I've said it before, but Bruce resurrecting his solo career out of nowhere was the biggest tipoff that the Maiden train is winding down. He'd seemed perfectly content to let it lie since doing Tyranny of Souls without even a tour, and suddenly--BOOM. Solo career kicking into its highest gear since 1998.
Yes, but new music in 6-7 years is a lot to ask for even now? Simon's energy should make them excited about new music, but I think Steve's mostly hesitant to record without Nicko. Bored? Then why is he working on his demo ideas...
What I never understood about this story with Bruce's quote is why he put it publicly in the album credits.
To prepare the fans, to give it more attention, to boost enthusiasm in way?
From Steve's point of view being so reserved as he is makes sense, since everything else would cause just more pressure than necessary.
Good call.
Do one final album and tell people it’s the last studio album. Market the shit out of it and put loads of variants out and special editions etc and that could be one last physical release pay day for the band and then just keep playing live until they can’t or don’t want to anymore without ever saying there doing a retirement tour.
People will assume it’s a retirement tour if they know there’s no more albums so it will galvanise fans to make sure they see them as much as they can live so ticket sales will be up but the band can keep their self respect by not milking it as a retirement tour giving them the options to play as much or as little as they want live, eventually just settling into maybe one annual Eddfest per year year in a few different countries.
One more album is probably the most we can hope for, considering their lack of enthusiasm, but the thing with Maiden is - they need themes for the tours. Continuing by playing the same old songs (more or less, and given the current set) and using the same new stage? Ok, they could add more from the Reunion era (or even some 80s deep cuts), but Rod also said they want to bring something different with each tour.
2027 will likely be a bit of a test for Steve in particular. If he doesn't mind being entirely free of Maiden-related tour and studio commitments and finds himself content with life, I doubt he'll have any enthusiasm left for a new studio project or an extensive tour. If it turns out to be insufferable for him, Maiden will continue touring and probably at least consider a final studio album.
Yeah. If he want to satisfy his creative itch, he always has BL with no pressure at all. Same with Bruce and Adrian, which is unfortunate for Maiden, despite the different styles. Also maybe strictly committing to a 2-years album tour instead of a random tour for which they could add/change theme and songs is probably a factor, no?
I don't want another album and I know Dave doesn't either. He is probably next to retire and honestly, how can they go on without him?
How do you know Dave doesn't want? Because he's not that productive? I don't think, see or want them to continue without him, but the rumors about his retirement are annoying now. If he wanted to, he would have done it by now right. Plus, we assume the tours aren't going to be big anymore.
I think that if they decided to continue after Dave retires, it would be a major blow to them as an institution. In that case, all the narratives surrounding the band would be shattered, and their image would be tainted.
Though now that I think about it—how would we feel if, in that scenario, Richie Faulkner stepped in? Would it soften the blow a bit, or would it end up feeling like some kind of postmodern parody? Ha, ha.
Agreed. Doesn't matter the replacement.
What makes me skeptical about these ideas that they will do nothing for a year and spend all their time contemplating how to proceed, is that this kind of thing normally doesn't really work in the music industry. Everything is planned, organized, and booked extremely far in advance.
True that... maybe they are planning a longer and big last tour (maybe with new music), but they say they will continue (Steve, Bruce and Adrian now, even Nicko), ofc taking it year by year now. I think the
break next year is more for some members to spend more time with their families than retirement plan, but who knows. 2027 is the best chance for recording, even with a big Bruce solo tour.
Yes this makes sense - the only reason to squeeze such a (relatively) extensive tour into 2026 is to spend 2027 recording. Otherwise, the European festival 2026 leg would surely have been scheduled for 2027.
Or to milk the grand Anniv tour with a theme they couldn't really change some songs for a 3rd leg (the big hits) since they don't want to play more from the 90s.
Then again, they could also have spent the early summer of this year recording, and then scheduled the 2027 European festival leg for 2027 as a promo for the new album.
They have recording habits - either at the start of the year or in the fall. So let's see Bruce's
solo dates for next year. If they plan a new album tour, the album should be recorded next year. I'm not talking about promo time, but recording early 2028 plus a summer tour would be busier.
I strongly believe that Iron Maiden as a touring entity past 2027 will be a 20-30 shows per year band. All likely stadiums.
If so there's plenty of time for new music, Steve's idea about semi-retirement(?)...
I'd rather them continue playing for as long as possible and release albums for as long as possible. Can't understand why anyone would want them to retire, when they're gone they're gone. Can't understand the mentality of people talking about "going out on a high", "their legacy", "hell on earth being a perfect closer", like what the fuck does any of that matter to anything? I'd still rather have one more gig to go to, even if it's only Steve playing down the local, or one more album even if it's worse than Virtual XI.
Agreed. If they still sound good live.
