Blaze Bayley

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Kalata said:
Btw, which are your favorite songs from the Blaze era? Mine are: Sign, Lord, Judgement, Edge Of Darkness, Futureal, Clansman, Two Worlds and Eyes Of A Stranger.
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Mine are Sign of the Cross, Man On The Edge, Lord of the Flies, Judgment Of Heaven, Fortunes Of War, Virus, 2am, The Edge Of Darkness,The Unbeliever, Futureal, The Clansman, The Educated Fool, Como Estais Amigos. SOTC, LOTF and Virus are in My top 10 ever, SOTC in My top 3, probably My favourite track ever
 
Blaze Bayley will be bringing a new tour in the spring of 2023 including shows in the UK & Europe:

BLAZE BAYLEY
THE UNSTOPPABLE TOUR 2023
With special guests ABSOLVA

We are beyond excited to begin confirming our tour dates for the early part of 2023. The setlist will include some songs from the ‘War Within Me’ album which have never yet been performed live, including ‘The Unstoppable Stephen Hawking’. Special guests throughout these shows will be Absolva (except Thunder Metal Fest **)

UK
March
3 Grimsby, Yardbirds
4 Glasgow, Ivory Blacks
5 Newcastle, Trillians
9 Crumlin, Patriot
10 Peterborough, Met Lounge
11 London, Underworld
12 Cannock, The Station
16 Norwich, Brickmakers
17 Sheffield, Corporation
18 Blackpool, Waterloo
19 Stoke, Eleven

EU
March
26 Belgium, Antwerp, Thunder Metal Fest **
29 Germany, Cham, LA
30 Austria, Vienna, Viper Room
31 Czech Republic, Brno, Melodka

April
1 Czech Republic, Pilsen, Serikovka
2 Germany, Erfurt, From Hell
20 France, Lille, The Black Lab
21 Belgium, Verviers, Spirit of 66
22 France, Nancy, Chez Paulette
24 France, Lyon, Rock n Eat
26 France, La Rochelle, Crossroad
27 France, Toulouse, L’Usine A Musique
28 France, Marseille, Jas Rod
29 France, Clermont-Ferrand, Chorus
IMG_5282.jpg
 
Waiting for some Finnish tourdates, the shows at On The Rocks have been packed every time. Would be cool if Blaze played in Riga or Tallinn for example, saw the Silicon Messiah show in Tallinn in 2015...
 
koponto said:
Waiting for some Finnish tourdates, the shows at On The Rocks have been packed every time. Would be cool if Blaze played in Riga or Tallinn for example, saw the Silicon Messiah show in Tallinn in 2015...
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Looks like they announce all the dates in the UK and close to the UK first. Scandinavia is a little bit off, but they still tend to do a couple of shows here.
 
efekåseo_suomi said:
Blaze Bayley will be bringing a new tour in the spring of 2023 including shows in the UK & Europe:

BLAZE BAYLEY
THE UNSTOPPABLE TOUR 2023
With special guests ABSOLVA

We are beyond excited to begin confirming our tour dates for the early part of 2023. The setlist will include some songs from the ‘War Within Me’ album which have never yet been performed live, including ‘The Unstoppable Stephen Hawking’. Special guests throughout these shows will be Absolva (except Thunder Metal Fest **)

UK
March
3 Grimsby, Yardbirds
4 Glasgow, Ivory Blacks
5 Newcastle, Trillians
9 Crumlin, Patriot
10 Peterborough, Met Lounge
11 London, Underworld
12 Cannock, The Station
16 Norwich, Brickmakers
17 Sheffield, Corporation
18 Blackpool, Waterloo
19 Stoke, Eleven

EU
March
26 Belgium, Antwerp, Thunder Metal Fest **
29 Germany, Cham, LA
30 Austria, Vienna, Viper Room
31 Czech Republic, Brno, Melodka

April
1 Czech Republic, Pilsen, Serikovka
2 Germany, Erfurt, From Hell
20 France, Lille, The Black Lab
21 Belgium, Verviers, Spirit of 66
22 France, Nancy, Chez Paulette
24 France, Lyon, Rock n Eat
26 France, La Rochelle, Crossroad
27 France, Toulouse, L’Usine A Musique
28 France, Marseille, Jas Rod
29 France, Clermont-Ferrand, Chorus
View attachment 23718
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Nice! I think I'll be able to see Blaze for the first time on this run.
 
