years.
Counterpoint: Roy Z. If there was genuinely bad blood we'd be seeing a very different side of them. Hell, Nicko in particular talked shit openly about Bruce in multiple interviews over literal years. He's no stranger to bad bedside manners.
DorotheaMe
Educated Fool
Not in public. Not when there are not only friends, but people who could misunderstand how we mean it.
That's really no problem at all. Anyone who has to give interviews in a professional setting has more than enough phrases at their disposal to answer a question while remaining neutral.
For example, our new and former band members are both great, they are different, and they both bring their own unique qualities to the band etc, etc…
I can understand why people are starting to wonder how this fits in with the story we've been told so far.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
I think not. And Nicko could be more vocal, as we know from the 90's, but it was a different situation back then. Roy too. Ofc one can't be sure, Nicko's joke about some of Bruce's timing issues was probably not that funny to him, he knows that, but we know from past interviews that Bruce, Adrian and maybe Steve want the song to be played a bit slower live, from Nicko too. Or at least some of them. I prefer Nicko's drumming, sound, songs played faster live, but Simon's more physical and steady drumming should be noted. As always, the feel is important for them (Nicko's one is unique). I'll wait to hear an official live release from Maiden before I can give an assessment of Simon's drum kit sound.
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Fozzie
Scream for me Yorkshire
No, the speed thing is well known.
This, it could be tit for tat but unlikely .
The comments in question weren`t particularly positive so a `dig` is a fair term to use.
Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
People are actively looking to misunderstand any comment though. We've had multiple rage-bait articles about outright jokes, that were framed as if Nicko was furious with Maiden and Simon. When in reality he was saying the exact opposite of what the article was claiming. Nicko has always joked about, well, everything. And Bruce on the other hand puts his foot in his mouth quite often. Feel free to think there's more going on, but for me it couldn't be more obvious that they are still mates who clearly have nothing but love for one another.
We are talking about metal musicians in their late 60s, not carefully crafted PR statements. The context of the interview was far more casual.
They weren't negative either, imo. They addressed some of the more common criticisms of the last few years.
People can believe what they want, but we have seen before how Maiden and Nicko in particular act when there's actually hurt feelings and bad blood, and this clearly ain't that.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Exactly. Simon's drumming could have been praised without having to criticise Nicko changing the tempo to some songs live. That was uncalled for, but as @Vaenyr has said, Bruce has a tendency to put his foot on his mouth.
Fozzie
Scream for me Yorkshire
Saying someone is playing faster then the band wants and timing issues for the singer are kind of negatives.
Nevertheless bad blood and a dig are 2 different things to me and this is more a kin to a dig than bad blood which to be clear i don`t think there is at all.
Fozzie
Scream for me Yorkshire
I`m sure what Bruce said about speed had already been discussed between the band when Nicko was still a member so doubt it was new news to him although he could have left Nicko out of it i suppose.
Is it ok for Nicko to `joke` about Bruce having timing issues on this tour or is that equally uncalled for .