Every time he's come to Stoke, I've never been able to make it. So, I'm gonna have to move heaven and earth to make sure I'm there. Not only because I like to support Blaze whenever I can, but we don't get any good acts that often in Stoke, so I best make the most of it.
 

Translation in English :

"Blaze Bayley — JUSTICE. In capital letters. This is the first phrase that comes to my mind a few hours after the great live of the British ex-IRON MAIDEN singer Blaze Bayley at the suffocatingly crowded Gagarin 205. Yes, you read that right: Blaze Bayley in the year 2022 managed and filled every corner of Athenian club, with the unexpectedly large attendance of people being one of the biggest surprises of recent years in a concert event in the capital and beyond. As he himself stated from the microphone, this evening is for him the result of a long journey, not only in terms of kilometers, but also in the journey of time. You are absolutely right Blaze. Because if for example you had stopped doing music in 2000 or 2010 or even recently 2018, you would not have tasted the immense joy of facing this spectacle in Gagarin 205 with the whole audience chanting your name rhythmically, alternating with the slogan "he's crazy". Because with your attitude, you proved that in life beyond objective value or luck, an X‑Factor is also of great importance: belief in what you do. And Blaze Bayley has had this element to the highest degree for years.

The evening started with the ABSOLVA band, who, apart from being special guests of the tour playing their own songs, have been members of Blaze Bayley's personal lineup for some time now, having a double role. They played a great set of British heavy metal that sounds equal parts modern and traditional, just like Blaze's personal records after his IRON MAIDEN career. Singer/guitarist Chris Appleton blew the crowd away with his communicative character, his brother (and fellow guitarist) Luke was in high spirits throughout the evening and rhythm section McNee/Schramm gave a decent rendition of ABSOLVA's tracks. Their set was just what was needed to heat up the atmosphere, but no lies, the audience that filled the Gagarin had come to hear the main course of the evening...

...which is none other than the anniversary performances of tracks from the two most controversial albums ("X‑Factor", "Virtual XI") in the history of the greatest heavy metal group of all time, IRON MAIDEN. There is no point in going into the circumstances under which the “Blaze Bayley — Iron Maiden Singer” experiment (didn’t) work here, besides, in ROCK HARD there are specific articles such as an interview with Blaze himself, just to add here my personal opinion: for a part of the fans of my generation who experienced these two records as the first Maiden albums released in the period when we first came into contact with metal, these releases have an added emotional value. It is no coincidence that most of the audience I saw at Gagarin belongs to this generation. I think that regardless of opinions whether Blaze's voice suits IRON MAIDEN or not, compositionally “X‑Factor” and especially “Virtual XI” contain more good songs than 1–2 post reunion albums (there, I said it!)

The beginning with "Lord of the Flies" in a general apotheosis gave the signal for what was to follow, in the "Sign of the Cross" epic, panjurism rose to another level, while the world seemed to remember "Judgment of Heaven" as well. honoring the piece. This was followed by a trio of tracks from Blaze's solo career ("War within me", "Pull Yourself Up" and "Warrior"), during which although the atmosphere calmed down quite a bit, the audience at the end of each track continued to clap and gives positive energy to Blaze. Return to the Maiden discography with “Fortunes of War” (again doom) and we hopefully reach the first highlight of the evening, “Virus” which was historically restored -as it has never been played live by Maiden- with great audience participation especially from the middle point onwards, in the song that became quite popular in the midst of quarantine. Blaze's line that accompanied the song in question was also great.

Restoration continued with “When Two Worlds Collide” excellently performed and again with the audience very actively involved, before two more back to back highlights: “The Clansman”, perhaps the best song of the Blaze era in Maiden, with sweeping participation of the world and the surprise with “Como estais amigos” with all Gagarin also singing with Blaze. At this point I have to say that the reactions of the people were not just as if they had IRON MAIDEN of the Blaze era in front of them, but more like they were experiencing the Fear of the Dark tour or one of the historical tours of the 80s! And we are not talking about 200-300 people but about the entire Gagarin which we all know how many people it can hold. The evening continues with a too-fast rendition of “Man on the Edge” (should have been a click slower), to continue with ecstasy and a general party atmosphere listening to "Futureal" which received "Trooper" or "Aces High" level reactions. And just when you thought you'd seen it all tonight, the band came out for an encore with "The Angel and the Gambler" in a shortened rock n roll performance that showcased the song without the unnecessary 100 repetitions of the studio version's chorus. . Before we close, let's address one important detail: there was a moment when everything could have gone wrong, when something unidentifiable was thrown onto the stage from the front rows, and if I saw correctly, it hit Blaze. Unlike a similar situation at Maiden's live show in the summer at OAKA, where Bruce Dickinson reacted as he did (I'm not judging) about the smoke agent, Blaze as if prepared for a long time acted as if nothing happened. The result vindicated him as the atmosphere of the live remained celebratory-adoring until the end with the people constantly participating.

The events spoke for themselves on Saturday night, November 12, 2022 at Gagarin 205: Blaze Bayley was at the biggest night of his career in Greece, enjoying greatness that even with Maiden in the 90s he had not experienced in our country, as then there were and many warped by Bruce's flight as opposed to now. Surely this show is one of the global career highlights for him, a more than just reward for all his persistent and painstaking effort to remain active in the field having gone through a thousand waves. For all of us it was probably the best opportunity to experience perhaps the most special part of IRON MAIDEN's history up close.

Dimitris Melidis
Photos: Petros Karalis"
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TheMercenary said:

Translation in English :
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Thanks for sharing.

Some curious things from the interview:

''I really love Paul's voice on these two albums''.

''You listen to "Sign Of The Cross" and you understand that it was not written for Bruce in any way''.

''Steve found specific areas of my voice that appear in "Sign Of The Cross", "The Clansman", "Lord Of The Flies", "Judgment Of Heaven", "The Aftermath". We're talking about a different side of my voice. And this marked a big change in IRON MAIDEN, what we call the "progressive era of IRON MAIDEN''.

''My best song, in my personal opinion, is "Como Estais Amigos". It's simple, full of emotion and guided by Steve and Janick finally, to the right path, which was done with a lot of patience and a lot of effort. Like "Virus" it ended up the way it is in a very special way, with Steve writing some lyrics, me writing some lyrics and we were all in the room together''.

''My new record, "War Within Me", you can listen to it and feel the direct influence of "X‑Factor".

''Strange times. How can I imagine that I would become the singer in the biggest heavy metal band? My voice was so different from Bruce's. I was a fan of his''.

Songs he auditioned with Maiden: "Wrathchild", "Fear Of The Dark", "Iron Maiden", "The Clairvoyant", "The Trooper", "Hallowed By Thy Name", "Afraid To Shoot Strangers"... songs that were played at every concert.

''Doogie White, for example, was another singer who auditioned very well''.

''Many years ago, Bruce came to New York when we were playing with WOLFSBANE. If I remember correctly, the Kerrang! he had two pictures of us next to each other and said how similar we looked and we had a drink and took a picture together, just for fun, long before cell phones. I would love to see it''.

''If I remember correctly - we finished "Man On The Edge" during the first writing session.

''I was also a composer in WOLFSBANE and I think we had some good songs. But there I wrote more rock songs, while in MAIDEN I had to write heavy metal, music that I listened to. I really liked the fact that there were big instrumental parts and two guitars''.

''If some elements sound good together, they go on the record. Steve was something of a mentor to me in terms of songwriting''.

''It's great to have Bruce Dickinson's voice on these songs, but another singer, on a different song, can do a good job, even with a different musical direction. I'm more introverted and dark in the way I sing, where Bruce is majestic and bright. "X‑Factor" opens and you can feel that there is darkness''.

About the making of TXF album: ''Don't imagine we were together 365 days a year. We'd get together, write some songs, then get back together, write more, then record, and it just happened all the time. But there were also scary technical difficulties. At that time, there were no hard drives. There were two digital films with 32 channels. That's why MAIDEN's records sound so clean, because they didn't use analog films, where they would fight against noise. These machines broke down and we had to call technicians to reset them, which was very difficult and took a lot of time. These were not said in interviews back then and people thought we were lazy. There were a lot of other technical problems besides that, too''.

''I was the new member of the squad, everyone wanted to talk to me. Dave was the voice of experience and Steve was still in the studio mixing the record. If I remember correctly, we took 2 or 3 final mixes with us for the press to hear, so there was no way Steve could be on the press tour. The schedule was excruciating. Six weeks, every day in a different country, doing interviews all day. Dave told me it was the hardest thing he's ever done for IRON MAIDEN. And imagine that he was also on the World Slavery Tour''.

''I wanted to approach their studio performance. When people heard "Hallowed Be Thy Name" or "The Trooper" from me, they heard something fresh, something new, which Bruce probably gave them before he sang it a thousand times''.

About the bonus songs of TXF album: ''We just ran out of time! Basically you'd have to ask Steve and Rod, but those songs were never written as b'sides. IRON MAIDEN never write songs that they don't think are good enough to put on their record. There was simply the limitation of time, since "X‑Factor" already had a very long duration and since we liked them, we thought of using them in this way''.

! ''I had the idea, thinking that every MAIDEN record opens a certain way, but then we had a new singer, a new era, so why not shake things up a bit? Starting with “Sign Of The Cross”, it was something completely different for the fans, which they would definitely listen to and the first time they would hear my voice, they would hear something unusual. I told Steve about it, we all talked about it and came up with this. I don't know if it's the right decision, of course, I'll let the fans decide''.

''I'm not really a heavy metal singer. I love heavy metal and that's why I became a heavy metal singer. By nature, though, my voice is rock in the style of Phil Mogg, Jon Bon Jovi, David Coverdale, rather than in the style of Rob Halford''.

''If you went to Paul or Bruce and asked them if they were ex-IRON MAIDEN singers when they were gone, it was a problem for them. But for me, no. I am proud that they chose me and sang with them. I'm proud with the music we wrote. It defined my style and the influence is huge''.

His favorite songs from TXF album are: ''Judgement Of Heaven'' (very special song, unusual instrumentation), ''Man On The Edge'' (huge song for me), ''Sign Of The Cross'' (so majestic and listening to it is a journey, with the instrumental point taking you between hell and storms) and ''Lord Of The Flies'' (the way it starts and the way it "builds"... it's awesome and it has a great flow)''.
 
And he is acting weird on stage, I cant
watch any of his live videos.

Blaze
Ripper
Hansi

Nice but weird guys on stage.
 
What are your opinion on of the use of synths in Blaze's music? This is something that is not featured very often.


But for example Andy Sneap actually added some keyboard parts in the background at 5:27 - 5:40 in Stare at the Sun, I think that parts sounds great. You can certainly notice Sneap playing some keyboards, albeit mixed very low, at the last chorus and during the intro & outro of the track as well.
 
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My band have released our latest album, Alternative View, today, and it contains one track with Blaze on vocals. The song, 24 Hours of Freedom, had been previously released, but this is a remixed version with a solo on the Hammond Organ by Derek Sherinian added. You can of course stream it on the digital platform of your choice. If you fancy checking out any of the other tracks on the album, then I’d say the song, Tutankhamun is the most Maiden-esque track on there.


 
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